Premium
Ascending and Descending Meaning: A Theoretical Inquiry into Play and Ritual
Author(s) -
Henricks Thomas S.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
sociological inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.446
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1475-682X
pISSN - 0038-0245
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-682x.1980.tb00829.x
Subject(s) - meaning (existential) , perspective (graphical) , epistemology , sociology , philosophy , computer science , artificial intelligence
The author introduces the dichotomy “ascending‐descending meaning” as a perspective for analyzing human relationships. After certain general considerations, this perspective is applied to two important forms of human activity—ritual and play. It is argued that the ascending‐descending framework both clarifies the meaning of these two terms and directs attention to their important relationship to each other.