Symbolism, Tradition, Ritual, and the Deep Structure of Communities

Abstract

Community life rests on underlying shared values and agreements that are often unstated and barely recognized. They are shaped by religious and cultural traditions or by the exigencies of a group’s living situation that have created ways of doing things that powerfully shape organizational patterns, willingness to volunteer and participate, feelings of legitimacy in government, and safety in the face of authority. Social activities that Talcott Parsons (1965, p. 963) called “latent pattern maintenance” are the topic here: religious practices, civic rituals, and the development of the symbolism of community. The goal of this chapter is to bring to the surface data, arguments, and concepts about how these factors shape community structure.