What Mythology Tells Us About People

Mythology is very important in under-standing society as a whole.

I. Mythology and SocietyC. Emile Durkheim believed that every

society establishes certain social institutions and values, which are reflected in the society’s religion.

Therefore, most of society’s gods, heroes, and myths are really representations of the institutions and values of that society. By examining a society’s myths, we can discover its social institutions and values.

D. Georges Dumezil believed that gods were collective representations of the caste (class) system common to several ancient groups. The relations between the gods revealed what the people considered proper behavior among the different caste levels.

II. Mythology and the Individual

D. Carl Jung developed a theory about how myths reflect the attitudes and behavior of people. He believed that everyone has a personal and shared unconscious.

E. The personal unconscious is formed by his experiences in the world as filtered through his senses.

F. The shared unconscious is inherited and shared, just like genetics. The shared unconscious is organized into patterns and symbols which are called archetypes. Jung felt this theory could be proven because mythologies from different groups have certain features in common—sometimes, these groups had no contact with each other. So how did they get the same ideas?