Glossary // Glossary term Theoretical
Interaction ritual chain
Randall Collins's sociological theory, developed from Durkheim, in which everyday encounters with co-presence, a shared focus and a shared mood work as rituals. Successful rituals generate emotional energy and symbols of membership, failed ones drain energy, and people are drawn towards the encounters that pay off. It is a theoretical framework rather than a measured model. From Durkheim's collective ritual to Collins's interaction ritual chains, collective effervescence and synchrony: what theories of shared emotion propose, what gatherings and rituals have been found to do, and why ritual is not resolution. The works the definition rests on, with the level of evidence each was appraised at. (2004). Interaction ritual chains. doi:10.1515/9781400851744 Supports the claim that Collins proposed that successful interaction rituals create symbols of membership and emotional energy while failed rituals drain it. Theory built on microsociological observation, not a quantitative test. (1912). Les formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse [The elementary forms of religious life]. Supports historical claims that Durkheim described collective religious ritual as producing heightened shared emotion and renewed attachment to the group. It makes no measured claim, and its ethnographic sources are dated.Where the site uses it
Studies behind it