FIELD ASSIGNMENT 4 SMILE DAY Goals and Skills Student.docx

FIELD ASSIGNMENT 4
SMILE DAY
Goals and Skills: Students are asked to apply specific concepts,
happiness theories, or research findings
they have learned in class to life experiences and specific out-
of-class activities. Using a concept in a new
circumstance as well as connecting sociology to other relevant
material in students’ lives allows for
greater student understanding.
Specific Instructions: You are to choose one day and spend the
entire day smiling. Not just being
happy, but physically demonstrating happiness through the
facial expression of smiling. You should
simply smile, a natural smile (not a grin or a smirk), at
everyone you see throughout the day, including
friends, strangers, peers, professors, roommates, and anyone
else you encounter on this day. After
completing an entire day of smiling, write about both yours and
others’ reactions to this behavior.
How did it make you feel to display a smile all day? How did
others react to your perceived
happiness? How does this relate to the material we have
discussed in class?
Substantive Discussion/Debriefing: On the class day after the
assignment is due, there will be an in-class
discussion about this assignment. Students should be prepared
to talk about their paper.

DUE: A digital copy should be uploaded to D2L into correct
folder by 11:59pm on the due date (exact
dates are noted on the syllabus under Course Calendar and
Assignments).
Feedback: Students will be given numerical grades using the
rubric below:
FIELD ASSIGNMENT GRADING RUBRIC
POINT
VALUE
GRADING CRITERIA
POINTS
RECEIVED
1 Covered subject of assignment/stayed on topic
1
Included at least ONE direct quotation from a class reading that
was appropriately
cited using an ASA-style in-text parenthetical citation (Author
Year: Page#)
1 Clarity of writing style/ease of reading
1 Grammar and spelling
1 Format (typed, double-spaced, 12 pt. font, 1 page minimum, 2
pp. max)
TOTAL SCORE (Out of 5):

MRO sourcing goes global
Avery, Susan . Purchasing ; Boston Vol. 138, Iss. 2, (Feb 12,
2009): 48-52.
ProQuest document link
ABSTRACT
Maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) goods and services
buyers at other companies with worldwide
operations are taking different tacts and are equally successful.
Some deploy sourcing strategies that are global,
regional, national or local with industrial distributors that serve
customers from a base in North America and/or
other regions. Others negotiate pricing agreements with global
manufacturers and buy through distributors for
those manufacturers. For the most part, these buyers select
sourcing strategy for MRO based largely on
requirements of internal customers. However, supplier readiness
and capability also play an important role in the
direction the buyers choose to pursue. Typically, purchasing
professionals with responsibility for sourcing MRO

goods for sites located around the world say they aim for an
approach that's global. The ideal is to find single
distributors that can serve their needs across the world. When
they can't find them they look for distributors that
are regional or local. Results of Industrial Distribution
magazine's 62nd Annual Survey of Distributor Operations
show that 72% of distributors conduct business globally or
expect to in the next three years. The MRO sourcing
operation at IBM-and other companies-has a formal process for
selecting a supplier to fill requirements of internal
customers, typically colleagues in operations or manufacturing.
These processes are usually part of a multi-step
strategic sourcing process.
FULL TEXT
Purchasing operations at global companies are extending
sourcing strategy to other regions of the world. The trick
is finding suppliers able to meet their rigorous standards.
On the face of it, developing and deploying sourcing strategy
for maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) goods
and services for a company with facilities located all over the
world appears complex.
But, when you get right to the heart of it, it's relatively simple,
says Scott Singer, CPO at Rio Tinto in Brisbane,

Australia, explaining that setting strategy for a global buy is not
much different from the approach a centralized
sourcing operation takes anywhere in the world. "You want a
superior unit price, a fair and reasonable mark up and
a fulfillment model that provides the service you need," he says.
Singer, a member of Purchasing's editorial advisory board who
was with United Technologies Corp. when it
received the magazine's Medal of Professional Excellence in
2006, is a year into his new post at the global mining
company and is working to hone its sourcing strategy.
While already sourcing some MRO goods globally, he and his
team are considering taking more of an integrated
supply or outsourcing approach to the buy. UTC, Intel and other
global companies have success with integrated
supply models, where they hire distributors or other companies
to take over the purchasing process, integrating
the provider's technology with their own.
MRO buyers at other companies with worldwide operations are
taking different tacts and are equally successful.
Some deploy sourcing strategies that are global, regional,
national or local with industrial distributors that serve
customers from a base in North America and/or other regions.
Others negotiate pricing agreements with global

manufacturers and buy through distributors for those
manufacturers.
For the most part, these buyers select sourcing strategy for
MRO based largely on requirements of internal
https://search.proquest.com/docview/214453931?accountid=325
21
21
customers. However, supplier readiness and capability also play
an important role in the direction the buyers
choose to pursue.
"It starts with taking a hard look at aggregating the spend and
consolidating sources of supply," says Peter
Torrenti, regional vice president at Quadrem North America in
Chicago. Once buyers take those first steps they
need to make sure suppliers can meet their requirements
regardless of where they are located.
From his post at Quadrem, which hosts an online network of
more than 55,000 MRO suppliers and 1,100 buyers
around the world, Torrenti says he sees more large buying
organizations sending strategic sourcing professionals
out into the market and working with suppliers to evaluate
them. "They are doing deep risk assessments to see

whether the supplier can fill requirements of their operations
wherever they may be."
Strategy that makes sense
At Procter &Gamble in Cincinnati, the purchasing, or
"purchases" operation, is organized by spend category. Each
category is called a spend pool and has an overall strategy and
sub strategies for groups of like items. MRO is a
spend pool with a global strategy that's executed regionally.
P&G has 145 manufacturing sites globally.
"We strive to consolidate our supply base, leverage spending to
create savings, improve productivity and reduce
transactional costs," says Markus Hoff, global MRO spend pool
leader. These efforts align with corporate
objectives and the company's strategy for managing its plant-
based storerooms.
P&G buys off-the-shelf items through distributors. Hoff and his
team consider U.S.-based companies with
operations in Canada, Puerto Rico and Latin America or
branches in Western Europe or Asia as sources. They work
with Western European suppliers with capability in Central or
Eastern Europe. For some operational supplies, P&G
is starting to an integrated supply approach through which
providers purchase, own and manage the items.
Typically, purchasing professionals with responsibility for

sourcing MRO goods for sites located around the world
say they aim for an approach that's global. The ideal is to find
single distributors that can serve their needs across
the world. When they can't find them they look for distributors
that are regional or local.
Brad Gray, global director, purchasing, at The Dow Chemical
Co. in Midland, Mich., says, "We start out at the
highest level possible, a global strategy as the preferred
approach, and then move to regional and then local." Dow
has customers in more than 160 countries and its strategic
sourcing organization is global. Global categories
leaders in MRO set sourcing strategies that align with Dow
business strategies and select the approach that best
delivers agreed upon results.
At IBM, Anna Dulik, global MRO strategic sourcing manager,
and her team source in more than 150 countries for
requirements for the company's facilities and its Business
Transformation Outsourcing (BTO) operations. The BTO
requirements, however, do not influence IBM's internal sourcing
strategy. "The strategy we select," she says,
"depends on type of goods sourced, where the client facilities
are located in relation to where suppliers are located,
level of support, cost and other factors."

