Final answer:
Rites of passage are special rituals that mark the movement of a person from one social status to another. They involve three stages: separation, transition, and incorporation.
Step-by-step explanation:
Special rituals called rites of passage are used to mark the movement of a person from one social status to another. Naming ceremonies, puberty rites, weddings, and funerals are all common rites of passage. Anthropologist Arnold van Gennep identified three stages in rites of passage: separation, transition, and incorporation. In the first phase, separation, individuals, or groups are taken out of their everyday social context, leaving their original social status. In the second phase, transition, people exist in an in-between state outside of conventional norms of dress and action. In the third phase, incorporation, people are brought back into society in a formal ceremony and introduced as subjects in a new social category.