UC Riverside

Scholars generally agree that religion is a social construct, but polarize along the line of what consequences religious-rituals actually have in society. Durkheimian and neo-Darwinian scholars argue that the religious-ritual evolved to integrate societal members and promote prosocial behavior. Critical theorists contend religious-rituals may not operate so much to create shared beliefs but instead to legitimate a structure of dominance within society. I argue that a nexus between these theories can be found with an examination of the underlying neurology of religious-rituals. The mirror neuronal system (MNS) is the foundation for the humanistic ‘desire’ for mimesis. Religious-rituals stimulate the MNS to promote empathy, trust, and integration. As societies grew, increasing social distance and differentiation (i.e., stratification) weakened empathetic bonding between religious specialists and the religious group. Reduced empathy lead to increased selfishness and other antisocial behaviors that benefited the social elite. I conclude with a discussion of the primary link between the integration and social control hypotheses: mimesis, synchrony, and emotionality.