And at Intel Corp., in Santa Clara, Calif., the materials
operation has outsourced the buy to an integrated facilities
services provider in the U.S. and is evaluating taking the
concept global to Asia and EMEA (Eurpean, Middle East
and African) countries, where Intel already is working with
regional MRO sourcing companies. Tom Newcomer,
materials manager of facilities services, says they select a
strategy to meet the company's technical requirements
for its manufacturing plants, data centers and office buildings.
Capability and challenges
Results of Industrial Distribution magazine's 62nd Annual
Survey of Distributor Operations show that 72% of
distributors conduct business globally or expect to in the next
three years. Twenty-one percent are setting up
locations internationally.
While distributors based in the U.S. are beginning to have a
presence in other regions (and those based in Europe
and other areas are starting to set up shop here), there are still
hurdles that can slow them down.
Among them are regulatory requirements that prevent a standard
contract from being used across regions and
globally, says Dulik at IBM. Suppliers also may have
excessively high shipping costs due to distance between

locations or delivery time that may be lengthy. And not all
countries allow open purchasing from external (out of
country) suppliers and importing of supplies. Plus there are
taxes and duties that protect local suppliers.
The MRO sourcing operation at IBM-and other companies-has a
formal process for selecting a supplier to fill
requirements of internal customers, typically colleagues in
operations or manufacturing. These processes are
usually part of a multi-step strategic sourcing process. The
supplier selection process also has steps that
specifically address supplier capability.
For instance, global MRO purchasing at Dow has a detailed
supplier approval process that it developed with the
company's manufacturing and engineering operation. Together
the two conduct supplier audits, including site
visits, and put together recommendations that outline strengths
and weaknesses of the supplier.
"Once the team is satisfied that our criteria, such as
environmental health and safety performance, product and
service performance, lowest overall cost of ownership and
reliability, have been met, we place them in our
approved supplier program," says Gray.

Especially important for providers of integrated supply services
is systems capability, says Dave Dunny, director of
global facilities services at Intel. "Ability to source off-the-
shelf is fairly straightforward," he says. "Providers also
have to be able to integrate with our site teams to procure items
that are custom to Intel and be able to
competitively bid those and establish a cost reduction trend over
time. Integration is the best way we've seen to
manage data."
For good suppliers that can't service their needs in certain
countries, global sourcing operations at some
companies help them improve their capabilities or even set up
operations in those countries.
A case in point is P&G. "Through our SRM process, we can
create long-term strategic partnerships with the right
suppliers and together find growth areas in other regions," says
Hoff. "We have projects in India that leverage a
supplier's capability and success in North America with its
business strategy to grow in that country."
Another is Hartford, Conn.-based UTC, where the supply
management operation uses an integrated supply model
for MRO at its manufacturing sites in the U.S. and Canada and
is expanding the approach to Poland, Singapore
and other regions. In Poland, the company works with one of its

North American integrators at its Pratt &Whitney
manufacturing sites. In Singapore, it does business with a
second integrator at a Carrier facility.
As UTC expands its integrated supply model, Scott Little,
global commodity manager, says, "We look the supplier in
the eye and say, 'We need you to support us overseas.''' In one
case, its integrator in the U.S. is leveraging
capabilities of its parent company to expand globally.
UTC businesses learn of the success of the integrated supply
program through its global supply council and its
global operations council. Little presents results at council
meetings, and members let him know they are
interested in implementing integrated supply at their facilities,
helping expand the program.
The first thing for supply management is to convince the
supplier that integrated supply is the right business
model. "We ask if the supplier is able to import from low-cost
regions and source locally and establish
relationships with local suppliers. My concern is that we are
able to function with the local supply chain and
develop it, with the understanding that the integrator is not a
competitor but an extension of the supply chain. In
fact, the local supplier stands to gain more business."

Another challenge for UTC is that the integrated supply model
isn't as developed or accepted in every country, he
says. "We have challenges internally. For instance, we don't
need receipts for products when we use the
integrator's technology. We've taken the step out of the process
and now manage receipt by audit." Little asks for
assistance from UTC operations in the U.S. to communicate
changes and train colleagues overseas.
Beyond cost savings
Benefits of sourcing MRO globally are many, and IBM's Dulik
and the other buyers expect these to be more than
cost-related. She lists some: supply base reduction, leveraged,
consistent pricing and assistance with demand
management and standardization initiatives.
Global MRO buyers have processes in place that track
performance of suppliers providing goods to facilities in
other regions. Informal processes consist of daily feedback;
formal processes are often part of SRM programs.
Buyers work with internal customers to track metrics.
P&G has a formal structure that Hoff says "has as an objective
continuous value creation through sustainable
competitive advantage and internal client satisfaction."

Purchases leads the effort to assure cost savings and
issue resolution measures.
Intel uses report cards to track performance at meeting cost,
quality, availability, delivery, technology and
responsiveness goals. It recognizes suppliers with Supplier
Continuous Quality Improvement awards.
Sidebar
What it Means to Buyers:
Susan Avery
Purchasing operations at world-class companies take into
account total cost of ownership when developing
sourcing strategy for MRO goods and services.
Sourcing strategy-whether global, regional, national or local-
will depend upon capability of the supply base.
Like their customers, suppliers face a host of challenges
associated with setting up shop in other regions of the
world.
Suppliers typically consist of industrial distributors, but also
providers of integrated supply services and business
process outsourcing services. Some buyers negotiate pricing
agreements with global manufacturers and purchase
through distribution.

As with MRO purchases in the U.S., the most important supplier
selection criteria are ability to meet delivery and
service level requirements.
Supplier development and processes to measure supplier
performance are key element of an overall supplier
relationship management (SRM) program.
Sidebar
Advice: MRO buyers should not try to force fit sourcing
strategy
Susan Avery
Despite the challenges and risks, opportunities to extend
sourcing strategy for MRO goods and services to other
parts of the world are too enticing for buyers to pass up.
Purchasing professionals who have a good understanding of the
total cost of ownership (TCO) are among those
who will be most successful at it, says Dale Flanders, global
category director for MRO at Accenture Procurement
BPO in New York.
In his work with purchasing professionals, Flanders helps
source and deploy strategies across multiple regions,
and has seen companies have some success with integrated
supply (IS) agreements and negotiating agreements

directly with manufacturing suppliers.
What doesn't work, he says, is trying to force fit a strategy
developed for sourcing maintenance, repair and
operations (MRO) goods and services in the U.S.
One challenge is locating suppliers with regional or global
scope.
"You have to be really careful about it, because if the supplier
is not capable of meeting your needs in a particular
market, there can be real trouble," Flanders says. "MRO is non-
core, but mission critical for many companies, and
because of that you have to be absolutely sure you have a
supplier that can meet your service needs."
As purchasing professionals with responsibility for MRO goods
and service, know, price makes up only about one
third of the cost. Remaining costs surround processes that
deliver goods to the end user. So Flanders explains
that it is important for buyers to have a global MRO sourcing
strategy that addresses how the company runs its
storeroom and makes improvements in its operation.
"If you have good spend data that shows what you're buying and
who you're buying it from, you still can drive
tremendous value without that single integrator or distributor
across different regions of the world," he says. "Best

