Toward An Integrated Theory of Play

• Main Author: Ellerby, Benjamin Adam
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: eScholarship, University of California 2016
• Subjects: Social psychology; Cognitive psychology; Games; Humor; Play; Ritual; Work; Briggs; inuit
• Online Access: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/94r1c6mn

This paper proposes a four-part schema for categorizing and analyzing meaningful acts with respect to their properties of consequentiality and stylization. Defined by these parameters, I suggest that we can analytically distinguish four distinct modes of meaning: play, game, work, and ritual. The sa...