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| Victor W. Turner |
«Democracy
in government, brotherhood in society, equality in rights and
privileges, and universal education, foreshadow the
next higher plane of society
to which experience, intelligence and knowledge are steadily tending»
[Lewis Henry Morgan, 1877; 552]. What is this “higher plane”? It
is here that Morgan seemingly succumbs to the error made by such
thinkers as Rousseau and Marx: the confusion between communitas,
which is a dimension of all societies, past and present, and archaic
or primitive society. “It will be a revival” he continues, “in
a higher form, of the liberty, equality and fraternity of the ancient
gentes.” Yet, as most anthropologists would now confirm, customary
norms and differences of status and prestige in preliterate societies
allow little scope for individual liberty and choice (…).
VictorTurner, The Ritual
Process. Structure and Anti-Structure, Aldine
de Gruyter, New York, 1969, p.130.