practice companies are trying to drive common practices that
address the other two thirds of MRO costs."
Integrated supply is one approach MRO buyers are taking.
Under an integrated supply agreement, providers work closely
with MRO buyers to eliminate and/or streamline non
value-added activities in the process of acquiring and disbursing
indirect items.
Other buyers are extending sourcing strategy for MRO to other
regions by negotiating agreements with global
manufacturers, a practice that isn't common in the U.S., where
purchasing views distributor suppliers as partners
and relationships between the two tend to be strong.
"Purchasing understands the value of distribution," Flanders
says. "It's not like that in other parts of the world.
Typically in the U.S., buyers don't purchase MRO items direct
from the manufacturer. But a company based in a
European country that has a significant spend will go directly to
the manufacturer."
He cites cutting tools and bearings as examples of products that
lend themselves to this strategy. "Manufacturers
will want to negotiate agreements for each region," he says.
"But depending on leverage, a buyer can push back on

this." As in the U.S., buyers then can purchase the items
through distribution.
Sidebar
IBM, Dow, P&G cite skills needed for global MRO purchasing
Susan Avery
To learn what it takes to succeed as a global MRO buyer,
Purchasing spoke recently with individuals who hold
these posts at three world-class companies: IBM, Dow Chemical
and Procter &Gamble. Here is a look at what they
have to say on the topic:
"Understanding total cost of ownership (TCO) as it relates to
MRO is essential," says Anna Dulik, global MRO
strategic sourcing manager at IBM. "Practical knowledge of
ERP/MRP, lean techniques, SAP, integrated supply,
vendor managed inventory (VMI) and consignment are all key
areas of expertise," she says.
In the MRO sourcing organization at Dow Chemical, Brad Gray,
global purchasing director, looks for category
leaders who are both capable and comfortable working and
thinking in a strategic environment where their market
understanding is deepened through the use of business skills and
tools.

At P&G, core sourcing skills (industry analysis, negotiations,
commercial agreements, competitive inquiry, supplier
analysis, etc.), the ability to influence and drive internal
decisions, a global mindset and a good SAP process
understanding are the necessary capabilities for success in the
MRO spend area.
"In addition, an MRO buyer needs to be able to mine data," says
Markus Hoff, global MRO purchasing leader at
P&G. "We have 145 manufacturing sites globally, thousands of
parts and thousands of suppliers," he says.
Sidebar
Distributors follow the leaders
Susan Avery
In 2008, 54% of industrial distributors responding to Industrial
Distribution magazine's 62nd Annual Survey of
Distributor Operations said they have customers who have
moved operations to China, up from 41% in 2006.
According to survey results, 21% are setting up operations in
other regions of the world.
Regions where U.S.-based industrial distributors are
establishing branches:
Canada 58%

Mexico 54%
China 30%
Southeast Asia 16%
Japan 4%
DETAILS
UK 16%
Germany 5%
Eastern Europe 12%
India 12%
Latin America 5%
Other 4%
Subject: Multinational corporations; Corporate purchasing;
Repair &maintenance services;
International markets
Location: United States--US
Classification: 9510: Multinational corporations; 5120:

Purchasing; 8300: Service industries not
elsewhere classified; 9190: United States; 9180: International
Publication title: Purchasing; Boston
Volume: 138
Issue: 2
Pages: 48-52
Number of pages: 1
Publication year: 2009
Publication date: Feb 12, 2009
Section: Features; How They Buy
Publisher: Reed Business Information, a division of Reed
Elsevier, Inc.
Place of publication: Boston
Country of publication: United States, Boston
Publication subject: Business And Economics--Marketing And
Purchasing
ISSN: 00334448

Terms and Conditions Contact ProQuest
CODEN: PURCES
Source type: Trade Journals
Language of publication: English
Document type: Feature
Document feature: Tables Photographs
ProQuest document ID: 214453931
Document URL:
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Copyright: Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of
Reed Elsevier, Inc. Feb 12, 2009
Last updated: 2014-05-26
Database: ProQuest Central
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goes global
40
~

Performances
Erving Coffman
Erving Goffman ( 1922-1982) has been described
as the most important American sociological theo-
rist in the second half of the twentieth century.
Moreover, because of the literary character of his
writing, his influence has extended well beyond the
discipline. As a dramaturgical sociologist, he is
sometimes seen as a perceptive, if somewhat cyni-
cal, chronicler of the contemporary "human com-
edy:' In this selection from The Presentation of Self in
Everyday Ufe, Goffman uses the metaphor of social
life as theater in outlining his dramaturgical per-
spective. In a play, actors attempt to convey to an
audience a particular impression of both the actor
and the social scene. Through the use of scripted di-
alogue, gestures, props, costumes, and so on, actors
create a new reality for the audience to consider.
Goffman is concerned here with the ways in which
a~tors convey a sense of personal identity. He be-
gms with an intriguing discussion about whether
the individual is taken in by her role performance,
embracing it with sincerity or viewing it cynically,
and t~en moves on to an analysis of the nature and
function of the "front"-which he describes as the
"expressive equipment" used to convince the
Other about the authenticity of the individual's per-
formance. Goffman concludes by observing that
fronts-along with other theatrical props-tend
to be embedded in our social worlds. Rather than
social life being improvisational much of it is
Pr d" ' e ICated on routines that actors select when
deemed appropriate.

