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Theory of ‘Revitalization Movement’ by Anthony F. C. Wallace.
edt. By: Muhammad Ilias sabbir
Anthony F. C. Wallace, one of the most influential American anthropologists of the modern
era, brings together some of his most stimulating and celebrated writings. These essays
feature his seminal work on revitalization movements, which has profoundly shaped our
understanding of the processes of change in religious and political organizations—from the
nineteenth-century code of the Seneca prophet known as Handsome Lake to the origins of
world religions and political faiths. Wallace also discusses mazeways—mental maps that join
personalities with cultures and thereby illustrate how individuals embrace their culture,
conduct everyday life, and cope with illness and other forms of severe personal or cultural
stress.
Wallace offers a set of insightful observations and analyses of change on topics ranging from
immediate responses to disasters to long-term technological adaptations and transformations
in artistic style. Wallace's theories, fieldwork, and concepts continue to challenge scholars
across disciplines, including anthropologists, historians, sociologists, and theologians.
About Anthony F. C. Wallace
Anthony Francis Clarke Wallace (1923- ) is a Canadian-American anthropologist who
specializes in Native American cultures, especially the Iroquois. His research expresses an
interest in the intersection of cultural anthropology and psychology. He is famous for the
theory of revitalization movements.
He was born in Toronto, Ontario, in 1923, the son of the historian Paul Wallace, and did both
undergraduate and graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a student
of A. Irving Hallowell and Frank Speck. He received his Ph.D. in 1950. He later taught at the
University of Pennsylvania, where his students included the anthropologist Raymond D.
Fogelson. He was also for a time the Director of Clinical Research at the Eastern
Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute.
His major works include many writings and some of those are given bellow,
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(1949) King of the Delawares: Teedyuscung.
(1952) The Modal Personality Structure of the Tuscarora Indians, as Revealed by the
Rorschach Test. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office.
(1961) Culture and Personality. New York: Random House.
(1966) Religion: An Anthropological View.
(1969) (with Sheila C. Steen) The Death and Rebirth of the Seneca. New York:
Random House.
(1978) Rockdale: The growth of an American village in the early industrial
revolution. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
(1987) Saint Clair: a nineteenth century coal town's experience with a disaster prone
industry. New York: Random House.
(1993) "The Long, Bitter Trail." New York: Hill and Wang
(1999) "Jefferson and the Indians: The Tragic Fate of the First Americans."
Cambridge, MA: Belknap/Harvard
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Background of his study on Revitalization Movement
In 1956, Anthony F. C. Wallace published a paper called "Revitalization Movements" to
describe how cultures change themselves. A revitalization movement is a "deliberate,
organized, conscious effort by members of a group to create a new culture," and Wallace
describes at length the processes by which a revitalization movement takes place. Wallace
derived his theory from studies of so-called primitive peoples (preliterate and homogeneous),
with particular attention to the Iroquois revitalization movement led by Seneca religious
leader and prophet Handsome Lake (1735-1815). Wallace believed that his revitalization
model applies to movements as broad and complex as the rise of Christianity, Islam,
Buddhism, or Wesleyan Methodism.
His interest in the study of social movements grew out of an early fascination with the history
of American Indians, particularly the Iroquois and Delaware of the north eastern US. As a
teenager he went along with his father, Paul Wallace, a historian of Indian-white relations in
the colonial period, on visits to several Iroquois reservations, and Anthony Wallace handcopied hundreds of pages of colonial manuscripts for his father in the days before the Xerox
machine was invented. In the course of these excursions, he learned about the new religion of
Handsome Lake, which had been introduced to the Iroquois in the early 1800s. After earning
his PhD (1950) in cultural anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in
American Indian studies, he returned to the subject of Handsome Lake and, with the support
of a Faculty Research Fellowship from the Social Science Research Council, began a longplanned study of the life and times of Handsome Lake, the Iroquois prophet.
