This book provides a ground-breaking, interaction-based framework of rituals, drawing on multiple research disciplines. It examines ritual as a relational action constructed in interaction through pre-existing patterns and captures the features of ritual phenomena by analysing interactants' behaviour in culturally and socially diverse contexts.

Dániel Z. Kádár is Professor of English Language and Linguistics at the University of Huddersfield, UK. He has been pursuing various areas of research, most importantly, the theorisation of politeness, impoliteness and rituals, as well as intercultural and historical pragmatics. His recent works include Understanding Politeness (with Michael Haugh) and Politeness in East Asia .

1. Introduction 2. Defining Ritual from a Relational Perspective 3. In-group Ritual in Operation: Two Case Studies 4. Relational Ritual Typology 5. Recognition, Affectivity and Emotivity 6. Destructive Relational Rituals 7. Conclusion