Involvement in Family,Religion, Education,Work, and Politics

Abstract

This paper explores the relationships among five spheres of individual involvement: family, religion, education, work, and politics. A theoretical framework stressing the extent of structural differentiation in modern societies led to the hypothesis that the spheres of involvement would be quite independent. Within the context of differentiation, it was hypothesized that the spheres of education, work, and politics on the one hand and family and religion on the other would be most highly related. Data from a national sample of retired professional baseball players allowed examination of these hypotheses for three age cohorts (30–49; 50–69; 70 and over) and three life cycle stages (early in the respondents' playing careers, late in their careers, and at present). The data generally supported for the hypotheses, but also suggested some important extensions of the theory. The implications for future theory and research on involvement are discussed.     

Politics and Religion in India: Minorities

This paper is addressing the minority issue in India. In the introduction we give a definition of minority, which is not asserted by a numerical criteria, but rather by the share of power and freedoms. We proceed giving an overlook of the largely diverse Indian state, which for its pluralistic composition has to face socioeconomic and religious challenges. Some legal guarantees are provided by the Constitution, although they are not fully respected in practice. Rejecting Indian secularism??s criticisms. Then we analyze the model of Indian secularism, consisting in the separation between State and religious, though taking into account the delicate balance of multiple social interests. The positivistic view of Bhargava suggests us that the Indian conception is better equipped at political and moral level to deal with deep religious diversity. The conclusion suggests that Indian democracy has a great potential, even with its cracks and odds still to be solved, and at least in absolute terms has much to teach to other proclaimed secular countries in the Western world.     

Civil Religion and National Politics in a Neoliberal Era

Civil religion, or the connection of the nation‐state, its history, destiny, and people, to understandings of transcendence or divinity, is in crisis both as a theoretical concept and as a politico‐cultural phenomenon. The crisis has been brought about by the weakened capacity of the nation‐state to generate collective identity and a version of ‘charismatic’ authority. We argue that this has resulted in a shift from the widely accepted conceptualization of civil religion as a unifying force in societies to a more exclusionary force that Williams (2103) calls “tribal civil religion” That, in its own way, undermines the nation‐state. In this paper, we examine the history and various understandings of the concept of civil religion, develop an argument that the assault on the nation‐state has meant the rise of increasingly exclusive and exclusionist expressions of civil religion, and present possible suggestions for sites where ‘unitive’ civil religion may still be found.     

Corruption,Social Welfare,Culture and Religion in European Union 27

Corruption is a complex and generalized phenomenon all over the world, with economical, cultural, social, psychological, political, administrative and religious dimensions. Defining and studying the phenomenon go through the most different thinking filters known in the specialist literature: economic, social-cultural, political, administrative and religious. The aim of this article is to quantify and analyze, in European Union 27 (EU27), the relationship between corruption and economic, cultural and religious determinant factors, through a regressive “pool data” model, for the period 1996–2008. The conclusion is that, in the EU27 case, social welfare, power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and religious influence significantly influence corruption. Moreover, religion attenuates uncertainty avoidance, more exactly situations such as uncertainty, the unknown, ambiguity or unexpected circumstances.     

Building 'Europe': Culture, History and Politics

This article explores historically grounded connections between cultural and political identities, and how they persist in contemporary Europe within its multilateral or 'supranational' frameworks. It argues that nations remain the starting point (and for many the end point) for conceptions of belonging and of political legitimacy. While economic prosperity is an essential ingredient, the European project cannot be built or sustained by perceived common economic interests alone. In recent years this has been realised by élites in favour of integration and has resulted in an increased concentration on the cultural dimension. Creating and psychologically implanting a formula which activates a resolute belief in a 'common cultural heritage' has proven difficult however. By comparison historiographic influences and contemporary social referents are still overwhelmingly national in character.     

Media,Religion, and Politics in Nicaragua: How an Independent Press Threatened the Catholic Church

Nicaragua's La Prensa newspaper stopped publishing a weekly Catholic "Sunday Reading" page in May 2001, replacing it with a more diverse "Religion and Faith" page. A storm of protest followed, with some religious leaders saying the church was being censored. Even Violeta Chamorro, a co-owner of La Prensa and a former Nicaraguan president, denounced the action. Although this was a simple journalistic decision to better serve the readers, the move also carried substantial political implications. La Prensa and the Catholic Church had long been aligned with the powerful economic elite and shared similar histories. Both, for example, had internal battles over whether to support the socialist Sandinista revolution, and both were struggling to hold onto their clients—readers and church members. This power struggle between an independent press and the Catholic Church illustrates their respective efforts to remain relevant to Nicaraguans. This study demonstrates that both acted rationally in support of their own best interests.     