Belief in the Part One Is Playing
~en an individual plays a part he implic-
~~~ ~equest~ his observers to take seriously
Th Impression that is fostered before them.
they are asked to believe that the character
ey see actually possesses the attributes he
~hehrs to possess, that the task he performs
ave the consequences that are implic-
itly claimed for it, and that, in general, mat-
ters are what they appear to be. In line with
this, there is the popular view that the indi-
vidual offers his performance and puts on
his show "for the benefit of other people." It
will be convenient to begin a consideration
of performances by turning the question
around and looking at the individual's own
belief in the impression of reality that he
attempts to engender in those among whom
he finds himself.
At one extreme, one finds that the per-
former can be fully taken in by his own act;
he can be sincerely convinced that the im-
pression of reality which he stages is th~ real
reality. When his audience is also convmced
in this way about the show he puts on-and
this seems to be the typical case-then for
the moment at least, only the sociologist or
the socially disgruntled will have any doubts
about the "realness" of what is presented.
At the other extreme, we find that the per-

former may not be taken in at all by his own
routine. This possibility is understandable,
since no one is in quite as good an observa-
tional position to see through th~ act ~s the
person who puts it on. Coupled ~Ith this, the
performer may be moved to gmde the con-
viction of his audience only as a means !o
other ends, having no ultimate co':"lcern m
the conception that th~y h.a~e of him or of
the situation. When the mdlVldual has no be-
lief in his own act and no ultimate concern
with the beliefs of his audience,"~e may,call
him cynical, reserving the term ~mcere .for
individuals who believe in the ImpressiOn
fostered by their own perfo~ance: It shoul.d
be understood that the cyme, With ~ll his
professional disinvolvement, m~y obtam un-
professional pleasures from his ma~quer-
d experiencing a kind of gleeful spmtual
:g:~ession from the f~ct th~t he can toy at
will with something his audience must take
seriously.! 11 ·
It is not assumed, of course, t~at a c~m-
cal performers are interested m deludi~g
th . audiences for purposes o~ what I.s
~;r d "self-interest" or private gam. A cym-
cal ~ d" "dual may delude his audience for ca m IVI . d
what he considers to be th~Ir own goo. , or
for the good of the commumty, etc. For Illus-
trations of this we need not appeal to sadly
enlightened showmen such as Marcus
253

·~ l ~ ~ 1 j •
'.' t
i~ ',
254 Part Two: The Branches-Contemporary Social Theory + IX
Symbolic Interactionism
Aurelius or Hsun Tzu. We know that in ser-
vice occupations practitioners who may oth-
erwise be sincere are sometimes forced to
delude their customers because their cus-
tomers show such a heartfelt demand for it.
Doctors who are led into giving placebos,
filling station attendants who resignedly
check and recheck tire pressures for anxious
women motorists, shoe clerks who sell a
shoe that fits but tell the customer it is the
size she wants to hear-these are cynical
performers whose audiences will not allow
them to be sincere. Similarly, it seems that
sympathetic patients in mental wards will
sometimes feign bizarre symptoms so that
student nurses will not be subjected to a dis-
appointingly sane performance. 2 So also,
when inferiors extend their most lavish re-
ception for visiting superiors, the selfish de-
sire to win favor may not be the chief motive;
the inferior may be tactfully attempting to
put the superior at ease by simulating the
kind of world the superior is thought to take
for granted.

I have suggested two extremes: an individ-
ual may be taken in by his own act or be cyni-
cal about it. These extremes are something a
little more than just the ends of a continuum.
Each provides the individual with a position
which has its own particular securities and
defenses, so there will be a tendency for
those who have traveled close to one of these
poles to complete the voyage. Starting with
lack of inward belief in one's role, the indi-
vidual may follow the natural movement
described by Park:
It is probably no mere historical accident
!hat the war~ person, in its first meaning,
Is a mask. It IS rather a recognition of the
fact that everyone is alw~ys and every-
where, mar~ ?r less consciOusly, playing
a role ... It IS m these roles that we know
each other; it is in these roles that we
know ourselves. 3
In a sense, and in so far as this mask repre-
sents the conception we have formed of our-
selves-:-the rol~ we are striving to live up
to-th1~ mask 1s our truer self, the self we
would hke to be. In the end, our conception
of our role becomes second nature and an in-
tegral part of our personality. We come into
the world as individuals, achieve character,
and become persons.4
This may be illustrated from the commu-
nity life of Shetland. s For the last four or five
years the island's tourist hotel has been

owned and operated by a married couple of
crofter origins. From the beginning, the
owners were forced to set aside their own
conceptions as to how life ought to be led,
displaying in the hotel a full round of mid-
dle-class services and amenities. Lately,
however, it appears that the managers have
become less cynical about the performance
that they stage; they themselves are becom-
ing middle class and more and more enam-
ored of the selves their clients impute to
them.
Another illustration may be found in the
raw recruit who initially follows army eti-
quette in order to avoid physical punishment
and eventually comes to follow the rules so
that his organization will not be shamed and
his officers and fellow soldiers will respect
him.
As suggested, the cycle of disbelief-to-be-
lief can be followed in the other direction,
starting with conviction or insecure aspira-
tion and ending in cynicism. Professions
which the public holds in religious awe ofte?
allow their recruits to follow the cycle in th~s
direction, and often recruits follow it in this
direction not because of a slow realization
that they are deluding their audience-for
by ordinary social standards the claims they
make may be quite valid-but because they
can use this cynicism as a means of insulat-
ing their inner selves from contact with the
audience. And we may even expect to find
typical careers of faith, with the individu~l

starting out with one kind of involvement Ill
the performance he is required to give, then
moving back and forth several times be-
tween sincerity and cynicism before com-
pleting all the phases and turning-points of
self-belief for a person of his station. T~us,
st~d~nts of medical schools sugg~st that ~dei
ahsttcally oriented beginners m med~ca
school typically lay aside their holy asp~ra-
tions for a period of time. During the first
two years the students find that theirinterest
i~ medicine must be dropped that t~ey maY
giVe all their time to the task of leammg hr
to get through examinations. During t e
next two years they are too busy learning
about diseases to show much concern for the
persons who are diseased. It is only after
their medical schooling has ended that their
original ideals about medical service may be
reasserted. 6
While we can expect to find natural move-
ment back and forth between cynicism and
sincerity, still we must not rule out the kind
oftransitional point that can be sustained on
the strength of a little self-illusion. We find
that the individual may attempt to induce
the audience to judge him and the situation
in a particular way, and he may seek this
judgment as an ultimate end in itself, and yet
he may not completely believe that he de-
serves the valuation of self which he asks for
or that the impression of reality which he

fosters is valid. Another mixture of cynicism
a~d belief is suggested in Kroeber's discus-
Sion of shamanism:
~ext there is the old question of decep-
t~on. Probably most shamans or medi-
cm.e men, the world over, help along with
~leight-of-hand in curing and especially
lil exhibitions of power. This sleight-of-
hand is sometimes deliberate; in many
cases awareness is perhaps not deeper
than foreconscious. The attitude, whether
there has been repression or not, seems
to be as toward a pious fraud. Field
e!hnographers seem quite generally con-
VInced that even shamans who know that