In the course of this biographical research, however, he decided he needed to read about other
religious prophets and social reformers, not only among American Indians, but also around
the world, including American Indian “nativistic movements” like the Ghost Dance (which
prompted the infamous massacre at Wounded Knee), “cargo cults” in Melanesia, “terre sans
mal” migrations in South America, and even the origin of the great religions and their various
divisions. His assistant, Sheila Steen, a graduate student in anthropology at Penn, and he were
amazed at the similarity of process in these movements, for which she suggested the term
revitalization movement. The biographical study of Handsome Lake was put on the shelf, and
with the support of a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, they began to coiled
published and unpublished data, eventually developing a file at Penn on several hundred
revitalization movements around the world. The general description of the type was
published in the American Anthropologist paper in 1956.
Wallace’s theory at a glance
In his theory, Wallace introduces the concept of revitalization and describes uniformly found
processual phases of revitalization movements. Many movements, nativistic movements,
reform movements, cargo cults, religious revivals, messianic movements, utopian
community, sect formation, mass movement, social movement, revolution, and charismatic
movements are types of revitalization movements. Though they differ in individual and social
salience, they are all characterized by a uniform process and the motive of constructing a
more satisfying cultural system. The processual structure of revitalization movements include
1) a steady state, 2) a period of individual stress, 3) a period of cultural distortion, and 4) a
period of revitalization. Within the revitalization period six major tasks occur: 1) “mazeway”
reformulation, 2) communication to others, 3) organization of followers, 4) adaptation to
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contention and conflict, 5) cultural transformation, and 6) routinization of the new culture
system. When this occurs, the revitalization creates a new steady state. Though process is
basically the same, revitalizations vary in structure. Revitalizations can seek to revive
traditional culture, they can seek to import a foreign cultural system, or they can seek a never
before seen utopia. They can be achieved either through secular or religious means or start off
as one type but then proceed with the means of the other. The degree of nativism can vary
from movement to movement as well as within a movement processually. Finally movement
participants vary in their ability to gauge the effectiveness of their revitalization campaigns
and ability to strategize against contention thus affecting success or failure.
Wallace’s theory in detail
The body of his theory is devoted to two ends: (1) an introductory statement of the concept of
revitalization, and (2) an outline of certain uniformly-found processual dimensions of
revitalization movements.
1) The concept of Revitalization
Anthony Wallace writes as a religious anthropologist of a functional orientation. This school
of anthropology conceives that the role of culture is to meet the physical and psychological
needs of society. From his perspective Wallace defines "revitalization movements" as
"deliberate, conscious, organized efforts by members of a society to create a more satisfying
culture" (1956, 279; 1966, 30). Leaders of societies deliberately and consciously seek some
type of revitalization when their basic needs are not being met. A more satisfying culture is
created out of this organized effort to revitalize disintegrating culture. These revitalization
movements occur under two related conditions (1956, 179).
First, revitalization movements occur during times of stress for individual members of the
society. In animistic societies fear of spirits and ancestors or witchcraft and sorcery during
times of catastrophe creates fear which is immeasurable to either a Christian or secularist.
Stress is especially obvious during times of persistent illness. "Who has caused this
sickness?" the animist typically asks. Thus Umbanda spiritists of Brazil commonly say,
"Umbanistas come to Umbanda through the door of suffering" (Brown 1979, 280). The
animist might seek to defeat the forces of both personal and impersonal spiritual power by
coming to Christ. In this way Christian conversion frequently leads to what Wallace calls a
revitalization of culture.
Second, revitalization movements occur when there is widespread disillusionment or
disappointment with existing cultural beliefs. Such disillusionment is created when
government bulldozers in Melanesia uproot trees that are thought to be taboo or when
Christopagan Catholics among the Chontal Indians perform the traditional rituals to protect
their animals from illness and death, but the animals die anyway (Turner 1984, 116). In each
of these cases, animists seek both a functional power that works and a belief system that
explains how to bring on the power. When traditional rites appear not to be working, other
integrative cultural Gestalts are sought. Cultural innovators then seek ways of reducing stress
by developing new models around which to organize cultural patterns.
