After carrying out two years of field research on a 'cargo cult' in New Britain, Papua New Guinea, in the late 1980s, he developed a theory of "modes of religiosity" that has been the subject of extensive critical evaluation and testing by social anthropologists, historians, archaeologists, and sociologists.
The theory of modes of religiosity seeks to explain the role of ritual in processes of group bonding and in the evolution of social complexity.
Whitehouse's published corpus includes a trilogy of books outlining his theory on modes of religiosity[2][3][4] and the dysphoric pathway to identity fusion.
In the process, Whitehouse's research programme has gradually expanded beyond religion to examine the role of rituals of all kinds in binding groups together and motivating inter-group competition, including warfare.
Together with John Alderdice, Scott Atran, and Richard Davis, Whitehouse is a founding fellow of Oxford's Centre for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict at Harris Manchester College.