Editing Ritualization (section)

==In humans==

=== Functions of ritualization===
Previous studies mentioned several main functions of ritualization: 

====Social Solidarity====
Ritualization fosters social solidarity by bringing people together and strengthening social bonds. They create a sense of belonging, shared identity, and unity among participants, contributing to the overall stability of a society.

====Cultural Transmission====
Ritualization facilitates the transmission of cultural knowledge, values, and traditions across generations. They help preserve cultural heritage and maintain continuity with the past. By participating in rituals, individuals learn about their culture, internalize its norms, and pass it on to future generations.

====Emotional Expression and Regulation====
Rituals provide a structured way for individuals to express and regulate their emotions. They offer a context for processing complex emotions, such as grief, joy, or gratitude, and can help people cope with significant life events, transitions, or loss.

=== Connecting the function to previous literature ===
====Émile Durkheim's social solidarity theory====

In Durkheim's famous writing “[[The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life]] (1912)”, he theorized the distinction between traditional and modern societies in terms of social solidarity. He stated [[social solidarity]] is the ensemble of beliefs, which acts as the glue that holds society together. [[Traditional societies]] and modern societies differ fundamentally in terms of their structure and function and this is where the significance of ritualization becomes apparent.

Traditional societies are bound by [[mechanical solidarity]], characterized by a collective conscience. This [[collective conscience]] is a shared mindset among all members of the society, forming a moral community. The core of this type of society is a sacred collective ideal that embodies the group's virtues and serves as a source of identity. Consequently, individuals in these societies are united by shared values, norms, and beliefs, which are reinforced through ritualization. In traditional societies, there is a belief in a single, correct way of living, and any deviations are deemed sinful.

Ritualization is crucial for maintaining mechanical solidarity. Rituals allow group members to experience the power of the group over the self. Additionally, ritualization in the form of punishment for deviance serves as a potent method for curbing deviant behavior in traditional societies. By enforcing moral boundaries, ritual punishment helps to preserve [[social cohesion]] and unity within the group.

Later, his supporters, Victor Turner and Randall Collins expanded the theory of ritualization in different directions through their own research papers.

Turner expands on Durkheim's ideas by focusing on the roles rituals play in social structure and transition. He emphasizes the importance of “[[communitas]],” a state of social unity and cohesion that emerges during rituals or other shared experiences, transcending the ordinary divisions and hierarchies within society. On this basis, individuals participating in rituals temporarily set aside their [[social roles]] and come together as equals.

In Collins’ paper, he builds upon Durkheim's ideas and proposes that rituals generate emotional energy, which in turn fosters social solidarity. Through a series of “interaction ritual chains,” individuals feel connected to one another and experience a sense of belonging.

===Structural ritualization theory===
{{further|Structural ritualization theory}}
Ritualization is associated with the work of [[Catherine Bell (religious studies scholar)|Catherine Bell]].<ref>Bell, Catherine. ''Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice..'' Oxford University Press, 1992</ref> Bell, drawing on the [[Practice Theory]] of [[Pierre Bourdieu]], has taken a less [[structural-functionalism|functional]] view of [[ritual]] with her elaboration of ritualization. 

===Recent studies===
More recently scholars interested in the [[cognitive science of religion]] such as [[Pascal Boyer]], [[Pierre Liénard]], and William W. McCorkle, Jr. have been involved in experimental, ethnographic, and archival research on how ritualized actions might inform the study of ritualization and ritual forms of action. Boyer, Liénard, and McCorkle argue that ritualized compulsions are in relation to an evolved cognitive architecture where social, cultural, and environmental selection pressures stimulate "hazard-precaution" systems such as predation, contagion, and disgust in human minds.<ref>Boyer, Pascal. ''The Naturalness of Religious Ideas.'' University of California Press, 1994</ref><ref>Boyer, Pascal. ''[[Religion Explained|Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought.]]'' Basic Books, 2001</ref><ref>Boyer, Pascal. "Religious Thought and Behavior as By-Products of Brain Functions," Trends in Cognitive Sciences, vol 7, pp 119–24</ref><ref>Boyer, P and Liénard, P. "Why ritualized behavior? Precaution Systems and action parsing in developmental, pathological and cultural rituals .” Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 29: 595–650.</ref> McCorkle argued that these ritualized compulsions (especially in regard to dead bodies vis-à-vis, mortuary behavior) were turned into ritual scripts by professional guilds only several thousand years ago with advancement in technology such as the domestication of plants and animals, literacy, and writing.<ref>McCorkle Jr., William W. "Ritualizing the Disposal of the Deceased: From Corpse to Concept." Peter Lang, 2010.</ref>