TOWARD A MARXIST ANTHROPOLOGY OF RELIGION

Author(s): Maurice Godelier

Source: Dialectical Anthropology, Vol. 1, No. 1 (NOVEMBER 1975), pp. 81-85
Published by: Springer
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Dialectical
? Elsevier

I (1975)
81-98
Anthropology
Scientific Publishing Company,

- Printed

Amsterdam

in The Netherlands

COMMUNICATIONS
TOWARD A MARXIST ANTHROPOLOGY

Maurice

OF RELIGION

Godelier

It is not my intention to present here a

textual analysis of Marx and Engels on religion.
Rather, I wish to give an example of how
can proceed
to analyze
Marxist anthropologists
religion in the precapitalist
their concern.

are

societies which

of humans.

Primitive

thought personifies
?
and unconsciously
and
spontaneously
as
such
real?
objective
projects
personifications
ities which appear to be both transcendent and

nature

of the human mind. Marx posited

the
(in Capital)
analogy between the religious
forms of ideology and the spontaneous
repre?
sentations which humans construct concerning
independent

the origin and nature of the value of goods.

What Marx called the enigmatic character of
fetishism stems from the fact that
commodity
what

to the naive

consciousness

appears
from things themselves, albeit in a
mysterious way, is, in reality, crystallized
labor, the product of social relations. All
categories
same fetishism, which
money,
value:

Godelier

Laboratoire

inaccessible

to the naive and

consciousness
of those living in
spontaneous
capitalist society is the internal structure of
social relations. The mechanism
of surplus
?
value
the
fact
that
wages are not
specifically,
the equivalent of the value the worker creates,
and the fact that profit is not payment for
?
as the
presents itself to consciousness
of
this
hidden
but
opposite
profound reality.
Value, which is a social relation, presents itself
work

as a thing. The fantasmagoric

character of this
image consists in the reification of the relations

of production

social

humans

share this

capitalism
in the idea of
culminates

at the
is Professor of Anthropology
Sociale, of the College de France
d'Anthropologie
11 Place Marcelin
and of the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes,
Berthelot, Paris.

Maurice

remains

But what

the

that is to say, of money producing

value producing new value, or surplus

capital;

I, 1, p. 158)

and the personification

of things.
a
is
for
fantastic
Marx,
then,
Religion
aspect
of social life, an illusory representation of the
internal relations of nature, a domain in which

as stem?

ming

of mercantile

new jump, a new surplus-value and finally grows by itself.

In a word, value seems to have acquired
the occult quality
of reproducing itself or at least of laying golden eggs.
{Capital,

I shall briefly recall Marx's

Nevertheless,
theses on religion. For Marx, religion is a
fantastic reflection of the real world in the
minds

substance, with a life of its

appears as an automatic
own, while changing its forms incessantly, also changes in
size and spontaneously,
in as much as it is value, produces a

Value

alienate

themselves

themselves, that is, represent

fantastically to themselves, and act

in an illusory fashion on an imaginary reality.

For Marx, religious thought and practice are the
product of definite social relations and can
only be transformed by transforming those
relations. It is not consciousness
that must in?
evitably alienate itself, but rather it is reality
that hides its internal structure from conscious?
ness. Marx

therefore does not

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look for a

82
theoretical

critique

or a battle of ideas as a way

religious illusions. That can only

when
society itself is transformed,
happen
when social relations not based on class
to defeat

come into being, and when the

exploitation
workers themselves command
the processes of
and
social
of
organization.
production
Such

is the core of the view Marx

held. But

we must

remember that for him the "principle

task was yet undone"
insofar as the scientific
"It
and critical analysis of religion is concerned:
is easier to demonstrate
the earthly content of

of religion than to
conceptions
go the other way and show how the real condi?
tions gradually became clothed in these clouds."
these ethereal

(Capital, I, 2, p. 59) Few Marxists have taken

up the challenge. Yet such a theoretical analysis
is vital ifwe are to elaborate a scientific theory
of ideology, and of the role of "representations
in everyday life; and, on a deeper
alienate
of
how
humans spontaneously
plane,
themselves in the network of social relations.
sociales"