!hey add fraud nevertheless also believe
m their powers, and especially in those of
other shamans: they consult them when
they themselves or their children are ill. 7
Front
t I have been using the term "performance"
oh:efer to all the activity of an individual
~ Ic.h occurs during a period marked by his
f ntmuous presence before a particular set
0
observers and which has some influence
lb the observers. It will be convenient to
a Jl as "front" that part of the individual's
~e onnance which regularly functions in a
renefal and fixed fashion to define the situa-
~on or those who observe the performance.
stro~, then, is the expressive equipment of a

e~nl ard kind intentionally or unwittingly
£ P oyed by the individual during his per-
onnance. For preliminary purposes, it will
Chapter 40 + Perfonnances 255
be convenient to distinguish and label what
seem to be the standard parts of front.
First, there is the "setting," involving fur-
niture, decor, physical layout, and other
background items which supply the scenery
and stage props for the spate of human ac-
tion played out before, within, or upon it. A
setting tends to stay put, geographically
speaking, so that those who would use a par-
ticular setting as part of their performance
cannot begin their act until they have
brought themselves to the appropriate place
and must terminate their performance when
they leave it. It is only in exceptional circum-
stances that the setting follows along with
the performers; we see this in the funeral
cortege, the civic parade, and the dream-like
processions that kings and queens are made
of. In the main, these exceptions seem to
offer some kind of extra protection for per-
formers who are, or who have momentarily
become, highly sacred. These worthies are to
be distinguished, of course, from quite pro-
fane performers of the peddler class who
move their place of work between perfor-
mances, often being forced to do so. In the
matter of having one fixed place for one's
setting, a ruler may be too sacred, a peddler
too profane. .

In thinking about the scemc aspects of
front, we tend to think of the living room in a
particular house and the small number of
performers who can thoroug~ly i?entify
themselves with it. We have given msuffi-
cient attention to assemblages of sign-equip-
ment which large numbers of performers
can call their own for short periods of time.
It is characteristic of Western European
countries and no doubt a source of stability
for them,' that a large number of luxurious
settings are available for hire to anyone of
the right kind who can afford them. One il-
lustration of this may be cited from a study
of the higher civil servant in Britain:
The question ho~ ~ar the ~en who rise to
the top in the Civil Service take on the
'tone' or 'color' of a class other than that
to which they belong by birth is delicate
and difficult. The only d~fi~ite inf?rma-
tion bearing on the questiOn IS the figures
relating to the membership of the great
London clubs. Mor~ thai?- three~quarters
of our high admimstratiVe offlcmls be-
l'
I
r

~ ,:

Symbolic lnteractionism
long to one or more clubs of high status
and considerable luxury, where the en-
trance fee might be twenty guineas or
more, and the annual subscription from
twelve to twenty guineas. These institu-
tions are of the upper class (not even of
the upper-middle) in their premises, their
equipment, the style of living practiced
there, their whole atmosphere. Though
many of the members would not be de-
scribed as wealthy, only a wealthy man
would unaided provide for himself and
his family space, food and drink, service,
and other amenities of life to the same
standard as he will find at the Union, the
Travellers', or the Reform. 8
Another example can be found in the recent
development of the medical profession
where we find that it is increasingly impor-
tant for a doctor to have access to the elabo-
rate scientific stage provided by large hospi-
tals, so that fewer and fewer doctors are able
to feel that their setting is a place that they
can lock up at night.9
If we take the term "setting" to refer to the
scenic parts of expressive equipment, one
may take the term "personal front" to refer to
the other items of expressive equipment, the
items that we most intimately identify with
the performer himself and that we naturally
expect will follow the performer wherever he

goes. As part of personal front we may in-
clude: insignia of office or rank; clothing;
sex, age, and racial characteristics; size and
looks; posture; speech patterns; facial ex-
pressions; bodily gestures; and the like.
Some of these vehicles for conveying signs,
such as racial characteristics, are relatively
fixed and over a span of time do not vary for
the individual from one situation to another.
On the other hand, some of these sign vehi-
cles are relatively mobile or transitory, such
as facial expression, and can vary during a
performance from one moment to the next.
It is sometimes convenient to divide the
stimuli which make up personal front into
"appeara~ce" and "manner," according to
the functiOn performed by the information
that these stimuli convey. "Appearance" may
be taken to refer to those stimuli which func-
tion at the time to tell us of the performer's
social statuses. These stimuli also tell us of
the individual's temporary ritual state that
is, whether he is engaging in formal ~ocial
activity, work, or informal recreation, whether
or not he is celebrating a new phase in the
season cycle or in his life-cycle. "Manner"
may be taken to refer to those stimuli which
function at the time to warn us of the inter-
action role the performer will expect to play
in the oncoming situation. Thus a haughty,
aggressive manner may give the impression
that the performer expects to be the one who
will initiate the verbal interaction and direct
its course. A meek, apologetic manner may

give the impression that the performer ex-
pects to follow the lead of others, or at least
that he can be led to do so.
We often expect, of course, a confirming
consistency between appearance and man-
ner; we expect that the differences in social
statuses among the interactants will be ex-
pressed in some way by congruent differ-
ences in the indications that are made of an
expected interaction role. This type of coher-
ence of front may be illustrated by the fol-
lowing description of the procession of a
mandarin through a Chinese city:
Coming closely behind ... the luxuri.ous
chair of the mandarin, carried by e1ght
bearers, fills the vacant space in the
street. He is mayor of the town, and for ~ll
practical purposes the supreme power 1.n
it. He is an ideal-looking official, for h~ IS
large and massive in appearance, ~h~lst
he has that stern and uncomprom1s1r:g
look that is supposed to be necessary m
any magistrate who would hope to keep
his subjects in order. He has a stern and
forbidding aspect, as though he were on
his way to the execution ground to have
some criminal decapitated. This is the
kind of air that the mandarins put on
when they appear in public. In the course
of many years' experience, I have _never
once seen any of them, from the highest
to the lowest, with a smile on his face or a
look of sympathy for the people whilst he
was being carried officially through the

streets. tO
But, of course, appearance and manner maY
tend to contradict each other, as when a per-
former who appears to be of higher esta~e
than his audience acts in a manner that IS
unexpectedly equalitarian, or intimate, ?r
apologetic, or when a performer dressed 10
the garments of a high position presents
himself to an individual of even higher
status.
In addition to the expected consistency
between appearance and manner, we expect,
of course, some coherence among setting,
appearance, and manner.l 1 Such coherence
represents an ideal type that provides us
with a means of stimulating our attention to
and interest in exceptions. In this the student
is assisted by the Journalist, for exceptions
to expected consistency among setting, ap-
pearance, and manner provide the piquancy
and glamor of many careers and the salable
appeal of many magazine articles. For exam-
ple, a New Yorker profile on Roger Stevens
(the real estate agent who engineered the
sale of the Empire State Building) com-
ments on the startling fact that Stevens has a
small house, a meager office, and no letter-
head stationery.12
