Analysing non-doctrinal socialization: re-assessing the role of cognition to account for social cohesion in the Religious Society of Friends

To incorporate newcomers into membership, a group employs socialization strategies to transform the characteristics of the newcomers, so that it can admit them with the confidence that their behaviour will not endanger group unity. Analyses of socialization emphasize that novices' interiorization of an institutional definition of group behaviour is a necessary condition to ensure successful socialization. The contemporary Religious Society of Friends in Britain, however, is a non-doctrinal religious movement that avoids defining the content of its beliefs and practices. To analyse the socializing interaction between members and newcomers in this movement in Britain, and among co-religionists in the USA, this inquiry applies a model of socialization that does not include assumptions about the role played by cognition in socialization (Long and Hadden 1983). My results show that: (a) the diffuseness in Friends' collective explanations of institutional conduct supports novices' identification with institutional practice, and (b) experimental and affective components in socialization motivate novices to imitate institutional behaviour despite the fact that Friends have no authoritative explanations of such behaviour. The data suggest that socialization and social cohesion are not necessarily as strongly cognitive-oriented phenomena as they were previously thought to be. This finding has important implications for thinking about social cohesion in postmodern society.     

论宗教传播的“权”与“场”

纵观基督教、佛教、道教三种宗教的传教历史,从权柄、权力与道场、市场各自在宗教传播中所起的作用可以看出,权柄、权力可以兴教,却不必然兴教,权柄、权力可以是一个兴教的方便之门,然而,无此方便,却不可以说教不可兴。历史上的许多宗教派别,是因为得了权力而兴了教,却因此而失了市场,最终衰落了;同样,有的宗派从来没有得到权力,却得了市场,最后兴盛了。道场、市场,乃是兴教的方向,也为宗教的土壤。如果说传道者的眼睛需要朝上看,就更需要朝下看,那才是人间正道。     

Women in Congregations and Social Service Provisions

Abstract

The role of women in American congregations is a topic that has gained attention in the past twenty years. The majority of work has focused on leadership and clergy roles and the willingness, or reluctance of, denominations to ordain women. In this article, we report on women as members, lay-leaders, and clergy in Philadelphia congregations, and we assess the factors that explain the rate of women in any of these roles. We find that regardless of the advancement in many areas of society, women are still the majority members yet are a minority among the clergy. Finally, we study how the gender composition of members, lay-leaders, and clergy explain the congregation's involvement in social service provisions. In this respect, gender composition of members, lay-leaders, and clergy made little impact on the congregational social service involvement. A variety of explanations are provided to account for women's little impact in this domain.     

积极引导宗教与社会主义社会相适应

本文在调查研究的基础上,分析了宗教与社会主义社会不相适应的具体表现,并就如何积极引导宗教与社会主义社会相适应,提出了具体的对策建议。     

Social Worker Supervision with Novice and Experienced Workers

ABSTRACT

This empirical study compares the perceptions of social work supervisors about the needs of novice and experienced social work supervisees. The respondents, 211 supervisors in public welfare agencies in Israel, provided novice workers more supervisory time in 6 of the 8 content areas examined: administrative matters; inspection and control; inter-organizational communication; client issues; job-related tensions; and personal tensions. Projects in the community were given priority to experienced rather than novice supervisees, and professional development was regarded by the supervisors as equally important for novice and experienced workers. Comparisons were also made between the actual and preferred supervisory time allotment.     

On Sabır and Agency

This article focuses on the pious practice of sab?r (patience) within the context of the weaving neighborhoods in Konya, Turkey. Through an ethnographic analysis of the everyday politics of the practice of sab?r, which is central to labor relations, this article adds to and complicates feminist analyses of labor politics and the economy by highlighting the interconnected nature of ethical religious practice and labor politics. Additionally, I argue for the need to go beyond the question of whether women have or lack agency as subjects in feminist analyses of labor politics and relationships, and instead point out the need for the empirical examination of specific, contextually-bound practical conditions through and within which women cultivate various forms of ethical action and subjectivities. In pointing out the importance of a project that analyzes operations of power with a keen awareness of context, this essay presents an ethnographically grounded discussion of pious practice within the context of Konya's weaving neighborhoods, underscoring the effects of the coexistence of exploitation and empowerment on the construction of women weavers’ selfhoods.     

反思欧洲科学的三个维度及其现代意义

反思欧洲科学有三个不同维度的含义 :第一维度是纯粹知识的维度 ;第二是亚文化共同体的维度 ;第三是文化理性的维度。这三个维度不仅含义不同 ,而且对文化的实际意义差别也很大。在科学发展的过程中 ,科学的角色首先是作为纯粹的知识而出现的 ;当着科学发展成为一种专家的事业时 ,科学的实际存在就演变为科学家的亚文化共同体 ;当着科学成为全民族的教育和国民参与的目标时 ,科学就成为了整个民族的文化理性。我们强调第三维度的科学概念 ,这一概念经常为学术研究所忽略 ,然而正是科学作为文化理性的一种形态改变了欧洲的历史 ,使欧洲文明从一种基督教的文明 ,理性化为一种科学主义的文明。由于科学的排他性 ,科学理性即重塑了欧洲的文明的传统 ,也摧毁了世界的其它文明传统     

Regional Religions?: Extending the “Semi-involuntary” Thesis of African-American Religious Participation

This research examines religious affiliation and church attendance among African-Americans in three different regions of the United States to evaluate the thesis that the Black church represents a semi-involuntary institution shaped by historical dynamics of segregation in the rural South. We extend the analyses of others who have found the rural South to have distinctive church participation patterns by examining two nationally representative data sets (the 1972–1996 General Social Surveys and the 1984 National Alcohol Study). We explore both level and type of church attendance of African-Americans, and how patterns differ by region. Further, we refine prior analyses by (1) differentiating between members of historically White and conservative churches from those in the black mainline, (2) examining racial segregation, and (3) focusing on the type of church attendance (rather than just overall level). Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and logistic regression models support the thesis that the rural South exhibits some distinctive patterns that make the semi-involuntary institution notion a useful concept, although patterns not predicted by the thesis are also found. The semi-involuntary thesis is also used to illuminate some church attendance patterns observed outside the rural South.     

试论希腊化宗教之特征

希腊化时代是人类历史上第一次文化大融合的时代,也是一个专制而又动荡的时代,这一背景决定了希腊化宗教具有以下几个方面的特征：一、世界主义;二、神秘主义;三、帝王崇拜;四、宗教解构了哲学。从这四个方面可以看出,希腊化宗教为基督教的产生奠定了基石。     

“圣人观”和“上帝观”对中西政治文化的影响

东方的儒家文明和西方的基督教文明是具有代表性的两种文明,二者对各自文化圈的政治生活具有重要影响."圣人观"和"上帝观"作为两个文明的核心观念,在许多方面存在显著差异,由此决定了东西方社会的政治思想行为,形成了双方各自的政治文化特色.