Offered as credit for either Religious Studies or Sociology, and taught by a sociology professor, it linked the disciplines in a fascinating way, resulting in a double major and in a two-department combined thesis. This paper is a book review that examines the relationship between technology and the economy on the one hand, and religion and ethics on the other. By this semester, I had a decent grasp of the sociological method that informs the study. The technoecological sociocultural system stands as the basis for Felicitas D. Goodman's Ecstasy, Ritual, and Alternate Reality . She explains the differences in religious belief and behavior among societies as directly dependent upon food production technology.
All religions have rituals, which are highly varied in form and intent.
Every culture has its own set of values and guidelines by which to live. She includes societies which rely on fishing in this category. Religion in horticultural societies tends to seem like a middle ground between hunter-gatherer types and agricultural types. Only a few members of the society become religious leaders. Goodman neglects to describe the lifestyle of pastoralists in the same manner in which she characterizes the aforementioned society types.