. In order to explore more fully the rela-
h~ns among several parts of social front, it
Will be convenient to consider here a signifi-

cant characteristic of the information con-
veyed by front, namely, its abstractness and
generality.
. J:Iowever specialized and unique a routine
Is: Its social front, with certain exceptions,
Will tend to claim facts that can be equally
c~umed and asserted of other, somewhat
d~fferent routines. For example, many ser-
VIce occupations offer their clients a perfor-
mance that is illuminated with dramatic
expressions of cleanliness, modernity, com-
petence, and integrity. While in fact these
abstract standards have a different signifi-
cance in different occupational perfor-
mances, the observer is encouraged to stress
th~ abstract similarities. For the observer
this is a wonderful, though sometimes disas-
trol!s, convenience. Instead of having to
mamtain a different pattern of expectation
~~d responsive treatment for each slightly
Ifferent performer and performance, he
can place the situation in a broad category
h~ound which it is easy for him to mobi.lize
. Is past experience and stereotypical thmk-
~~· Observers then need only be familiar
1
lth a small and hence manageable vocabu-
~ry of fronts and know how to respond to
t e~, in orde~ to orient themselves in a wide
~~nety of situations. Thus in London the
rrent tendency for chimney sweeps 13 and
Chapter 40 + Performances 257

perfume clerics to wear white lab coats tends
to provide the client with an understanding
that the delicate tasks performed by these
persons will be performed in what has be-
come a standardized, clinical, confidential
manner.
There are grounds for believing that the
tendency for a large number of different acts
to be presented from behind a small number
of fronts is a natural development in social
organization. Radcliffe-Brown has sug-
gested this in his claim that a "descriptive"
kinship system which gives each person a
unique place may work for very small com-
munities, but, as the number of persons be-
comes large, clan segmentation becomes
necessary as a means of providing a less
complicated system of identifications and
treatments. 14 We see this tendency illus-
trated in factories, barracks, and other large
social establishments. Those who organize
these establishments find it impossible to
provide a special cafeteria, special modes .of
payment, special vacation ri?hts, and special
sanitary facilities for every lme and staff sta-
tus category in the organization, and at the
same time they feel that persons of dissimi-
lar status ought not to be indiscriminately
thrown together or classified t?get~er .. As a
compromise, the full range of diversit~ Is .cut
at a few crucial points, and all those Withm a
given bracket are allo~ed or ~bliged ~o
maintain the same social front m certam
situations.

In addition to the fact that different rou-
tines may employ the same front, it is to be
noted that a given social front tends to be-
come institutionalized in terms of the ab-
stract stereotyped expectations to whic~ it
gives rise, and tends to take on a .n:eamng
and stability apart from the specific tas~s
which happen at the time to be pe~formed. m
its name. The front becoi?e~ a coll~ctive
representation" and a fact m Its own nght.
When an actor takes on an establish~d so-
. 1 role usually he finds that a particular
cia ' bl. h d f · front has already been esta IS e or I~.
Whether his acquisition of the role was pn-
marily motivated by a desire to perform the
·ven task or by a desire to maintain the cor-
;~sponding front, the actor will find that he
must do both.
I
I
I
I
''l'
:I,
1«<111''

Symbolic lnteractionism
Further, if the individual takes on a task
that is not only new to him but also unestab-
lished in the society, or if he attempts to
change the light in which his task is viewed,
he is likely to find that there are already sev-
eral well-established fronts among which he
must choose. Thus, when a task is given a
new front we seldom find that the front it is
given is itself new.
Since fronts tend to be selected, not cre-
ated, we may expect trouble to arise when
those who perform a given task are forced to
select a suitable front for themselves from
among several quite dissimilar ones. Thus in
military organizations, tasks are always de-
veloping which (it is felt) require too much
authority and skill to be carried out behind
the front maintained by one grade of person-
nel and too little authority and skill to be car-
ried out behind the front maintained by the
next grade in the hierarchy. Since there are
relatively large jumps between grades, the
task will come to "carry too much rank" or to
carry too little.
Endnotes
1. Perhaps the real crime of the confidence man is
not that he takes money from his victims but that
he robs all of us of the belief that middle-class
manners and appearance can be sustained only by

middle-class people. A disabused professional can
be cynically hostile to the service relation his cli-
ents expect him to extend to them; the confidence
man is in a position to hold the whole "legit" world
in this contempt.
2. See Taxel, op. cit., p. 4. Harry Stack Sullivan has
suggested that the t~ct of institutionalized per-
formers can operate m the other direction, result-
ing in a kind of noblesse-oblige sanity. See his
"Soda-Psychiatric Research," American Journal
of Psychiatry, X, pp. 987-88.
"A study of 'social recoveries' in one of our large
mental hospitals some years ago taught me that
patients were often released from care because
they had learned not to manifest symptoms to the
environing persons; in other words, had inte·
grated enough of the personal environment to re-
alize the prejudice opposed to their delusions. It
seemed almost as if they grew wise enough to be
tolerant of the imbecility surrounding them, hav-
ing finally discovered that it was stupidity and not
malice. They could then secure satisfaction from
contact with others, while discharging a part of
their cravings by psychotic means."
3. Robert Ezra Park, Race and Culture (Glencoe,
IL: The Free Press, 1950), p. 249.
4. Ibid., p. 250.
5. Shetland Isle study.
6. H. S. Becker and Blanche Greer, "The Fate of
Idealism in Medical School," American Sociologi-

cal Review, 23, pp. 50-56.
7. A. L. Kroeber, The Nature of Culture (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1952), p. 311.
8. H. E. Dale, The Higher Civil Service of Great Brit-
ain (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1941),p. 50.
9. David Solomon, "Career Contingencies of ~hi-
cago Physicians" (unpublished Ph.D. dissert~twn,
Department of Sociology, University of Chicago,
1952), p. 74.
10. J. Macgowan, Sidelights on Chinese Life (Phila-
delphia: Lippincott, 1908), p. 187.
11. Cf. Kenneth Burke's comments on the "scene-
act-agent ratio," A Grammar of Motives (New
York: Prentice-Hall, 1945), pp. 6-9.
12. E. J. Kahn, Jr., "Closings and Openings," The
New Yorker, February 13 and 20, 1954.
13. See Mervyn Jones, "White as a Sweep," The
New Statesman and Nation, December 6, 1952.
14. A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, "The Social Organiza-
tion of Australian Tribes," Oceania, I, 440.
"Performances" from The Presentation of Self in Every-
day Life by Erving Goffman. Copyright © 1973 by The
Overlook Press. +

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216 THE ELEMENTARY BELIEFS
transformed by public opinion into sacred things: Fatherland,
Liberty, Rea-
son. 15 A religion tended to establish itself spontaneously, with
its own
dogma, 16 symbols, 17 altars, 18 and feast days. 19 It was to
these spontaneous
hopes that the Cult ofReason and the Supreme Being tried to
give a kind of

authoritative fulfillment. Granted, this religious novelty did not
last. The pa-
triotic enthusiasm that originally stirred the masses died away,
20 and the cause
having departed, the effect could not hold. But brief though it
was, this ex-
periment loses none of its sociological interest. In a specific
case, we saw so-
ciety and its fundamental ideas becoming the object of a
genuine cult
directly-and without transfiguration of any kind.
All these facts enable us to grasp how it is possible for the clan
to awaken
in its members the idea of forces existing outside them, both
dominating and
supporting them-in sum, religious forces. There is no other
social group to
which the primitive is more directly or tightly bound. The ties
