Religious Ritual and Cooperation: Testing for a Relationship on Israeli Religious and Secular Kibbutzim

Anthropologists have long noted that one of the primary functions of religion is to promote group solidarity, and most have recognized ritual as the mechanism through which this solidarity is achieved. Guided by Durkheim (1995 [1912]), who was among the first to appreciate the unifying nature of religious ritual, functionalists have explored how ritual sustains the social order within a community (e.g., Douglas 1966, Radcliffe-Brown 1952). They have argued that collective rituals enable the expression and reaffirmation of shared beliefs, norms, and values and are therefore essential for maintaining communal stability and group harmony. For Durkheim, collective rituals were the means by which individuals bonded with one another in the community. He claimed that the “effervescent” state of ritual performance minimized individual distinctions and emphasized the unity of the group. Rappaport (1979, 1999) extended Durkheim’s analysis of ritual, primarily exploring its formal structure. He interpreted ritual’s effect on group solidarity as a consequence of its communicative abilities and argued that