So, revitalization is a phenomenon of culture change and it is a process: the persons involved
in the process of revitalization must see their culture, or some major areas of it, as a system
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(whether accurately or not); they must feel that this cultural system is unsatisfactory; and they
must innovate a new cultural system and specifying new relationships. The classic processes
of culture change are evolution, drift, diffusion, historical change, acculturation and all these
produce changes in cultures as systems; however, these changes may not be the result of
deliberate intention of the member of that society, but rather on a gradual chain-reaction
effect. For instance, Wallace mentioned, introducing A induces change in B; changing B
affects C; when C shifts, A is modified; this involves D ... and so on and infinitum. This
process continues for years, generations, centuries, and millennia. So culture change is slow,
chain-like, self-contained procession of superorganic inevitabilities. In revitalization
movements, however, A, B, C, D, E ... N are shifted into a new Gestalt immediately and
simultaneously in purpose; and frequently within a few years the new plan is put into effect
by the participants in the movement.
According to Wallace, the term "revitalization" implies an organismic analogy. This analogy
is, in fact, an important part of the concept of revitalization. A human society is here regarded
as a definite kind of organism, and its culture is conceived as those patterns of learned
behavior which certain "parts" of the social organism or system (individual persons and
groups of persons) typically demonstrate. A society will work, by means of coordinated
actions (including "cultural" actions) by all or some of its parts, to preserve its own integrity
by maintaining a minimally favorable condition for its individual members, and under stress
it will take emergency measures to preserve the life supporting and favorable condition.
Stress is defined as a condition in which some part, or the whole, of the social organism is
threatened with more or less serious damage. While using organismic analogy, Wallace has
also included the cells and organs of persons as elements of the system while narrating the
stress factor in society. He provides example by saying, lowering of sugar level (hunger) in
the fluid matrix of the body cells of one group of persons in a society is a stress in the society
as a whole.
Wallace researched the Iroquois Indians in developing his revitalization model. Two
movements are described in some detail.
The first movement, around 1450, focused on the outsider Hiawatha. While living in the
forests because of depression due to the death of his wife and family, he was visited by the
god Dekanawidah. Meeting this god face-to-face became for him a "moment of moral
rebirth." From that time Hiawatha took upon himself Dekanawidah's mission: to convince the
five tribes of the Iroquois to unite into a union and prohibit blood disputes among themselves.
Iroquois culture was revitalized by this prophetic message, which enabled the tribe to develop
military and economic power during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (Wallace 1966,
33-34).
The second movement occurred toward the end of the eighteenth century when the Iroquois
were living in poverty and dishonor. They were demoralized by whiskey, expelled from their
traditional lands, and scattered among tiny reservations between rapidly developing white
settlements. They were unable to compete with white technology because of illiteracy and
lack of training. Were they, as many other aboriginal peoples, to disappear as a distinct
cultural group? Would they become a marginal people on the periphery of white society? At
this time of cultural demoralization, a past chief named Handsome Lake, who reflected his
culture's demoralization, had the first of a number of visions from representatives of Creator
God. He was given a glimpse of heaven and hell and told that the Iroquois must become new
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men or be sent to hell. Handsome Lake began to insist the Iroquois to stop quarrelling, cease
drinking, reject witchcraft, and follow his new code of conduct Gaiwiio, "good word." He
advised rejection of the old maternal lineage responsibilities and encouraged respect for the
nuclear family. He challenged the men to work the fields as the white man, a job traditionally
assigned to women. He pushed them to follow advantageous white practices without losing
their cultural identity. Handsome Lake's code revitalized the Iroquois. They became
moderate, hard-working farmers. Today his religion continues to be "followed by hundreds of
Iroquois on reservations in New York and Canada" (Wallace 1966, 31-33; Ember 1977, 305).
