3. Discrete categories.

Redundancy and filtering produce relatively simple and effective symbolic elements. Those symplified elements are for the most part "discrete" or "digital." For the purposes of the public order a Brahman is or is not a Brahman, a deity is Siva or not Siva. Thus they can be unambiguously recognized and do their work, and be placed in the domains and hierarchies that amplify and transform their meaning. The "more or less" and "sort of" calculations of the private realm are not adequate here.

It is this digital definition of elements in the public realm that is achieved through rites of passage, iconic criteria for icons, rituals of bringing effective life into statues, and by the emphasis on purity in the public realm of humans as social types. A polluted Brahman is not a Brahman in the dynamics of the public social realm whatever he may be known as concretely to family, friends, and neighbors.