Table of Contents
Definition of Animatism
(noun) The belief that all things (objects) animate and inanimate are endowed with an impersonal, supernatural life force that influences people and events.
Example of Animatism
- A rainstorm and a rock have power.
Animatism Pronunciation
Syllabification: an·i·ma·tism
Audio Pronunciation
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /ˈænəməˌtɪzəm/
- British English – /ˈanᵻməˌtɪz(ə)m/
Usage Notes
- Plural: animatisms
- Term coined by Robert Marett (1866–1943) in The Threshold of Religion (1900) as a criticism of Edward Tylor’s (1832–1917) idea of animism developed in Primitive Culture (1871).
- Marett developed the concept of animatism based on Robert Henry Codrington’s (1830–1922) The Melanesians: Studies in their Anthropology and Folk-Lore (1891). Codrington’s ethnography began anthropology’s fascination with the topic of mana or an essential and impersonal, supernatural power that resides in all people, places, and things (objects). In addition to The Threshold of Religion (1909), Marett continued to explore mana in Anthropology (1912), and Psychology and Folklore (1920). Émile Durkheim (1858–1917) in Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912) would later contend that totemism was the most basic expression of religion, therefore disagreeing with both Tylor and Marett.
- Animism contends objects rather than beings (gods or spirits) are the dominant cosmological power.
- Animatism is often confused with animism. However, in animism, everything has a unique spirit, and in animatism, everything shares the same force.
- A type of belief system and cosmogony.
- Also called:
- manaism
- preanimism (pre-animism)
- supernaturalism
- An individual that believes in animatism is an (noun) animatist and has an (adjective) animatistic belief system.
Related Quotation
- “Although few people think of it this way, animatism is very much in evidence in contemporary industrial societies” (Thompson and Hickey 2012:425).
Additional Information
Related Terms
Reference
Thompson, William E., and Joseph V. Hickey. 2012. Society in Focus: An Introduction to Sociology. 7th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Works Consulted
Macmillan. (N.d.) Macmillan Dictionary. (https://www.macmillandictionary.com/).
Merriam-Webster. (N.d.) Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/).
Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wiktionary, The Free Dictionary. Wikimedia Foundation. (http://en.wiktionary.org).
Cite the Definition of Animatism
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “animatism.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved April 25, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/animatism/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
animatism. (2014). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/animatism/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “animatism.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed April 25, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/animatism/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“animatism.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2014. Web. 25 Apr. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/animatism/>.