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63 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Durkheim Questions
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-the distinction between the sacred and the profane is at the heart of religion
-when society worships its God, it is essentially worshipping itself |
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According to Durkheim, modern secular religion will take the form of....
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A cult of individiual
*individual choice becomes sacred, it is a sacred religion |
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Religion Functions as a Sacred Canopy
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-It is a meaning system we can use to make sense of life
-religion is an overarching system of meaning that helps us grapple with the profane realities of life. |
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Religion under Late Modernity
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Religion is increasingly confined to private sphere
-becomes a matter of choice -forced to market itself It is undergoing deinstitutionalization Plausibility structure: a context or setting that reinforces worldview, some are stronger than others |
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Religion:
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Interdependent system of beliefs and practices enduring the sacred that unites its followers in a single moral community.
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Sacred:
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Objects, rituals, practices are considered holy and special
Ex: a sportsfan considers going to a game as a sacred ritual Society's concept of the sacred is a symbolic representation of the collective traits of itself. Weber sees modern society's secular religion as Science. Durkheim said Totemism is the most primitive religion. |
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Profane:
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all that is not sacred, everything else
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Objective Reality, Subjective Experience
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People have different experiences, based on what they bring
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Why?
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-Membership in a single community
-We see the world as an ordered reality --things happen that disrupt our ordered reality |
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Positive Rites:
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Celebration and affirmation of the holy
Ex: Christmas, going to church |
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Negative Rites:
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Act that reinforces separation and that the sacred is above the profane, and needs to be protected from it.
Ex: Hindus not eating the sacred cow. |
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Class Struggle
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According to Marx, all recorded history is the history of class struggle.
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Nietsche: "Death of God"
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Describing the death of certainties
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How did Descartes try to conceptualize a stable & just social order? Why do we now say that his project did not really succeed?
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Descarte was skeptical, he turned to systematic doubt.
I think & therefore I am. Use our rationality. Reason is not autonomous. |
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Fundamentalism:
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Belief system that addresses the lack of overarching systems of meaning under conditions of late modernity and says we should use God as a basis of reality.
A natural expression of late modernity. -Is an expression of the late modern world it is reaction against. |
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Social Stratification:
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The existence, the fact of social differentiation-rewards and advantages are distributed unequally in society.
-Dimensions of social stratification: -Race, class, gender, education, age, sexuality, appearance, religion. -Is very important, it helps to explain the wide variety of things we see in the world, it bears on all of these kinds of issues. |
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Class Consciousness
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Subjective understanding of one's objective position in the class structure
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False Consciousness
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Mismatch between the objective reality of your position in the class structure and your perception of it.
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Weber
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*Class, Party, Status
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Weber: Class
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economic
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Weber: Status
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Social prestige
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Weber: Party
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Political power
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Middle Class & Economy
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-Recession hit men harder than women
-Education distinguishes the professional and middle class -We live in a post industrial economy -The BRIC countries- Brazil, Russia, India, China: Challenging other & American economies -Networking & learning how to juggle schedules are examples of the latent function of higher education |
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Lippman
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Acids of modernity have reduced our capacity but not our need to believe
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Descartes: Reason
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Descartes is skeptical of religions ability to provide a just social order.
He wants to use Reason |
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Qtub:
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Egyptian intellectual who saw Islam as the antidote for uncertainty and relativism.
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Stratification
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Marx: first theorist of social stratification
Weber: position on stratification system is based on class, status, party. Proletariat: Working Class (Marx) WASP: White Anglo Saxon Protestant -at top of the stratification system in the U.S. -17% of Americans are secular today. |
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Stratification Break Down
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1-3% Upper
10-15% Professional Middle/Upper Middle 30-35% Non professional Middle/Lower middle class 40-45% Working 20-25% Lower Higher Classes: more confidence, and control over own destiny. -more willing to delay gratification -their horizon of life stretches further -more tolerant of ambiguity Middle Class: is being hollowed out by growing income inequality -A middle class is healthy and essential for a healthy and vibrant democracy. Lower Classes: More fatalistic; feel life is governed by luck |
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The Four Critical Years
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-Not everything is black and white
-More tolerance of others -College changes how you see yourself compared to others and your worldviews |
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Institution
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A pattern of normative behavior
-the economy, marriage, church, the state Important because humans are instincutal deprived -We rely on some degree of consensus in our lives. |
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Background:
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Realm of social life that is taken for granted and routine.
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Foreground:
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Realm of social life that is actively thought about, interpreted, and criticized.
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Anomie:
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Disorder, religions relieve us from anomie.
Religion can be sacred canopy. |
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Deinstitutionalization spills into all spheres of life
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*The elite in our society are splitting up into 2 camps: Progressives & Conservatives
-They both oppose all of the others views. -People become entrenched in their side. -Cultural wars erode the common understanding that is essential for a united and thriving society |
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Progressives:
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Pluralism, liberal, relativists
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Conservatives:
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Objective source for moral order, orthodox
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Mechanical Solidarity:
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Solidarity of belief associated with pre-modern soicety
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Organic Solidarity
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(Organism) if one has trouble it can affect the other. Solidarity of interdependence associated with modern society.
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Confessional Pluralism:
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a matter of preference, what you believe in
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Moral Pluralism:
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Not as domesticated, moral standards you represent in the moral world.
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Gouldner
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Sociology plays with young people's heads.
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Dualist Perception
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The routine of everyday life is left when one enters the sacred realm, in those rights and rituals, where the sacred is experienced and re-experienced.
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Totemic Principle
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The sacred object, singing the same songs, engaging in the same behaviors, the individual is carried outside himself.
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Solidarity
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Solidarity is re-enforced in religion.
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Weber
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Agreed with Durkheim that the sacred exists even if the supernatural doesn't.
It was science and technology that would acquire a sacred quality. |
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To live Subjectively...
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is to live in an ordered, meaningful way
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Nomos
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Ordered Reality
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Legitimation
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Human political power is legitimated theologically
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Plausibility Structure
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Any worldview is available to us, as there are social conditions that make it unchallenged, social conditions that constantly reinforce.
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Tribes
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We tend to marry within our class.
-Marital instability and divorce, is much more frequent the lower you are in the class system. -Financial instability is the killer of marriages. |
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Political Polarization
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Shrinking but also dividing the middle class
Mechanical: idea of belief, people hold the same ideals and truths. traditional -everyone is like you -self-selecting into a group of people like you Organic: Interdependence-trying to make sense of modern society itself -can never do something on your own. Fragmentation leads to Polarization |
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Public: Polarization<--Private: fragmentation
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-Positions where it is very hard to find reconciliation
-Ideological pluralization, the stand off to which nothing gets done |
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Issues that have been polarized-->Institutional
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Abortion: institutional identity & purpose
-About the meaning of motherhood and freedom |
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Fragmentation-->
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Duality
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Private-->
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Public
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Consensus-How do societies stay together?
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Modern societies still require some kind of common belief.
1. The Public Sphere: culture of public life 2. Coercion: We've come to the point where we can no longer persuade each other of rightness of our views -We have to force people to accept our views -Coercion: the attempt to gain dominance, at the exclusion of the other -Discourse -Law & Litigation |
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Discourse
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-Our public language of our political, cultural elites.
-The conflict is not so much a conflict of polarization of the public opinion, it is a polarization of our public elites -The point is to monopolize symbols of legitimacy |
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Law & Litigation
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-Law is the language of the state, if we cant persuade people of the rightness, what are the options?
We sue, litigate, take people to court. We revert the law, which is the language of the state. When they violate the law, we have the capacity to put them in jail, take their freedom. |
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Net Effect
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Ways of doing things that transcend the differences.
The social uses of punishments |
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Why do societies create deviance?
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-In the act of opposing deviance, the moral authority is assigned and solidarity is regenerated.
-In the conflict, what each side does is to make a deviant of the other. -By opposing sides, solidarity is created within a group. |
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E. Pluribus Unum
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The Pluribus that defines our nation continues to expand and is more and more fragmented.
On what ground do you find any kind of Unum. The Unum was imposed by authoritarian rule. |
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George Stiener
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Our culture represents the walls of imprisonment in history.
What is freedom? -The ability to say no. -The capacity to say yes. |