that bind him
to the tribe are looser and less strongly felt. Although the tribe
is certainly
not foreign to him, it is with the people of his clan that he has
most in com-
mon, and it is the influence of this group that he feels most
immediately, and
so it is also this influence, more than any other, that was bound
to find ex-
pression in religious symbols.
This first explanation is too general, though, since it can be
applied in-
discriminately to any kind of society and hence to any kind of
religion. Let
us try to specify what particular form collective action takes in
the clan and

how in the clan it brings about the sense of the sacred, for
collective action
is nowhere more easily observable or more obvious than in its
results.
III
Life in Australian societies alternates between two different
phases.21 In one
phase, the population is scattered in small groups that attend to
their occupa-
15See AJb.,rc Mathiez, Les Origines des cultes revolutiomzaires
1789-1792 [Paris, G. BeUais, !90-1].
16lbid., p. 24.
11Ibid., pp. 29, 32.
t!lbid., p. 30.
19Ibid, p. -16.
2 'See (Albert] ~1J.thiez, La 11Jfophilant!Jropie et le mite
dicadaire [Paris, F. Alcan, 1903), p. 36.
21 See [Sir Baldwin) Spencer and [Francis Jam~} Gillen,
l"orthem Tribes (<if Cemral Australia, London,
lucmilbn, 1904), p. 33.
Origins of I11ese Beli~fs (Conclusion)
217
tions independently. Each family lives to itself, hunting,

fishing-in short,
striving by all possible means to get the food it requires. In the
other p~ase,
by contrast, the population comes together, concentrating itself
at specified
places for a period that varies from several days to several
months. This con-
centration takes place when a clan or a portion of the tribe22 is
summoned to
come together and on that occasion either conducts a religious
ceremony or
holds what in the usual ethnographic terminology is called a
corroboree.
23
These two phases stand in the sharpest possible contrast. The
first phase,
in which economic activity predominates, is generally of rather
low intensity.
Gathering seeds or plants necessary for food, hunting, and
f1shing are not oc-
cupations that can stir truly strong passions. 24 The dispersed
state in which
the society finds itself makes life monotonous, slack, and
humdrum. 25 Every-
thing changes when a corroboree takes place. Since the
emotional and pas-
sionate faculties of the primitive are not fully subordinated to
his reason and
will, he easily loses his self-control. An event of any
importance immediately
puts him outside himself. Does he receive happy news? There
are transports
of enthusiasm. If the opposite happens, he is seen running hither
and yon like

a madman, giving way to all sorts of chaotic movements:
shouting, scream-
ing, gathering dust and throwing it in all directions, biting
himself, brandish-
ing his weapons furiously, and so on.26 The very act of
congregating is an
exceptionally powerful stimulant. Once the individuals are
gathered to-
gether, a sort of electricity is generated from their closeness and
quickly
launches them to an extraordinary height of exaltation. Every
emotion ex-
pressed resonates without interference in consciousnesses that
are vide open
.
22
lndeed there are ceremonies, notably those that take place for
initiation, to which memben of fur-
etgn tribes are summoned. A system of messages and
messengers is organized fur the purpose of giving
the nonce that is indispensable for the grand ceremonies. (See
(Alfred William] Howitt. "Notes on Aus-
tralian Message-Sticks and Messengers;' ]AI, vol. XVIII (1889)
(pp. 314-334]; Howitt, Native Tribes (<if
South. East Aus:ralia, New York, Macmillan, 1904], pp. 83,
678-091; Spencer and Gillen, Nati<'t' Tribes (of
Central Australia, London, Macmillan, 1899], p. 159; Spencer
and Gillen, Nonhem Tribts, p. 551 .
. 2Yfhe corroboree is distinguished from a religious rite proper
in that it is accessible to v.'Omen and the
umntnated. But although these two sorts of collective
celebrations must be distinguished, thev J.re closelv
related. I will return to and explain this relationship. , ,

2'E . th xcept m e case of the large bush-beating hunts.
25"Th e peaceful monotony of this part of his life;' say Spencer
and Gillen (i:'onhem Tribes, p. 33).
26
Howitt. r-,; · Tr 'b 6 3 , fo . ' ala'!' " es, P· 8 · Here it is the
demonstrations that take place when an emba,sy «ent to
.L mgn group returns to carnp With news of a favorable result.
[Durkheim will not be the one to """"rt
""'t the ernb . . h b --,. v
. assy m questlon ad een entrusted to women. Howitt does not
;av what the warne • ·
SJOn was abo T I Cf · ns mls-
18 ut. rans. . [Robert] Brough Smyth, [TI•e Aborigind
,:flr,aoria], vol. I [Melbourne ]. Fer-
res!, 78], P· 138; [Reverend Louis] Schulze, "Aborigines of the
Upper and Middle Finke Ri . .. .RSS ,
'0. XVI{891], p. 222. wr, ' -"'•
to external impressions, each one echoing the others. The initial
impulse is
thereby amplified each time it is echoed, like an avalanche that
grows as it
goes along. And since passions so heated and so free from all
control cannot
help but spill over, from every side there are nothing but wild
movements,
shouts, downright howls, and deafening noises of all kinds that
further in-

tensifY the state they are expressing. Probably because a
collective emotion
cannot be expressed collectively without some order that
permits harmony
and unison of movement, these gestures and cries tend to fall
into rhythm
and regularity, and from there into songs and dances. But in
taking on a more
regular form, they lose none of their natural fury. A regulated
commotion is
still a commotion. The human voice is inadequate to the task
and is given ar-
tificial reinforcement: Boomerangs are knocked against one
another; bull
roarers are whirled. The original function of these instruments,
used widely
in the religious ceremonies of Australia, probably was to give
more satisfYing
expression to the excitement felt. And by expressing this
excitement, they
also reinforce it. The effervescence often becomes so intense
that it leads to
outlandish behavior; the passions unleashed are so torrential
that nothing can
hold them. People are so far outside the ordinary conditions of
life, and so
conscious of the fact, that they feel a certain need to set
themselves above and
beyond ordinary morality. The sexes come together in violation
of the rules
governing sexual relations. Men exchange wives. Indeed,
sometimes inces-
tuous unions, in normal times judged loathsome and harshly
condemned, are
contracted in the open and vith impunity.27 If it is added that
the ceremonies

are generally held at night, in the midst of shadows pierced here
and there by
firelight, we can easily imagine the effect that scenes like these
are bound to
have on the minds of all those who take part. They bring about
such an in-
tense hyperexcitement of physical and mental life as a whole
that they can-
not be borne for very long. The celebrant who takes the leading
role
eventually falls exhausted to the ground.28
To illustrate and flesh out this unavoidably sketchy tableau,
here is an ac-
count of scenes taken from Spencer and Gillen.
One of the most important religious celebrations among the
Warra-
27See Spencer and Gillen, latit.,Tribts, pp. 96-97, Northern
Tribes, p. 137; Brough Smyth, Aborigines <if
llcroria, vol. II. p. 319. This ritual promiscuity is practiced
especially during initiation ceremonies
(Spencer and Gillen, Nath<e Tribes, pp. 267, 381; Howitt,
Natit'e Tribes, p. 657) and in totemic ceremonies
(Spencer and Gillen, Northern Tribes, pp. 214,237, 298). The
ordinary rules of exogamy are violated dur-
ing totemic ceremonies. Nevertheless, among the Arunta, unions
between father and daughter, son and
mother. brothen and sisters (all cases ofblood kinship) remain
forbidden (Spencer and Gillen, i''atit<e Tribes
[pp. 96-97j).
::SHcrn,;tt, Natit'eTribes, pp. 535, 545. This is extremely
common.

Origins of These Beliefs (Cotulusioll)
219
munga concerns the snake Wollunqua. It is a series of rites that
unfold over
several days. What I will describe takes place on the fourth day.
According to the protocol in use among the Warramunga,
representa-
tives of the two phratries take part, some as celebrants and
others as organiz-
ers and participants. Although only the people of the Uluuru
phratry are
authorized to conduct the ceremony, the members of the Kingilli
phratry
