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Firewalking in Japan, Sri Lanka, and the USA

Firewalking in Japan, Sri Lanka, and the USA Firewalking in Japan, Sri Lanka, and the USA: Social Ecology and Applied Ideology JAMES McCLENON Elizabeth City State Uniaersity, Elizabeth City, NC, U.S.A. ABSTRACT A cross-cultural study of the ideologies justifying firewalking illustrates the manner in which ideas are shaped by their environment. Firewalking can be interpreted as part of a rhetorical process producing a society's "folk knowledge." Japanese firewalkers, of the Bud- dhist Shingon sect, firewalk as an exercise in "mind control," an activity thought to yield benefits for the community as well as the individual. Sri Lankans (both Hindu and Buddhist) participate in firewalking ceremonies in fulfillment of religions vows. American entrepreneurs organized secular firewalking "seminars," using the activity as a form of psychotherapy. Skep- tical scientists firewalked, seeking to debunk the notion that "mental powers" are associated with firewalking success. The study's conclusions support those of Wuthnow (1981) regarding the relationship between social ecology and the production, selection, and retention of ideologies. THIS INVESTIGATION SEEKS to explain the ideological variation justifying firewalking in Japan, Sri Lanka, and the USA. An analysis of the rationalizations for this practice supprts Wuthnow's (1981) argument that ideologies are dependent upon, and constrained by, their social environments and that idea-systems http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png International Journal of Comparative Sociology (in 2002 continued as Comparative Sociology) Brill

Firewalking in Japan, Sri Lanka, and the USA

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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© 1988 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0020-7152
eISSN
1745-2554
DOI
10.1163/156854288X00292
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Firewalking in Japan, Sri Lanka, and the USA: Social Ecology and Applied Ideology JAMES McCLENON Elizabeth City State Uniaersity, Elizabeth City, NC, U.S.A. ABSTRACT A cross-cultural study of the ideologies justifying firewalking illustrates the manner in which ideas are shaped by their environment. Firewalking can be interpreted as part of a rhetorical process producing a society's "folk knowledge." Japanese firewalkers, of the Bud- dhist Shingon sect, firewalk as an exercise in "mind control," an activity thought to yield benefits for the community as well as the individual. Sri Lankans (both Hindu and Buddhist) participate in firewalking ceremonies in fulfillment of religions vows. American entrepreneurs organized secular firewalking "seminars," using the activity as a form of psychotherapy. Skep- tical scientists firewalked, seeking to debunk the notion that "mental powers" are associated with firewalking success. The study's conclusions support those of Wuthnow (1981) regarding the relationship between social ecology and the production, selection, and retention of ideologies. THIS INVESTIGATION SEEKS to explain the ideological variation justifying firewalking in Japan, Sri Lanka, and the USA. An analysis of the rationalizations for this practice supprts Wuthnow's (1981) argument that ideologies are dependent upon, and constrained by, their social environments and that idea-systems

Journal

International Journal of Comparative Sociology (in 2002 continued as Comparative Sociology) – Brill

Published: Jan 1, 1988

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