Sociology 151: Sociology of Religion
| Fall 2000 T Th 3rd period (10:55-12:10) 128 Soc-Psych Bldg |
Prof. E.A. Tiryakian Office: 339 Soc-Psych Hours: W 2:00-5:00 durkhm@soc.duke.edu |
SYLLABUS
A. Scope and Objectives of Course
The course seeks to provide an awareness of the deep and complex interrelationships between religion and the social order, and how they mutually influence one another as much in the contemporary world as in earlier settings. As part of this sociological awareness, the course will point to some of the intriguing paradoxes of religion in relation to modernity:
(1) while religion in the 19th century was branded as “the opiate of the people”, religion in the second half of the 20th century has been more often a source of challenge and resistance to authority;
(2) while religion is a powerful source of social integration and cohesion for the national community, it has also been a vehicle of mobilization for large-scale social and ethnic conflict;
(3) while the United States is the most advanced industrial country, unlike the historical experience of other modern countries, it is “exceptional” in a very high level of religious activity for all its community faiths.
In addressing these paradoxes of modernity, the course will consider both some of the major conceptual frameworks and controversies that have shaped the sociology of religion and a variety of comparative empirical materials. The objective of the various course materials is to give students a new perspective and a new understanding of something familiar and its relevance in a “millennial” or “global” age: how religion is manifested across social settings (including the virtual settings of cyberspace), how it is experienced and how it energizes individuals and groups.
Supplementary materials will be drawn from guest lecturers and video films.
To give students a direct exposure to the social aspects of religious experience, a field research project will be an important complement to the classroom setting. Guidelines for the project will be handed out during the first week of classes.
B. Requirements and Grading
Depending upon enrollment, the course will be conducted as a seminar. Students are expected to take an active part in classroom discussions. In addition to materials recommended for purchase, other required readings will generally be available on-line from Perkins Library. There will be a take-home exam during the semester and two papers, but no final exam.
The first paper will be a report 10-20 pages long on the field research experience. The second paper may be an extension of the field research or an altogether new focus (e.g., comparative and/or historical aspects of women as religious leaders in Western or non-Western societies, court decisions involving the separation of church and state, new religious movements or new cults, etc.). In any case, students should consult early with the instructor regarding a suitable paper topic and submit a brief one-page statement of the intended paper by November 2 or at the time of handing in the take-home midterm, whichever comes first. The field research paper is due December 5th, the term paper is due at noon, December 14th (either or both may be submitted before the due date).
Grading (approximately): mid-term 25%; class participation 20%; field research 30%; term paper 25%
C. Recommended for Purchase (Duke Bookstore or Durham Book Exchange)
(1) Emile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (1995 pb. Edition)
(2) Moshe Shokeid, A Gay Synagogue in New York (1995 pb)
(3) Bruce David Forbes and Jeffrey H. Mahan, eds., Religion and Popular Culture in America (2000 pb).
(4) Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic & the Spirit of Capitalism (preferably the 1998 pb. edition with an introduction by Randall Collins, but you may purchase an earlier edition).
[Note: most of the readings will be found in items recommended for purchase. Those preceded by an (O) should be available from On-line reserve at Perkins; those with an (R) will be in the Reference section of Perkins or at reserve desk. Finally “Optional” readings where indicated are for students wishing to go beyond the required assignments]
I. Introduction to the Sociology of Religion. Religion and modernity. Does the sacred disappear with modernity? The 18th Century Enlightenment and its worldview: religion as darkness, science and rationality as light. Religion as hindrance to the development of man, society and progress: Feuerbach, Marx, Freud. The religious turn and the return of the sacred in the 20th Century, from fundamentalism to popular culture.
Week of:
August 28
(1) handout, Mary Jo Neitz, “What is Distinctive about Studying Religion?” (1999)
(2) (O) Tom Beaudoin, “Experience is Key,” chapter 5 in Beaudoin, Virtual Faith.
(3) handout, “Spiritual America”/”In Search of the Sacred”
(1) (R ) “Religion” articles by Clifford Geertz, Robert Bellah, and James Dittes, International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences,v. 13 : 398-437.
(2) (R) “Religious Specialists” articles by Victor Turner and Ivan Vallier,” same volume as above, pp. 437-54.