must decorate the participants, prepare the site and the
instruments, and
serve as the audience. In this capacity, they are responsible for
mounding
damp sand ahead of time, on which they use red down to make a
drawing
that represents the snake Wollunqua. The ceremony proper,
which Spencer
and Gillen attended, did not begin until nightfall. Around ten or
eleven o'-
clock, Uluuru and Kingilli arrived on the scene, sat on the
mound, and be-
gan to sing. All were in a state of obvious excitement ("every
one was evidently
very excited"). A short time later in the evening, the Uluuru
brought their
wives and handed them over to the Kingilli,29 who had sexual
relations with

them. The recently initiated young men were brought in, and the
ceremony
was explained to them, after which there was uninterrupted
singing until
three in the morning. Then came a scene of truly wild frenzy ("a
scene of the
wildest excitement"). With fires flickering on all sides, bringing
out starkly the
whiteness of the gum trees against the surrounding night, the
Uluuru knelt
in single file beside the mound, then moved around it, rising in
unison with
both hands on their thighs, kneeling again a little farther along,
and so on. At
the same time, they moved their bodies left and then right, at
each move-
ment letting out an echoing scream-actually a howl-at the top of
their
voices, Ymh! Yrrsh! Yrrslz! Meanwhile the Kingilli, in a high
state of excite-
ment, sounded their boomerangs, their chief appearing to be
even more ex-
cited than his companions. When the procession of the Uluuru
had circled
the mound n.vice, they rose from their kneeling position, seated
themselves,
and took to singing again. From time to time, the singing would
flag and al-
most die, then break out suddenly again. At the first sign of
day, everyone
jumped to their feet; the fires that had gone out were relit;
urged on by the
Kingilli, the Uluuru furiously attacked the mound vith
boomerangs, lances,
and sticks, and in a few minutes it was in pieces. The fires died
and there was

profound silence.30
The same observers were present at a yet "vilder scene among
the War-
ramunga during the fire rituals. All sorts of processions, dances,
and songs
had been underway by torchlight since nightfall, and the general
efferves-
:nsmce the women were also Kingilli, these unions violated the
rule of exogamy.
31
'Spencer and Gillen, Nortlurn Tribes, p. 237. [This account
begins at p. 231. Trans.]
cence was increasingly intense. At a certain moment, twelve of
those present
each took in hand a large lighted torch; and, holding his own
torch like a
bayonette, one of them charged a group of natives. The blows
were parried
with staves and lances. A general melee followed. Men jumped,
kicked,
reared, and let out wild screams. The torches blazed and
crackled as they hit
heads and bodies, showering sparks in all directions. "The
smoke, the flam-
ing torches, the rain of sparks, the mass of men dancing and
screaming-all
that, say Spencer and Gillen, created a scene whose wildness
cannot be con-

veyed in words." 31
It is not difficult to imagine that a man in such a state of
exaltation
should no longer know himself. Feeling possessed and led on by
some sort of
external power that makes him think and act differently than he
normally
does, he naturally feels he is no longer himself. It seems to him
that he has
become a new being. The decorations with which he is decked
out, and the
masklike decorations that cover his face, represent this inward
transformation
even more than they help bring it about. And because his
companions feel
transformed in the same way at the same moment, and express
this feeling by
their shouts, movements, and bearing, it is as if he was in
reality transported
into a special world entirely different from the one in which he
ordinarily
lives, a special world inhabited by exceptionally intense forces
that invade and
transform him. Especially when repeated for weeks, day after
day, how
would experiences like these not leave him with the conviction
that two het-
erogeneous and incommensurable worlds exist in fact? In one
world he lan-
guidly carries on his daily life; the other is one that he cannot
enter without
abruptly entering into relations with extraordinary powers that
excite him to
the point of frenzy. The first is the profane world and the
second, the world

of sacred things.
It is in these effervescent social milieux, and indeed from that
very effer-
vescence, that the religious idea seems to have been born. That
such is in-
, deed the origin tends to be confirmed by the fact that what is
properly called
religious activity in Australia is almost entirely contained
within the periods
when these gatherings are held. To be sure, there is no people
among whom
the great cult ceremonies are not more or less periodical, but in
the more ad-
vanced societies, there is virtually no day on which some prayer
or offering
is not offered to the gods or on which some ritual obligation is
not fulfilled.
In Australia, by contrast, the time apart from the feasts of the
clan and the
31 lbid., p. 391. Other examples of collective effervescence
during religious ceremonies are found in
Spencer and Gillen, ."i<>tiwTribes, pp. 244-246. 356-366,374,
509-510. (The last occurs during a funeral
rite.) Cf. Spencer and Gillen, Nmhern Tribes, pp. 213, 351.
Origins of These BelitifS (Conclusion) 221
tribe is taken up almost entirely with secular and profane
activities. Granted,
even during the periods of secular activity, there are
prohibitions that must be

and are observed. Freely killing or eating the totemic animal is
never per-
mitted, at least where the prohibition has kept its original
strictness, but
hardly any positive rite or ceremony of any importance is
conducted. The
positive rites and ceremonies take place only among assembled
groups. Thus,
the pious life of the Australian moves between successive
phases-one of ut-
ter colorlessness, one of hyperexcitement-and social life
oscillates to the
same rhythm. This brings out the link between the two phases.
Among the
peoples called civilized, on the other hand, the relative
continuity between
them: partially masks their interrelations. Indeed, we may well
ask whether
this starkness of contrast may have been necessary to release
the experience
of the sacred in its first form. By compressing itself almost
entirely into cir-
cumscribed periods, collective life could attain its maximum
intensity and
power, thereby giving man a more vivid sense of the twofold
existence he
leads and the twofold nature in which he participates.
But this explanation is still incomplete. I have shown how the
clan awak-
ens in its members the idea of external forces that dominate and
exalt it by
the way in which it acts upon its members. But I still must ask
how it hap-
pens that those forces were conceived of in the form of the
totem, that is, in

the form of an animal or plant.
The reason is that some animal or plant has given its name to
the clan
and serves as the clan's emblem. It is, in fact, a well-known law
that the feel-
ings a thing arouses in us are spontaneously transmitted to the
symbol that
represents it. Black is for us a sign of mourning; therefore it
evokes sad
thoughts and impressions. This transfer of feelings takes place
because the
idea of the thing and the idea of its symbol are closely
connected in our
minds. As a result, the feelings evoked by one spread
contagiously to the
other. This contagion, which occurs in all cases to some extent,
is much
more complete and more pronounced whenever the symbol is
something
simple, well defined, and easily imagined. But the thing itself is
difficult for
the mind to comprehend-given its dimensions, the number of its
parts, and
the complexity of their organization. We cannot detect the
source of the
strong feelings we have in an abstract entity that we can
imagine only with
difficulty and in a jumbled way. We can comprehend those
feelings only in
connection 'vith a concrete object whose reality we feel
intensely. Thus if
the thing itself does not meet this requirement, it cannot serve
as a mooring
for the impressions felt, even for those impressions it has itself
aroused. The

symbol thus takes the place of the thing, and the emotions
aroused are trans-
ferred to the symbol. It is the symbol that is loved, feared, and
respected. It

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