The cultural patterning of perceptions has long been an accepted fact. Theways we see and hear are learned. Special institutional mechanisms thatserve to perpetuate such traditional patterns exist in all societies and haverecently received attention by those interested in their transformationthrough modernization. Thus in order to study ‘The Primitive World andits Transformation’ Robert Redfield felt it necessary to focus upon what hecalled ‘the social organization of tradition’. He placed major emphasis upon those institutions that traditionally had perpetuated and elaborated the great philosophical and religious traditions of ancient civilizations, while keeping them integrated with the little traditions of peasant villagers. This was accomplished through drawing upon the creative impulses of the little tradition as sources of new stimuli to serve as points of departure for further elaboration of the great tradition. These would reinfluence the little tradition, establishing a chain of mutual interdependence.