So, whereas Turner saw symbols as a key to personal transformation, Handelman looks at the organizational design of the ritual.
In Handelman’s analysis, a ritual is transformative to the degree that it diverges from normal life. This is commensurate with liminality, in which one is removed from everyday life.
To Handelman, we can chart how transformative a ritual will be by looking at its structure. If we feel like a ritual doesn’t change our sense of reality much, then we won’t feel very different from before.
If we feel that a ritual has truly disoriented us, then we potentially reach a new emotional state of being, and a new sense of ourselves in the aftermath of the ritual.