Myth Function
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Myth Function
“Myth Function” explores the vital role of myths in shaping societies worldwide. Myths serve not just as stories, but as fundamental tools for explaining the world, reinforcing cultural norms, and maintaining social order. Examining myths from various cultures and eras, the book reveals how these narratives provide frameworks for social cohesion and control. For example, myths often explain natural phenomena like floods or earthquakes, providing early societies with a way to understand their environment. The book uniquely focuses on the function-driven analysis of diverse mythologies. It progresses by first defining core concepts, then examining myths' roles in explaining nature, establishing ethics, and reinforcing social hierarchies. This approach highlights the enduring power of myths to shape values, fears, and aspirations across civilizations. Understanding myth function provides insights into the collective psychology of societies, both past and present, and how these narratives legitimize power. The book's interdisciplinary approach connects to anthropology, sociology, and political science, offering a comprehensive understanding of myths' impact. By understanding how myths shape social structures, readers can gain insights into cultural norms and power dynamics. This perspective departs from purely literary interpretations, focusing instead on the practical effects myths have on social behavior and institutional structures.
Myth: Its Meaning and Functions in Ancient and Other Cultures
This book, developed out of the 1969 Sather lectures at Berkeley, California, confronts a wide range of problems concerning the nature, meaning and functions of myths. Professor Kirk's aim is to introduce a degree of coherence and of critical awareness into a subject that arouses profound interest today, but which for too long has been the target of excessive theorizing and interdisciplinary confusion between anthropologists, sociologists, classicists, philosophers and psychologists. Professor Kirk begins by discussing the relation of myths to rituals and folktales, and the weakness of universalist theories of function. He then subjects Lévi-Strauss's structuralist theory to an extended exposition and criticism; he considers the character and meaning of ancient Near Eastern myths, their influence on Greece, and the special forms with rational modes of thought, and finally, he assesses the status of myths as expressions of the unconscious, as elements of dreams, universal symbols, as accidents along the way to some narrative objective. The result is a significant critical venture into the history and philosophy of thought, imagination, symbol and society.--From publisher description.
Myth: A Very Short Introduction
Where do myths come from? What is their function and what do they mean? In this Very Short Introduction Robert Segal introduces the array of approaches used to understand the study of myth. These approaches hail from disciplines as varied as anthropology, sociology, psychology, literary criticism, philosophy, science, and religious studies. Including ideas from theorists as varied as Sigmund Freud, Claude L?vi-Strauss, Albert Camus, and Roland Barthes, Segal uses the famous ancient myth of Adonis to analyse their individual approaches and theories. In this new edition, he not only considers the future study of myth, but also considers the interactions of myth theory with cognitive science, the implications of the myth of Gaia, and the differences between story-telling and myth. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.