Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0415205549, Paperback)

This new edition of a classic work, first published to great acclaim in 1975, provides an excellent introduction to the thought of social anthropologist Mary Douglas. The author has now revised the text to include additional chapters and a new introduction.

Implicit Meanings includes writing on the key themes which are associated with Mary Douglas' work and which have had a major influence on anthropological thought, such as food, pollution, risk, animals and myth. Together, the papers here demonstrate the importance of seeking to understand those beliefs and practices which are implicit and a priori within cultures which might seem to be alien. Mary Douglas shows how anthropology can make a central contribution to knowledge and understanding across disciplines, and in everyday life.