Structure vs. Communitas — the Two Modes of Human Society
May 28, 2023
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Anthropologist Victor Turner discusses the two modes of human society - Structure and Communitas. They explore how these concepts relate to religion, science, social visions, and brain hemispheres. The episode sets the stage for further exploration of these fundamental aspects of human life.
Structure is the institutionalized hierarchical framework governing roles and status in society.
Communitas fosters genuine human connections, conscience, and universal brotherhood beyond societal norms.
Deep dives
Exploring the Duality of Structure and Communitas
The podcast delves into the concept of structure and communitas as a duality that shapes human societies. Structure represents the institutionalized hierarchical framework governing roles and status in society, including political, legal, and economic systems. In contrast, communitas embodies a spontaneous, existential way of relating to others, emphasizing authenticity and concrete connections beyond societal norms. This exploration highlights the contrasting nature of structure as the skeleton of society and communitas as the unstructured, heart-centered mode of interaction.
The Fragility and Potentiality of Communitas
Communitas is depicted as an ephemeral, unstructured state that fosters genuine human connections and transcends boundaries of hierarchy and status. Unlike structure-bound interactions, communitas encourages conscience, compassion, and a sense of universal brotherhood. The podcast emphasizes communitas' heart-centered nature, where spontaneous and authentic interactions drive a sense of unity and equality, echoing themes of peace, cosmopolitanism, and shared humanity.
Challenges in Sustaining Communitas in Society
The episode explores the challenges in preserving communitas within structured societies, noting the delicate balance between spontaneous interactions and institutionalized frameworks. While movements like anarchism, Marxism, and social justice are inspired by communitas, they often transition into structured hierarchies. The tension between equality in communitas and hierarchical structures underlines the struggle to maintain a genuine, unstructured mode of human interrelatedness amidst societal complexities and competing ideologies.
Anthropologist Victor Turner, who popularised the term Liminality, found that human society has two modes of interrelatedness that function like a yin and yang — mutually dependant and without which human life would be impossible. Structure is the mode of status and hierarchy in society; Communitas of love, compassion and myth.
These two modes show up in very interesting ways in our current society. These can be fruitfully mapped over with the religious and scientific mindsets; with the Constrained and Unconstrained Visions of Thomas Sowell's work; with the Order and Chaos of Jordan Peterson's work Maps of Meaning and with the left- and right-hemispheres of the brain in Iain McGilchrist's work.
None of these are 1:1 mapovers but there's something rich even in this difference. This episodes marks the beginning of our explorations in this fertile model of human life. ____________________
📚 Further Reading: - Turner, V. _The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure_ - Turner, V. _Revelation and divination in Ndembu ritual_
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⌛ Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 1:30 Structure 5:30 Communitas 6:32 The Communitas Mode of Being 10:01 Structured Communitas 13:12 Religion and Communitas
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