Ethnic Ritual Function Of Maintaining Social Stability In Ethnic Minority Areas

Because the minority areas are located in remote mountain area, where economyis backward, traffic is inconvenient, culture is occlusive, and state power will be hardto permeate, so using control means which is the symbol of state power such asorgans of state power laws is difficult to achieve the expected effect, But the habit of"living law" -- customs, norms with respective national characteristics formed indifferent cultural traditions, and restricting local social daily behavior standards, haveplayed a very good control effect. But the national customs basically belongs to theabstract state of a kind of culture, concept and mode of thinking, How to make itspecific external performance, as well as more directly impact on the local people’sconsciousness, and play a role in controlling and integrate social, which requires usmust use a certain symbol system to make it specific external forms of operation --ceremony, and be strategic to make these abstract cultural values become a specificexternal expression, and give its rationality and authority, in order to realize thefunction of social control, social stabilization. Therefore, this thesis will discuss andanalysis the function of maintaining social stability on the national characteristics ofritual in the minority areas with the national characteristics of the ceremony as astarting point, and try to maintain the social stability of ethical region in our countryfrom the meso and micro level and put forward some pertinent policy suggestions.The research contents are divided into five parts:The first part is the introduction part. It introduces the research origin, purpose,significance, the domestic and foreign research review, writing ideas, researchmethods.The second part is the basic concepts and theory. In this part, the nationalcharacteristics ceremony is defined, as well as the underlying theory, such as socialcontrol theory, the ceremony functional theory are described in detail.The third part is the particular analysis of maintaining social stability in ethnicareas. In this part, around the analysis of maintaining social stability in ethnic areas,there mainly include the analysis of the following respects:1, cultural environmentparticularity; 2, the particularity of social control.The fourth part is the relationship analysis between national characteristics ofritual and national customs. This part will define and analysis the concepts andfeatures of the national characteristics of rituals and national customs, and alsoanalysis and discuss the relationship between the two. Points out the national customsis mainly as the culture, idea and thinking mode consist in the hearts of the people inethnic minority areas, and the ceremony with a variety of national beliefcharacteristics is the specific external form of the traditional culture, values andabstract thinking mode, through the ritualistic exhibition, it can transfer certain valuesand behavior norms to participants, and generate a strong sense of identity andbelonging in the eyes of each participant, and then it can play the role of maintainingsocial order through the ceremony more directly, more effectively.The fifth part is the analysis about the social stability function of the nationalcharacteristics of ritual. In this part, through specific examples of the national characteristics of ritual, having discussed the positive function of ceremony instrengthening social norms, promoting social integration and the possible negativefunctions such as the negative effect which strengthening traditional authority,national identity and certain rituals containing the ignorant and backward factors maymake.The sixth part is the countermeasure proposal. This section based on the aboveanalysis is a comprehensive summary, and put forward countermeasures andsuggestions to better exert the role of national ceremony in maintaining socialstability.This paper will use the politics, ethnology, folklore, sociology, anthropology andhistory research methods, to Marx’s historical materialism as a guide, from theory topractice, from history to reality, a systematic analysis and research.