| Natural Symbols | |
| Title Orig: | Natural Symbols: Explorations in Cosmology |
| Author: | Mary Douglas |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Subject: | Cultural anthropology, Anthropology of religion |
| Genre: | Non-fiction |
| Publisher: | Barrie & Rockliff, Cresset Press |
| Pub Date: | 1970 |
| Media Type: | |
| Pages: | 177 pp. |
| Isbn: | 0-214-65075-8 |
| Preceded By: | Purity and Danger |
| Followed By: | Rules and Meanings |
Natural Symbols: Explorations in Cosmology (first published 1970) is an influential book by the British cultural anthropologist Mary Douglas. Further editions were published in 1973, 1982, 1996, 2003. It was also published in 2003 as volume 3 in Mary Douglas: Collected Works .
It was in Natural Symbols that Douglas introduced the "group-grid" theory, with "group" indicating how clearly defined an individual's social position is as inside or outside a bounded social group, and "grid" indicating how clearly defined an individual's social role is within networks of social privileges, claims, and obligations. The group–grid pattern was later to be refined and redeployed in laying the foundations of the cultural theory of risk.
Natural Symbols was reviewed by: