SEPT 29 The New Paradigm The MesoEconomic Approach

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SEPT 29-- The New Paradigm (The Meso/Economic
Approach)
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(No Transcript)
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SOCIOLOGICAL PARADIGMS AS STRATEGIC WAYS OF
KNOWING

• Paradigms in sociology often involve
  fundamentally different epistemological and
  methodological strategies.
• POPPER STRATEGY Deductive system producing
  hypotheses that are refutable-in-principle.
• HEMPEL STRATEGY Inductive system that builds
  intellectual structures that bridge empirical
  observations.
• PRAGMATIC STRATEGY Find out stuff about society
  that we dont already know.

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THREE PARADIGMS FOR THE SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION

• The Social Evolutionary Paradigm
• Discerning patterns and trends over time
• The Hypothetico-Deductive Paradigm
• Codifying all existing knowledge parsimoniously
  in the form of falsifiable hypotheses
• The Social Psychological Paradigm
• Exploring the unknown and the puzzling inductively

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Rational Choice Theory Weber Micro-economics

• Rationality is marked by consistent goal-oriented
  activity
• Rational Choice Theory does not exclude or
  de-emphasize the emotions. Instead it tries to
  expand common-sense definitions of rationality to
  incorporate more and more of the totality of
  human action.

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STARK AND BAINBRIDGE

• What they are trying to do is not so much
  discover new knowledge but to carefully codify
  the wealth of what already was known and unite it
  under one theoretical system in order to discover
  the connections among all of these insights.

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DEFINITION OF RELIGION

• Religion is a system of general compensators
  based on supernatural assumptions.

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CHAPTER ONE TOWARD A GENERAL THEORY

• Why attempt a general theory? Advantages?
  Dangers?

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CHAPTER TWO COMMITMENT
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COMMITMENT

• Iannaccone on Why strict churches are strong
• Church leadership languishes under monopolistic
  or oligopolistic conditions.
• Doctrine disconnects (more and more over time)
  from the historically changing needs of
  parishoners

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COMMITMENT MECHANISMS Rosabeth Kanter

• Sacrifice
• Investment
• Renunciation
• Communion
• Mortification
• Transcendence

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CHAPTER THREE EVOLUTION OF THE GODS

• Polythesism
• Monotheism
• Good Gods and Bad Gods

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CHAPTER FOUR PRIESTS AND MAGICIANS

• Why is there no Church of Magic?

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CHAPTER FIVE SECTS

• Under what historical, cultural, and political
  circumstances are sects most likely to emerge?

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CHAPTER SIX CULTS

• Under what historical, cultural, and political
  circumstances are cults most likely to emerge?

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CHAPTER SEVEN WHO JOINS?
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CHAPTER EIGHT RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS

• Factors affecting success or failure. Longevity
  issues.

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CHAPTER NINE SECULARIZATION

• Redefinition of secularization
• Transformation or Destruction?

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CHAPTER TEN A SOCIAL SCIENCE OF RELIGION

• Is the deductive approach viable?
• Is it the best way to study religion
  scientifically?
• Is it the only way we should study religion?

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denominational competition-- the struggle for
market share
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brand loyalty and socio-spiritual niches
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CRITIQUES OF STARK

• Stresses believing, not belonging
• Human beings as consumers rather than producers
  of religion
• Questionable extension beyond the American case

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American Exceptionalism

• Repressive role of churches in European history
• The meaning of disestablishment in European
  Societies
• The American (Protestant) experience as
  un-churching and re-churching
• American cultures emphasis on choice (even
  within Catholicism)