1991 No. 1 CONTENTS - Institute of Social and Cultural ...

JASO 22/3 (1991): 219-234
RITUALIZATION AS SUBSTITUTION
lANUSZ MUCHA
Introduction
1im tenn 'ritual' has traditionally been used in the analysis of religious phenomena
(see, for example, Durkheim 1954 [1912]). In modem symbolic anthropology it
is also used to describe other fields of behaviour where it has proven to be relevant
(see, for example, Firth 1972; Goody 1961; and Skorupsld 1983). However,
traditional ideas relating ritual to the sacred are also useful in analysing the
ritualization of political behaviour. In this essay I will attempt to show how rituals
can substitute for the traditional, instrumental meanings of these types· of
behaviour, rather than highlighting them or indicating their social significance.
The extension of 'ritual' as a tenn to characterize attitudes, beliefs, things and
actions in various spheres of human life results in conceptual confusion (Leach
1968). Taking this into account I shall tty, as an initial step, to outline a
conceptual framework suitable for my analysis of political ritualization.
First of all, we cannot discuss ritual without introducing an obviously arbitrary
. distinction between 'technical' (or 'rational') and 'symbolic' actions. Behaviour
is technical when, in the judgement of the observer, it is a necessary means
whereby a human individual or group achieves a specific end. Behaviour is
symbolic when, according to this same judgement, it is not necessary from a
This article is based on a paper originally presented at a conference on 'The Role of Ritual in
the System of Culture' held at the Second Podhale School of Social Anthropology, Zakopane,
Poland, in September 1985.