Then Wallace has headed to show what "revitalization movements" revitalize. Whenever an
individual who is under chronic, physiologically measurable stress, receives repeated
information, which indicates that his mazeway does not lead to action which reduces the level
of stress. Then the person fall in a state of perplexity where he needs to decide whether he
will continue with the present mazeway and tolerating the stress, or change the mazeway in
an attempt to reduce the stress. Changing the mazeway involves changing the total Gestalt of
his image of self, society, and culture, of nature and body, and of ways of action. It may also
be necessary to make changes in the "real" system in order to bring mazeway and "reality"
into similarity. As a result when effort is given in order to change the mazeway and "real"
system together for effective stress reduction and a number of persons cooperate in such an
effort is called a revitalization movement.
2) The processual structure or stages in a Revitalization Movement
A basic methodological principle has been employed in the study of Wallace is that of event
analysis (Wallace 1953). This approach employs a method of controlled comparison for the
study of processes involving longer or shorter diachronic sequences (vide Eggan 1954 and
Steward 1953). It is hypothesized that events or happenings of various types have common
structures independent of local cultural differences. After a severe physical disaster, for
example, in cities in Japan, the United States, and Germany, it will postulate a sequence of
happening what in return will display a uniform pattern, highlighted but not covered by local
differences in culture. These types of events may be called behavioral units. Their uniformity
is based on common human attributes, both physical and psychological.
Wallace uses his research of the Iroquois to formulate his model of revitalization movements.
Despite cultural variations, he perceives that "such movements follow a remarkably uniform
program" throughout the world (1966, 158). He sees five stages of a revitalization cycle: the
steady state, the period of increased individual stress, the period of cultural distortion, the
period of revitalization, and the new steady stage.
a) The steady state
During the initial steady stage, the needs of society are generally met so that stress in the
system "varies within tolerable limits" (1956, 266). Conceptions of birth, life, and death are
clear and believable. The stage is characterized by a "moving equilibrium," with change due
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to gradual flow rather than deliberate intent by members of the society (1966, 158). Since the
society is basically satisfied with the status quo. Some severe but still tolerable stress may
remain general in the population, and a fairly constant incidence of persons under intolerable
stress may employ "deviant" techniques. Gradual modification or even rapid substitution of
techniques for satisfying some needs may occur without disturbing the steady state. There are
two conditions for the steady state to work even after a slide modification or substitution (1)
the techniques for satisfying other needs are not seriously hampered with, and (2)
abandonment of a given technique by replacing with a more efficient technique for reducing
one need and also to leave the former technique to accomplish other needs with the prospect
of satisfaction. During this stage, the Chontal Indian would not question the fact that, if he
keeps the rituals, his animals will live. If one animal at a time dies, he would likely attribute it
to his neglect in meticulously keeping very complicated rituals.
b) The period of increased individual stress
Tension rises during the period of increased individual stress. Members of society have
difficulty coping with their problems. Tension may arise due to population explosion,
information explosion, transitions from a face-to-face to an impersonal society, warfare,
drought, disease, the encroachment of Westernism, or the death of more than one animal in
one's group. Over a number of years, individual members of a population (which may be
"primitive" or "civilized," either a whole society or a class, caste, religious, occupational,
acculturational, or other definable social group) experience increasingly severe stress as a
result of the decreasing efficiency of certain stress-reduction techniques. The culture may
remain essentially unchanged or it may undergo considerable changes, but in either case there
is continuous reduction in its efficiency in satisfying needs.
The Chontal Indian would ask, "Why have the rituals not protected my animals?" A Brazilian
woman asks, "Why can I not find someone to marry?" and in frustration turns to the spirit
medium for guidance (St. Clair 1971, 181). When a culture does not have answers to societal
dilemmas, it becomes ripe for change. At a certain point, members of a society can seek
alternative way. Initial consideration of a substitute way is likely to increase stress because it
arouses anxiety over the possibility that the substitute way will be even less effective than the
original, and that it may also actively interfere with the execution of other ways. In other
words, it poses the threat of mazeway collapse. In order to relieve the tension created by
such dilemmas, cultural innovators begin to look for internal cultural solutions. Or an
outsider, like a missionary, may suggest new options not previously considered by the
culture. At this point anyone considering a new way is regarded as a deviant; his options are
revolutionary.
