Preview of "symbol" as used by anthropologists. Other important terms and concepts covered include: survival; unconscious; archetype; multivocal symbol.

Sources used:
1. Frazer Golden Bough: A Study in Magic in Religion.
2. Durkheim, E 1979, 'The Elementary Forms of Religious Life', in WA Lessa & EZ
3. Freud, S 'The Unconscious and Consciousness--Reality', pp. 610-621.
4. Jung, CG, Hull, RFC & Shamdasani, S 2012, Four Archetypes: (From Vol. 9, Part 1
5. Levi-Strauss, C 1979, 'The Structural Study of Myth', in WA Lessa & EZ Vogt (eds),
6. Wolf, ER 2002 [1958], 'The Virgin of Guadalupe: A Mexican National Symbol',
7. Rappaport, RA 1979, 'Ritual, Sanctity, and Cybernetics', in WA Lessa & EZ Vogt
8. Geertz, 'Religion as a Cultural System'

For more, see my undergraduate lectures on symbols on youtube.

A preview of "community" & "society" as used by anthroplogists. Important terms and concepts include:
* Society / Gesselschaft: written laws, the state, civil society, nation, capitalism.
* Community / Gemeinschaft: traditions, spoken mores, kinship and locality, reciprocity.
* Also: urban community, "kampung" (compound/urban quarter).

Important contributors include:
* Anderson, Benedict. 1992. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso.
* Durkheim, E. (1933). The Division of Labor in Society (G. Simpson, Trans.). New York: The Free Press.
Tönnies, F. (1957). Community and Association (Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft) (C. P. Loomis, Trans.). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
* Weber, M. (1991). The Social Psychology of the World Religions. In H. H. Gerth & C. Wright Mills (Eds.), From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology. Great Britain: Routledge.

About me: I'm Nick Herriman, author of The Entangled State and Witch-hunt and Conspiracy. In the "25 Concepts in Anthropology" series, I preview what I think are the 25 most important concepts in socio-cultural anthropology. Each concept provides a unique insight into what it is to be human. I am also the 'Audible Anthropologist' on iTunesU.

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