Scholars resist studying mafia rituals because the topic seems ridiculous.
Evidence
Once again the question arises as to why some scholars cannot reason about mafiosi in the same terms they would apply to other groups. One possible explanation evokes the difficulty we have in believing that somebody else believes something that strikes us as ludicrous, for fear of making ourselves appear equally ludicrous. Thus, believing char mafiosi undergo a seemingly ridiculous ritual could make one seem equally ridiculous. But why should this fear arise only in the case of criminals when some people seem far less reluctant to believe, for instance, that there are others who practice black magic? Could it be that by sneering at such activities we ultimately reveal a dichotomous view of the criminal as either a hopelessly brutish creature with no symbolic life or a mythically powerful genius who could not possibly stoop so low as to deal in childish symbols other than for purely instrumental reasons? — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 944
Categorization
Category: Definitional Content
- DEEPTHINKING: This is a genuinely subtle epistemological point — Why disbelief in absurd beliefs is unevenly distributed across groups (criminals vs. black magicians), exposing a dichotomy in how we model criminal agency. The refusal to attribute genuine symbolic belief to criminals is itself a theoretical blind spot.
- XREF: Connects to Goffman’s frame analysis and to Puzo’s own treatment — Don Corleone’s use of ‘friendship’ language is sincere within the code, resisting both the ‘pure instrument’ and ‘pure brute’ readings of mafia symbolism.
Related
- Scholars resist ascribing symbolic rituals to criminals out of self-image (similarity 0.91)
- Scholars apply double standards in dismissing mafia ritual while accepting analogous ones. (similarity 0.86)
- Mafia ritual sameness across families itself requires explanation (similarity 0.80)
- Myth lends force to mafia reality rather than reality being plain (similarity 0.78)
- Ritual forms are arbitrary so long as some ritual exists (similarity 0.78)