Books by Professor Mary Douglas

Mary Douglas shows how anthropology can make a central contribution to knowledge and understanding across disciplines, and in everyday life.

In this classic work Mary Douglas identifies the concern for pirity as a key theme at the heart of every society. She reveals its wide-ranging impact on our attitudes tp society, values, cosmology and knowledge.

Written against the backdrop of the student uprisings of the late 1960s, this text took seriously the revolutionary fervour of the times. Instead of seeking to destroy the rituals and symbols that can govern and oppress, the author claimed that if transformation were needed, it could only be made possible through better understanding.

The idea of risk has risen to prominence in political debate and in matters of public policy. This collection follows on from the programme for studying risk and blame that was implied in "Purity and Danger" and developed in subsequent publications.