c) The period of cultural distortion
During the period of cultural distortion, new options confront old ways as people seek
resolutions to the tensions of society. Society is in a state of unrest. Old conceptions are seen
as increasingly incomprehensible and are continually called into question. Cultural needs are
not being met. Within such a society there is an increasing imbalance and instability. What
Wallace calls "the regressive response" exhibits itself in alcoholism, extreme passivity and
indolence, the development of highly ambivalent dependency relationships, intragroup
violence, disregard of kinship and sexual mores, irresponsibility in public officials, states of
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depression and self-reproach, and probably a variety of psychosomatic and neurotic
disorders. (1956, 269)
The prolonged experience of stress, produced by failure of need satisfaction techniques and
by anxiety over the prospect of changing behavior patterns, will vary from person to person.
Rigid persons apparently prefer to tolerate high levels of chronic stress rather than make
systematic adaptive changes in the mazeway. More flexible persons try out various limited
mazeway changes in their personal lives, attempting to reduce stress by addition or
substitution of mazeway elements with more or less concern for the Gestalt of the system.
The culture is "internally distorted" because "the elements are not harmoniously related but
are mutually inconsistent and interfering" (1956, 269). As a result, the society is extremely
open to any change as people search for alternatives around which to revitalize society.
Change is anticipated and even demanded for the revitalization of society. The new way,
which was considered deviant, is now an alternative. The Chontal Indian who has seen much
of his flock die no longer believes in the old Christopagan rituals and is extremely receptive
to a message about a caring, sovereign Creator God.
However, if revitalization does not take place, anomie will continue to increase and the
process of cultural worsening can lead to cultural breakdown. The populations of
disintegrating societies can die off, splinter into autonomous groups, or be absorbed into a
larger, better integrated society. Wallace says, "This process of deterioration can, if not
checked, lead to the death of the society" (1956, 270). For example, the Yir Yoront of
Australia have failed to survive as a distinct cultural entity because the symbol of paternal
authority, the stone axe, was damaged by the early introduction of steel axes into the culture
(Sharp 1952).
d) The period of revitalization
This process of deterioration can, if not checked, lead to the death of the society. Population
may fall even to the point of extinction as a result of increasing death rates and decreasing
birth rates; the society may be defeated in war, invaded, its population dispersed and its
customs suppressed; factional disputes may nibble away areas and segments of the
population. But these dire events are not infrequently forestalled, or at least postponed, by a
revitalization movement. Many such movements are religious in character, and such religious
revitalization movements must perform at least six major tasks (1956,270):
1) Mazeway reformulation: An individual in the culture has a mazeway reformulation: He
begins to picture his society in a new and different way. His mazeway--his personal
perspective on his culture's worldview--no longer correlates with mainstream interpretations.
Whether the movement is religious or secular, the reformulation of the mazeway generally
seems to depend on a restructuring of elements and subsystems which have already attained
currency in the society and may even be in use, and which are known to the person who is to
become the prophet or leader. The way people come to believe on the so called prophet
happens in a glimpse of time, a brief period of realization of relationships and opportunities.
These moments are often called inspiration or revelation. Every religious revitalization
movement, according to Wallace, has been originally considered in one or several
hallucinatory visions by a single individual. A supernatural being appears to the prophet-to-
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be, explains his own and his society's troubles as being entirely or partly a result of the
violation of certain rules, and promises individual and social revitalization if the commands
are followed and the rituals practiced. These dreams express: 1. the dreamer's wish for a
satisfying parental figure (the supernatural, guardian-spirit content), 2. world-destruction
fantasies (the apocalyptic,
millennial content), 3. feelings of guilt and anxiety (the moral content), and 4. desire for the
establishment of an ideal state of stable and satisfying human and supernatural relations (the
restitution fantasy or Utopian content).
