As the grandparent points out, ritual literally/etymologically does mean a religious practice, but the use of ritual as metaphor in broader context in academic writing is weakening the religious portion of the meaning.
The first linked paper defines a ritual as "(a) predefined sequences that are characterized by rigidity, formality and repetition that are (b) embedded in a larger system of symbolism and meaning, but (c) contain elements that lack direct instrumental purpose".
Doing ctrl-alt-delete to get the attention of a Windows computer certainly fits (a) but it doesn't fit (b) without a considerable stretch and it doesn't fit (c) at all.
(The second linked paper quotes the first paper's definition, or something basically indistinguishable from it; the paper itself isn't about saying what rituals are, it's about exploring why they exist. Very little of what it says about that is applicable to ctrl-alt-delete.)
It's absolutely true that "ritual" doesn't just mean religious ritual. But it's also not as broad as "anything that people repeatedly do in more or less the same way".
You’d have to ask a historian. My sister did a master’s degree in archaeology and this is what she told me. Opinions may still differ and I’m sure some historians still operate under the religious connotation. The history of academia is inextricably linked with the church (universities were originally built to educate the clergy) and many schools still carry religious charters.
Unfortunately, social sciences don’t use mathematically rigorous definitions the way “hard sciences” do, even as they begin to adopt more rigour in their practices (statistical methods, radiometric dating).
Yes, this is the common meaning in all of the humanities and social sciences. In that context if you mean a ceremony or a religious ritual, you'd need to say that specifically.
mlyle|2 years ago
https://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/jschroeder/Publications/Ho...
or
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7423255/
As the grandparent points out, ritual literally/etymologically does mean a religious practice, but the use of ritual as metaphor in broader context in academic writing is weakening the religious portion of the meaning.
gjm11|2 years ago
Doing ctrl-alt-delete to get the attention of a Windows computer certainly fits (a) but it doesn't fit (b) without a considerable stretch and it doesn't fit (c) at all.
(The second linked paper quotes the first paper's definition, or something basically indistinguishable from it; the paper itself isn't about saying what rituals are, it's about exploring why they exist. Very little of what it says about that is applicable to ctrl-alt-delete.)
It's absolutely true that "ritual" doesn't just mean religious ritual. But it's also not as broad as "anything that people repeatedly do in more or less the same way".
now__what|2 years ago
chongli|2 years ago
Unfortunately, social sciences don’t use mathematically rigorous definitions the way “hard sciences” do, even as they begin to adopt more rigour in their practices (statistical methods, radiometric dating).
giraffe_lady|2 years ago