I shall examine several examples

Accordingly,
of religious practice and imagery in precapitalist
society.
first of all, the Mbuti Pygmys, col?
Observe,
lective hunters who inhabit the equatorial
forest
of the Congo. The Mbuti live in small bands

(ranging from seven to thirty families of four

or five persons each) that hunt and gather wild
products over a delimited territory recognized

as theirs by neighboring bands. The internal

of the bands is extremely fluid.
composition
Families always have the option of leaving one

for another, where they are sure to find

them. No
relatives or friends ready to welcome

band

individualfamilyor individualqua individual

possesses property rights over the land. But

each must belong, if they are to continue
to a band. The band is comprised
reproducing,
of a loose association

of nuclear families, and it

is this social unit that works the natural re?
sources and generates the means of production.
in the pro?
In each band, individuals cooperate

process according to their specified sex

or generational
roles. There is no chief, author
duction

ity being shared between the sexes and genera?

tions. Anyone who tries to transform prestige
into power is criticized and ridiculed. The hunt
is carried out primarily by means of nets, the
and youth driving the game before
them. The catch is divided among all the

women

of the band; the products of gathering

are divided within the nuclear family.
Each morning, before leaving for the hunt,

members

activities

the Pygmies light a fire at the base of a tree in

honor of the forest. They pass in front of the
fire as they leave the camp and they often
to the forest to ask for game. In the
evening, upon their return, the game is divided
chant

at the foot of the same tree, and a prayer of

thanks is offered to the forest for the game it
yielded. The forest for the Pygmies, therefore,
is an omnipotent,
and omniscient
omnipresent,
or kin
kin
it
address
the
by
divinity. They
terms that designate father, mother,
friend, even lover, but itwould be a major

based

error

to think that the Mbuti conceive of the forest

as a reality entirely distinct from themselves.
?
it con?
For them, the forest is all of existence
sists of the trees, plants, animals, sun, moon,
and the Mbuti themselves. When a Mbuti dies,
his or her breath leaves and mixes with the wind,
is the breath of the forest. Human beings,
therefore, are a part of that totality which
exists as an omnipotent
and omnipresent
so
to
person; they are,
speak, part of the body
of God.

which

Briefly synopsizing Mbuti religious practice,

one can specify two levels and two forms. The
?
first comprises routine
the rituals of the hunt
and other normal
consists

camp activities; the second

either in
of exceptional
circumstances,

the lifeof an individualor in the lifeof the

group. With reference to the individual, such

rites occur at birth, female puberty, marriage,
death, or sickness. On the level of the band,
there are collective rituals when puberty or
death
occurs.

(elima for puberty, molimo

If illness should devastate

small molimo
protection

for death )
a band, a
to ask for the

ritual is performed
of the forest. Therefore,

and bounty

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83
religion is both a daily act and an activity that
in
at each critical moment
makes its appearance
of the individual and in the
the development
life of the band

as a whole,

defined

as an

organic social unity.

I shall present only a brief description of the
most important Mbuti ritual, the molimo,
which is performed in honor of the death of a

respected adult. It consists first in an intensifica?

tion of economic
life, the hunt. More game is
of the sharing is
the
and
reciprocity
captured

more

intense. The evening meal is transformed

into a feast, followed by dances and special
chants in homage to the forest. These chants
summon

the forest to visit its children.

In the

the young people enter the camp car?

rying trumpets from which they draw sounds
which are the "voice" of the forest; the voice is

morning,

interpreted as answering the call of its children;

the forest is visiting them. Any man who is
caught sleeping upon the coming of the forest
is banished, nude and without arms, because he
of the group
has interrupted the communion

not as
the molimo
nor
as
individuals,
particular families, nor even
as a local band. Rather it is as Mbuti ? human
beings living a certain type of life in a particular
?
environment
tl^at the ritual finds its deepest

The Mbuti

celebrate

expression.