Copyright Culture and Pirate Politics

This article approaches the recent debates about copyright and piracy from a cultural and historical perspective, discussing how problems surrounding intellectual property rights (IPR) reflect cultural conflicts that are central to cultural studies. It sets out with a study of how international copyright norms developed in nineteenth-century Europe were implemented in two different national contexts: Sweden and the USA. This historical background shows how copyright has been embedded in the cultural history of Europe and intertwined with the idea of an evolving Western civilization. The examples from the past are thus used to highlight the underlying cultural implications that affect the contemporary discussions. Particular interest is paid to how the historical association between the spread of copyright and the development of civilization affects the understanding of Asian piracy and Western file sharing today, and how a multitude of social movements both in the West and the Third World simultaneously challenge the cultural legitimacy of the current system of IPR. Eventually this is also taken as an example of how law and culture intersect and how the broad, interdisciplinary field of copyright studies that has emerged over the last decade can be seen as an extension of the cultural studies tradition.     

Arab American Marriage: Culture,Tradition, Religion,and the Social Worker

The growing and varied Arab American population and the continuing stereotyping and mistrust between people of Arab descent and other Americans make the need for culturally competent social work more pronounced. This study considers the importance the institutions of marriage and family retain within what can be a generally high-context community. Marriage, family, and religious relationships can be complicated by a sense of honor and stigma alongside frequently distressing experiences or news from the country of origin. Various generations of Arab Americans are returning with their Middle Eastern counterparts to their religions to reestablish their identities. We shall consider the problems between fundamental and enlightened readings and understandings of the traditional marriage contract, especially under Sharia law, and traditional gender roles in relation to the varied expectations of the bride and groom, the extended families, and the cultural community. We suggest ways that social workers can develop skillful communications within effective cultural community networks to offset both inappropriate and insensitive misdiagnosis and treatment.     

God,Party, and the Poor: How Politics and Religion Interact to Affect Economic Justice Attitudes

Moral attitudes justifying economic inequality are often embedded within conservative religion and politics in the United States, even as traditional Christian values assert the need for compassion toward the poor. Using the Baylor Religion Survey, we assessed the role of religion in influencing partisan attitudes about poverty, finding that Republicans not only oppose federal policy aimed toward redistribution of wealth but also articulate less of a personal moral obligation to help the poor. However, Republicans who believe in a highly engaged God are strikingly similar to Democrats on these economic justice issues, suggesting that some types of religion do make conservatives more “compassionate.”     

Righteous Dopefiend and AIDS,Sex, and Culture: Global Politics and Survival in Southern Africa

This essay offers a comparative reading of two ethnographies, Ida Susser's AIDS, Sex, and Culture: Global Politics and Survival in Southern Africa (2009 Susser, I. 2009. AIDS, Sex, and Culture: Global Politics and Survival in Southern Africa, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]), a multisited text focused on community responses to dynamics of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment in Southern Africa, and Philippe Bourgois and Jeff Schonberg's Righteous Dopefiend (2009 Bourgois, P. and Schonberg, J. 2009. Righteous Dopefiends, Berkeley: University of California Press.  [Google Scholar]), a photo-ethnographic exploration of lumpen subjectivity within an encampment of homeless drug addicts in San Francisco. Pointing out these texts' common focus on circumstances of the precarious and marginal poor under conditions of neoliberalization, social conditions shaping dynamics of HIV prevention, and poor people's negotiations of affliction and structural violence, this essay highlights the theoretical and practical effects of these books' divergent methodologies, scopes of analysis, and differing degrees of emphasis on subjective experience as well as women's experiences. It also considers a key commonality across these texts: their attention to the role of historical experience and political-economic context in shaping responses to affliction and structural violence.     

Public Concern with Farm‐Animal Welfare: Religion,Politics, and Human Disadvantage in the Food Sector*

The welfare of farm animals has become a continuing source of controversy as states seek greater regulation over the livestock industry. However, empirical studies addressing the determinants of public concern for farm‐animal welfare are limited. Religion and politics, two institutional bases of attitudes, are rarely explored. Nor have sociologists responded systematically to the popular charge that people concerned with animal welfare care less about human well‐being. This study builds from sociology's stratification literature to address new questions about farm‐animal welfare. Using a range of animal‐welfare attitudes and samples drawn from a statewide and a national population in 2007, we find support for the religious and political bases of farm‐animal‐welfare attitudes. Frequent church attendance is related to less concern with animal welfare. However, we also find that religious beliefs can be a source of support for animal welfare. Political orientation as reflected by desire for more economic equality and greater tolerance of outgroups is also related to concern for farm‐animal welfare. Formal political partisanship and denomination have weaker effects. Concern with farm‐animal welfare is consistently related to greater concern with human welfare in the food sector.     

Consumer Culture Theory,Nonverbal Communication,and Contemporary Politics: Considering Context and Embracing Complexity

This commentary addresses Olivola and Todorov’s “Elected in 100 ms: Appearance-Based Trait Inferences and Voting” and considers its valuable contribution to the field of nonverbal communication. This work suggests that contemporary politics and voting behavior are so complex that they can be better understood outside of laboratory settings where the vital elements on culture and context come into play. By using consumer culture theory and other cultural theories of branding, this commentary evaluates elements of Barack Obama’s presidential run, and considers why his campaign resonated so well with voters in contemporary United States culture.