Communitas

Communitas is a <a href="/facts/Latin/pM3Kge85">Latin</a> <a href="/facts/Noun/SsnDNfkX">noun</a> commonly referring either to an unstructured <a href="/facts/Community/LIptGwqy">community</a> in which <a href="/facts/Person/XD3Hhqup">people</a> are equal, or to the very spirit of community. It also has special significance as a <a href="/facts/Loanword/PWGYczgY">loanword</a> in <a href="/facts/Cultural_anthropology/6WK5EDeu">cultural anthropology</a> and the <a href="/facts/Social_sciences/hAbm1xtD">social sciences</a>. <a href="/facts/Victor_Turner/nvz1smyF">Victor Turner</a>, who defined the anthropological usage of communitas, was interested in the interplay between what he called social 'structure' and 'antistructure'; Liminality and Communitas are both components of antistructure.
Communitas refers to an unstructured state in which all members of a community are equal allowing them to share a common experience, usually through a rite of passage. Communitas is characteristic of people experiencing <a href="/facts/Liminality/RCRbU2gN">liminality</a> together. This term is used to distinguish the modality of social <a href="/facts/Interpersonal_relationship/rxgcYdBC">relationship</a> from an area of common living. There is more than one distinction between <a href="/facts/Structure/xQDPtqDQ">structure</a> and communitas. The most familiar is the difference of <a href="/facts/Secular/uCj9a25U">secular</a> and <a href="/facts/Sacred/TFqpyxkc">sacred</a>. Every social position has something sacred about it. This sacred component is acquired during <a href="/facts/Rite_of_passage/GbQjNoee">rites of passages</a>, through the changing of positions. Part of this sacredness is achieved through the transient humility learned in these phases, this allows people to reach a higher position.

Communitas open-in-new

Communitas