Clearly, that religious usage represents both

a real and a symbolic action upon the real and
imaginary conditions necessary for the repro?

of the social system. But at the same

time a phenomenon
of inversion occurs: by
more
intensely, by sharing more game,
hunting
in the dance, the Mbuti act
by comm?ning
duction

themselves in a real manner, even though

think
their new unity is the product, the
they
of
the
forest's bountiful presence.
effect,
we
have here an example of what Marx
Perhaps
upon

by the "dark room," or negative,

mechanism
of ideological representation.
meant

In religious representations
imaginary causes
replace real ones. Or at least real causes are
into the effects of imaginary,
causes personified by an omni?

transformed
transcendent

with thedivinityofwhich it is a part.

potent being to whom all owe their gratitude

and love. And if, the following day, the hunt is
as good or even better, that is one more proof

reflection one realizes that this

religious practice is a positive action by the
Mbuti on their social reality. By hunting more,
by sharing more, they intensify their solidarity

to help. No doubt is strong enough to break

through such faith; the religious consciousness
is circular.

There are no priests among the Mbuti. Or,

rather, everyone is a priest and believer, and all
on the
recognize their common dependence
forest. Upon

and strengthen the union of the members

the band; they act on the conflicts which

accumulated

for the reproduc?

tions, including the conditions
tion of the social system within a natural

relations.

though they lack the power to overcome

the
such contradictions,
they accentuate
aspects

of their social

life; indeed,

the sacred,
of social rela?

consists

Even

positive

of the divine,
in the hidden articulation

of

life; they act, therefore,

and at the same time symbolically,
of their social

real content

The

and anxious

have

in daily

realistically,
on the contradictions

that the forest is kin to the Mbuti

they

epitomize thewhole of theirsocial life in these

environment.
resentation
manent
cause

in the system, appears in the form of a

that is assumed to be transcendent to the

society. More precisely, that articulation, an un?

intentional reality, is represented in the form of

the
acts. In a certain perspective,
the
final
constitutes
point of
religious practice
on
of the
contradictions
the
actions
all political

a personified

of theunion of all theMbuti with the forest.

unintentional

religious

in the despair over the death

system. Beginning
of an adult, the ritual climaxes in the exaltation

Or at least it inheres in the rep?

of that articulation which, im?

consciousness,

cause

to which is attributed a
a will, and an intention ? an

reality, a god.
What, then, is religious alienation? When the
immanent emerges as transcendent, when the

anthropological

is given as intentional, when

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the

84
that is, as
appears as superhuman,
an omnipresent being ? this represents aliena?
tion in the form of religion.

nonhuman

On the basis of the Mbuti example, I shall go

on to suggest the transformations of religious
phenomena which are related to the emergence
of classes and of the state. Even in hunting and

the shaman
gathering societies one encounters
access to the divine, and who
who monopolizes

is best equipped
to mediate
the imaginary con?
ditions for the reproduction
of the system. He
can summon the rain, or recall vanishing game,
and so on. The shaman has a superior status; he
to penetrate into the space which
humans
from the gods; he finds him?
separates
self a little above others because he is a little

has begun

closer

to the gods. He

is above

the others be?

cause they recognize that they are dependent

is
on him. And the inverse of dependence
?
the
shaman
The
Eskimo,
among
obligation.
?
is already a kind of specialized
for example
priest, intervening with the supernatural
powers who control the conditions of natural
and cultural reproduction. He receives, in ex?

another group. Hence

religion legitimates
of the chiefs of the dominant
domination

the

lineages. But one also perceives that this

is shared by both the dominated
domination
and the dominating. There inheres in religion,
therefore,

the source of a violence

without

the ideal cement

for exploitative
violence,
social relations. Even so, among the Caddoans
the chief still represented his people to the gods,
and was

the incarnation

common

of a
and development
in?
and political

economic

tradition;
equality remained limited.
The Inca were a different
The

son of the Sun

story altogether.
is no longer the represen?
to the gods,, but of the gods

tative of his people

to his people.
In order to understand
this
?
namely, the deification
qualitative
change
?
we must understand
social power
that we

of
are

dealing with a class society and that the

dominant class, that of the Inca ethnic group,
ruled the state. Among the Inca we confront the
oldest

form of class society: the base is still a

collection of tribal communities.
But in this context religious ideology is no
longer a simple reflection of social relations. It

now constitutes

change for his services, gifts, more game, etc.:

and they constitute the first fruits of that extra
work which provides surplus for a specialist
The first in?
who is becoming a nonproducer.