A new mazeway Gestalt is presented, with more or less innovation in culture system. The
prophet feels a need to tell others of his experience, and may have definite feelings of
missionary or messianic obligation. Generally he shows evidence of a radical inner change in
personality soon after the dream experience: a reduction of old and chronic physical
criticisms, a more active and purposeful way of life, greater confidence in interpersonal
relations, the dropping of deep-seated habits like alcoholism. Hence these visions can be
called "personality transformation dreams." Where there is no vision, there occurs a similarly
brief and dramatic moment of insight, revelation, or inspiration.
2) Communication: This cultural innovator becomes a prophet, communicating his new
interpretation of reality to his people. The dreamer starts to preach his revelations to people,
in a prophetic or messianic spirit. Thus he becomes a prophet. The doctrinal and behavioral
orders which he preaches carry two fundamental themes: firstly, the person who will convert
himself to the innovated system will come under the care and protection of certain
supernatural beings: and secondly, both he and his society will benefit significantly from a
discovery with some definable new cultural system. The preaching may take many forms
(e.g., mass buzz word vs. quiet individual advice) and may be directed at various sorts of
audiences (e.g., the elite vs. the oppressed). The disciples of the preachers also conduct much
of the responsibilities of preaching and communicating “good work” to the people.
3) Organization: The prophet establishes an organization, which will give continuity to his
cultural perspectives. The power of the prophet must be transferred to others, or the
movement is apt to die with the prophet who gave it birth. This organization will be
constituted by three orders of personnel: the prophet; the disciples; and the followers. People
may be converted to the new religion or culture system through different ways, such as :
some experience an delighted vision in private circumstances; some are convinced by more
or less rational arguments, some by considerations of practicality and opportunity. Like the
prophet, many of the converts undergo a revitalizing personality transformation. Max Weber
has denoted a term ‘Charismatic leadership’ which will be well suited for the preachers of
revitalization movement. According to Weber, this sort of leader will have mysterious
authority and moral superiority; all Followers will defer to the charismatic leader not because
of his status in an existing authority structure but because of a fascinating personal "power,"
often ascribed to supernatural sources and validated in successful performance.
4) Adaptation: The organization must adapt to the struggle that it is bound to encounter. This
type of movement will inevitably encounter some struggle or resistance. These resistances
can be slight and short-lived but more commonly is strong-minded and resourceful, and is
held either by a powerful faction within the society or by agents of a dominant foreign
society. That is why it would be essential to use various strategies of adaptation: doctrinal
modification; political and diplomatic tactic; and force. These strategies are mutually
inclusive, once chosen, and necessarily maintained through the life of the movement. Wallace
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referred that he has evidence, which proves that these original doctrines are continuously
modified by the prophet, who responds to various criticisms and affirmation by adding to,
emphasizing, playing down, and eliminating selected elements of the original visions. Thus
the modification actually serves the interest of the groups and makes it more acceptable to
special interest groups, may give it a better "fit" to the population's cultural and personality
patterns, and may take account of the changes occurring in the general milieu. In instances
where organized opposition to the movement develops, a crystallization of counter aggression
against unbelievers frequently occurs, and the modified doctrine then emphasizes shifts from
cultivation of the ideal to combat against the unbeliever opposition.
5) Cultural transformation: A cultural transformation occurs when a significant part of the
population embraces the new religion. When the whole or a controlling portion of the
population comes to accept the new religion with its various commands, a visible social
revitalization occurs. This revitalization can be felt and understood by the reduction of the
personal declining symptoms of individuals, through extensive cultural changes, and by a
keen participation on some organized program of group action. According to Wallace’s
study, this group program may, however, be more or less realistic and more or less adaptive:
some programs are desperate; others represent well conceived and successful projects of
further social, political, or economic reform; some may fail due to the circumstances.