September 11
Bruce David Forbes and Jeffrey Mahan, Religion and Popular Culture in America (hereafter Forbes and Mahan, RPCA), Part 1, chapters 1-4, pp. 1-104.
September 18
Forbes and Mahan, RPCA, chapters 5-10, pp. 105-218.
[ optional: Robert Orsi, ed., Gods of the City. Religion and the American Urban Landscape]
II. Transition: How did the modern world pry open or who let the genie out of the hatch of tradition?
Max Weber’s contributions to the sociology of religion. Individual and collective callings: vocation,
mission, and manifest destiny. Religion as a hub of civilizations. Religion and capitalism.
September 25
(1) Forbes and Mahan, RPCA, chapters 11-Conclusion, pp. 219-99.
(2) (O) Max Weber, “The Protestant Sects and the Spirit of Capitalism,” pp. 302-22 in Gerth & Mills, eds., From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology.
October 2
Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic & the Spirit of Capitalism, Author’s Introduction and Part One, pp. 13-92
[optional: Randall Collins’ “Introduction” to this volume]
October 9
(1) Weber, The Protestant Ethic, Part II, pp. 95-183.
(2) (O) Keith Tester, “Between Sociology and Theology: the Spirit of Capitalism Debate,” The Sociological Review, February 2000: 43-57.
[optional: R. Laurence Moore, Selling God. American Religion in the Marketplace of Culture.]
III. The Hard Core of Religion. The Durkheimian legacy in the study of the sacred and the profane.
Rituals, beliefs, and collective identity. Functional analysis of religion. Collective effervescence in action in extraordinary settings, from the Bastille to Cameron Stadium.
October 16
Emile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (hereafter Forms),
Translator’s Introduction, author’s Introduction, and Book I to page 95.
October 23
Durkheim, Forms, Book II, “The Elementary Beliefs”, pp. 99-299. (Note: skip lightly over ethnographic data but try to follow Durkheim’s main points regarding totemism: are there remnants or manifestations of totemism in the everyday world of American society?)
October 30
(1) Durkheim, Forms, Book III, “The Principal Modes of Ritual Conduct,” pp.303-448.
(2) (O) E.A. Tiryakian, “Collective Effervescence, Social Change and Charisma,” International Sociology, 10 (September 1995): 269-81.
video Thursday on Voodoo/Vodun
IV. Religion and Politics. The public sphere as a contested terrain of modernity. Religious opposition to the secular state, at home and abroad. The Moral Majority. Liberation theology. Cults and sects as oppositions to the established order. The civil religion debate.
November 6
videos will be shown Tuesday and Thursday. Depending upon availability:
Tuesday: “Televangelism in Brazil” and “Answered Prayers: Investigating Healing Power of Prayer”
Thursday: “Mirror, Mirror: Northern Ireland”
November 13
(1) (O) Robert Bellah, “Civil Religion in America”, pp. 168-89 in Bellah, Beyond Belief.
(2) (O) Aldon Morris , “The Black Church in the Civil Rights Movement,” pp. 29-46 in Christian Smith, ed. , Disruptive Religion.
(3) (O) Sharon E. Nepstad, “Popular Religion, Protest and Revolt”. pp. 105-24 in Christian Smith, Disruptive Religion.
midterm examination: Tuesday.
V. Old Wine in New Casks and New Wines in Old Casks. Adaptations of the religious life to modern urban and global setting. New challenges to mainstream religion.
November 20
(1) (O)Karen Brown, “Staying Grounded in a High-Rise Building,” in Robert Orsi, ed., Gods of the City, pp. 79-102.
(2) (O)Wayne Ashley, “The Stations of the Cross,” in Orsi, Gods of the City, pp.341-66.
Tuesday: (depending upon availability) guest speaker: “Wicca yesterday and today”.
November 27
Moshe Shokeid, A Gay Synagogue in New York, chapters 1-5.
[optional: Charles Glock and Robert Bellah, eds., The New Religious Consciousness]
December 4 Moshe Shokeid, A Gay Synagogue in New York, chapters 6-12.
[optional: (O) Jack Kugelmass, “Moses of the South Bronx,” pp. 231-53 in R. Orsi, Gods of the City; Howard Brotz, The Black Jews of Harlem; Joseph Murphy, Santeria: an African Religion in America ]