Dame Mary Douglas (born Margaret Mary Tew) (1921-2007) was a British anthropologist who specialized in social and cultural anthropology and was particularly interested in symbolism and comparative religion. The daughter of colonial British parents and raised as a Catholic, she spent her early career studying the life and customs of the Lele tribe of the Belgian Congo. She taught for twenty-five years at University College, London and also taught and wrote in the United States. Besides Purity and Danger her books include Natural Symbols (1970), Implicit Meanings (1975), and How Institutions Think (1986).

Durkheim (1858-1917) was a French sociologist and considered the founder of modern social science. His principal interest was how societies could maintain their coherence and identity in a modern era in which traditional religious and cultural ties were weakened. He originated the commonly-used term “collective consciousness.” His notable works include The Division of Labor in Society, On the Normality of Crime, and Suicide. Mary Douglas is considered an intellectual disciple of Durkheim and cites him with frequency in Purity and Danger.

Smith (1846-1894) was an English minister and orientalist who helped create the field of comparative religion with his book The Religion of the Semites (1889).