6) Routinization: Revitalization movements affect "various economic, social, and political
institutions and customs" in a process that Weber calls "routinization" (1956, 275). If the
group action program in non ritual spheres is effective in reducing stress-generating
situations, it becomes established as normal in various economic, social, and political
institutions and customs. Seldom the movement organization asserts or maintains a
totalitarian control over all aspects of the transformed culture; more usually, once the desired
transformation has occurred, the organization contracts and maintains responsibility only for
the preservation of doctrine and the performance of ritual. With the mere passage of time, this
poses the problems of "routinization" .
e) The new steady state
The final stage of the revitalization process is a new steady state. Once cultural
transformation has been accomplished and the new cultural system has proved itself viable,
and once the movement organization has solved its problems of routinization, a new steady
state may be said to exist. The culture of this state will probably be different in pattern,
organization or Gestalt, as well as in traits, from the earlier steady state; it will be different
from that of the period of cultural distortion. It will be again a state where everything is stable
and the means of meeting the needs are satisfactory.
Critique of Wallace's "Revitalization Movements"
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For the Christian missionary Wallace's concept of revitalization movements has both
strengths and limitations. Its basic asset is that it provides a model through which change can
be perceived from the animistic to the Christian as well as from one animistic system to
another. Yet the missionary must understand the conceptual framework out of which Wallace
is writing. Wallace, as a functional anthropologist, views revitalization as a social process set
in force when the needs of society are not being met.
Three major negative critiques can be made of his model from a missiological perspective.
First, his model is this-worldly emphasizing the human dynamic in the world without
perceiving the divine. In any such humanistic model there is no conception of God convicting
people of sin through the Holy Spirit (John 16:8-11). There is no conception of an active God
working in us to defeat the powers of Satan that radiate out of animistic systems. Second, but
relating to the first point, Wallace conceives of all religious systems as neutral. They are
neither good nor bad, ethical nor unethical, true nor false. All religious systems are conceived
functionally as conceptual and organizational frameworks needed by humans for the
revitalization of society. Such a secular position is rejected by the critiques. God is not a
distant, inactive deity but an active participant in the change occurring in our world! Third,
Wallace's model concentrates on the cultural process while largely excluding the content of
the worldview that integrates a culture. Such naiveté (ingeniousness) about functional change
within cultures without perceiving the integrating role of worldview is the major misleading
notion of the functionalist perspective of culture.
Thus a more adequate model would both bring the divine into human interactions and
emphasize the content of worldview beliefs.
The critiques are there to criticize and catch the weak point or excluded point of any theory. There is
not a single theory in sociology which is out of criticism. But here, in this case, the critiques are
mostly theologists or pious persons. So , they would obviously try to explain things regarding the
presence of supernatural being in this world. So far Wallace’s theory has both sociological,
anthropological and psychological flavour. As his study is scientific in nature so it should be
criticized scientifically. This theory of revitalization movement presented by Anthony F. C. Wallace
has been treated as a high standard treasure in the mine of anthropology and sociology.
REFERENCES
 Wallace, Anthony F.C. Religion: An Anthropological View. New York: Random
House, 1966.
 Tippett, A. R. Introduction to Missiology. Pasadena: Wm. Carey Library, 1987.
 Wikipedia, The free Encyclopedia (online resource)
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 Lessa W. A. and Vogt E. Z. Reader in Comparative Religion: An Anthropological
Approach. 1979,
 Linton, Ralph Nativistic Movements ..American Anthropologist 45:230-40. 1943
 Weber, Max .From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology. Translated and edited by H.
Gerth and
C. W. Mills. New York. 1946
 Sharp, Lauriston. "Steel Axes for Stone-Age Australians." Human Organization 11
(Summer 1952): 13-22.
 St. Clair, David. Drum and Candle. New York: Bell Publishing Company, 1971.
 Ember, Carol R. and Melvin Ember. Cultural Anthropology (2nd ed.). Englewood
Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1977.
 Brown, Diana. "Umbanda and Class Relations in Brazil." In Brazil: Anthropological
Perspectives, ed. Maxine L. Margolis and Wm. E. Carter, 270-304. New York:
Columbia University Press, 1979.
 Wallace A. F. C. Revitalization Movement .American Anthropologist 58: 264-281,
1956
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