Rules and Meanings

Rules and Meanings: The Anthropology of Everyday Knowledge. Selected Readings
Paperback edition
AuthorMary Douglas
LanguageEnglish
SubjectsCultural anthropology, Sociology of knowledge
PublisherPenguin Books
Publication date
1973
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint
Pages320 pp.
ISBN0-415-29107-0
Preceded byNatural Symbols 
Followed byImplicit Meanings 

Rules and Meanings: The Anthropology of Everyday Knowledge. Selected Readings is an anthology of readings in cultural anthropology and the sociology of knowledge, edited by Mary Douglas and first published by Penguin Books in 1973 in their series Penguin Modern Sociology Readings. The background to the selection and the treatment of the 45 excerpts provided was a course on cognitive anthropology taught by Douglas at University College London. She not only selected the readings, but also provided a general introduction to the volume and a brief introduction to each of the eight sections.[1] The theme running throughout is that "reality is socially constructed".[2]

  1. ^ Review by William C. McCormack in American Anthropologist, New Series, 78:3 (1976), p. 654.
  2. ^ Rules and Meanings, p. 9.