an internal factor in the social

forces of production;
it is a constitutive ele?
ment in the exploitative
economic
and political

takes, as another example, the Pawnee,

Wichita, and other people who lived in large
before
sedentary villages along the Mississippi

peasantry and the dominant class, is not only an

after-the-fact legitimation of the structure of
the relations of production,
but is itself internal

religious, political,
equality on an economic,
and symbolic level is found here.
If one

the arrival of the white man, one can see a

in the direction of political
further progression

inequality. The chief inherited,

a packet of antelope skin that
matrilineally,
several teeth, along with magic ob?
contained
jects; this packet insured the return of the corn
and religious

and the bison herds. The

controlled

the means

chief, therefore,
to assure the welfare of

the community, for tradition had it that if the

packet were lost or stolen the whole tribe
would

It might

fragment.
a society, and each member

even cease
would

to exist as

have

to join

control of the peasantry by the ruling aristoc?

racy. This belief in the supernatural efficacy of
the Inca, a belief shared by both the dominated

to these relations. As
local community,
conditions of existence

each

soon as each

individual,
imagines that it owes its
to the supernatural

power of the Inca, then individuals and com?

munities alike find themselves dependent
on

the Inca and under the obligation

to provide
him with goods and services, so as to celebrate
his transcendent glory. Yet itwas assumed that
he was only getting his dues, since the Inca had
been

the divine

instrument of reproduction
and
here
inside
the
Religion operates

prosperity.
relations of production,

and thus determines

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85
the type of information that the members of
society have at their disposal about the nature
of their system. In turn, this type of informa?
tion determines the actions of groups and

tions which religion discharges in each case, we

a theory, specific to each case, of the con?
ditions for the emergence of a given set of

need

social relations

and their relation to the base,

of production. The task is to develop
a theory of relations between economy and
society that can account for the way in which
assume fantasmagoric
social processes
forms

trying to maintain or transform the

social system. For example, during a drought
the Indians under the Inca empire inevitably
individuals

the mode

their religious sacrifices. They

burned quantities of precious cloth on the
intensified

in history.

huacas, the sacred resting places of the gods

and ancestors; one sacrificed llamas, another
drank beer. Given

symbolic

and labor.

to find the true measure

a theoretical

For

I have

referred was nascent

Translated

the

even

and history
to unfold in a

the multiple
particular way. To understand
forms of social evolution and the different func

the French

by Stanley

Maurice.
"Fetichisme,
religion et theorie gene'rale de
in
(1970). Reprinted
l'ideologie chez M&ix" Annali
en anthropologie.
Paris: Maspero,
Horizon,
trajets marxistes
1973.

Godelier,

Holder, P. The Hoe and

Cultural Development

of such pervasive in?

But let us be clear

here: Marxism
is not evolutionism
is not a seed which is predestined

from

BIBLIOGRAPHY

the Mbuti,

accelerating development
equalities was inevitable.

of the value of our

Diamond

who know only a certain in?

sexes
the
of
and generations. And it
equality
seem
am
I
that
might
suggesting that the
among

part is left

theories.

trompe-Voeil.
sequence seems to suggest that the later develop?
ment of the pervasive socioeconomic
inequality
to which

to be con?

social relations. By jointly pursuing the mean?

ing of that type of transformation we can hope

But by placing in sequence

these four
the
the
Eskimo
Mbuti,
shaman, the
examples
?
I
Pawnee chief, and the Inca son of the Sun
have created

a theory remains
noted, the main

In any case, the theory is developed

suf?
ficiently for us to know that the critique of
religion cannot rest on the plane of ideas, but
depends on the practical transformation of

relations,
class, the
basically in an

labor, commanded
by the
of
the
the
dead
and
of
supernatural powers
gods, and consuming vast amounts of material
resources

Such
as Marx

undone.

theii form of social

dominated by a politico-religious
response of the Indians consisted
immense

structed;

Lincoln:

Marx, Karl
-.

University
and Frederick

1964.
Schocken,
Sur les Societes
1970.

theHorse

on

the Plains:

Among North American

of Nebraska
Press, 1970.
Engels. On Religion.

precapitalistes.

A Study of
Indians.

New

Paris: Editions

York:
Sociales,

in English as
Turnbull, Colin. Wayward Servants.
(Published
The Forest People. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1961.)

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