Bryan S. Turner

Bio: Bryan S. Turner is an academic researcher from Australian Catholic University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Citizenship & Politics. The author has an hindex of 70, co-authored 511 publications receiving 21116 citations. Previous affiliations of Bryan S. Turner include King's College London & City University of New York.

Religious Authority and the New Media

Abstract: In traditional societies, knowledge is organized in hierarchical chains through which authority is legitimated by custom. Because the majority of the population is illiterate, sacred knowledge is conveyed orally and ritualistically, but the ultimate source of religious authority is typically invested in the Book. The hadith (sayings and customs of the Prophet) are a good example of traditional practice. These chains of Islamic knowledge were also characteristically local, consensual and lay, unlike in Christianity, with its emergent ecclesiastical bureaucracies, episcopal structures and ordained priests. In one sense, Islam has no church. While there are important institutional differences between the world religions, network society opens up significant challenges to traditional authority, rapidly increasing the flow of religious knowledge and commodities. With global flows of knowledge on the Internet, power is no longer embodied and the person is simply a switchpoint in the information flow. The logic of networking is that control cannot be concentrated for long at any single point in the system; knowledge, which is by definition only temporary, is democratically produced at an infinite number of sites. In this Andy Warhol world, every human can, in principle, have their own site. While the Chinese Communist Party and several Middle Eastern states attempt to control this flow, their efforts are only partially successful. The result is that traditional forms of religious authority are constantly disrupted and challenged, but at the same time the Internet creates new opportunities for evangelism, religious instruction and piety. The outcome of these processes is, however, unknown and unknowable. There is a need, therefore, to invent a new theory of authority that is post-Weberian in reconstructing the conventional format of charisma, tradition and legal rationalism.

Calliphora vicina larvae grow at different rates on different body tissues

Abstract: Compared with the rate on pig’s liver, larval growth of the blowfly, Calliphora vicina is significantly faster by as much as 2 days on lung, kidney, heart or brain tissue. Potentially this has major implications when laboratory growth rates of larvae fed on one food substrate (often liver) are used to calculate the amount of development, and therefore the postmortem interval in a forensic case.

The Dominant Ideology Thesis

Abstract: Книга содержит критику распространенного в неомарксизме “тезиса о господствующей идеологии” (ТГИ), в котором преувеличивается роль идеологии господствующего класса в поддержании стабильности социального порядка. Как показывают авторы, ТГИ в различных его вариациях характерен не только для взглядов большинства неомарксистов (от Грамши до Альтюссера и Хабермаса), но и для академической социологии, особенно в структурно-функционалистском ее варианте (концепция “общей культуры”). Привлекая эмпирический материал, относящийся к обществам феодализма, раннего капитализма и позднего капитализма, авторы демонстрируют несостоятельность ТГИ. Аберкоромби, Тернер и Хилл призывают вернуться к аутентичным взглядам Маркса, Дюркгейма и Вебера на проблему социального порядка. Стабильность социального порядка, по их мнению, лучше объясняется не принятием большинством членов общества ценностей и верований господствующей идеологии, а такими факторами, как политическое и экономическое принуждение.

Classical sociology and cosmopolitanism: a critical defence of the social.

Abstract: It is frequently argued that classical sociology, if not sociology as a whole, cannot provide any significant insight into globalization, primarily because its assumptions about the nation-state, national cultures and national societies are no longer relevant to a global world. Sociology cannot consequently contribute to a normative debate about cosmopolitanism, which invites us to consider loyalties and identities that reach beyond the nation-state. My argument considers four principal topics. First, I defend the classical legacy by arguing that classical sociology involved the study of 'the social' not national societies. This argument is illustration by reference to Emile Durkheim and Talcott Parsons. Secondly, Durkheim specifically developed the notion of a cosmopolitan sociology to challenge the nationalist assumptions of his day. Thirdly, I attempt to develop a critical version of Max Weber's verstehende soziologie to consider the conditions for critical recognition theory in sociology as a necessary precondition of cosmopolitanism. Finally, I consider the limitations of some contemporary versions of global sociology in the example of 'flexible citizenship' to provide an empirical case study of the limitations of globalization processes and 'sociology beyond society'. While many institutions have become global, some cannot make this transition. Hence, we should consider the limitations on as well as the opportunities for cosmopolitan sociology.

Epiphanies of embodiment: Injury, identity and the balletic body.

Abstract: Our ethnography of the balletic body is a contribution to the relatively small corpus of empirical research studies on embodiment in general and on dance as a social practice in particular. In cont...

Possessions and the extended self.

Abstract: Our possessions are a major contributor to and reflection of our identities A variety of evidence is presented supporting this simple and compelling premise Related streams of research are identified and drawn upon in developing this concept and implications are derived for consumer behavior Because the construct of extended self involves consumer behavior rather than buyer behavior, it appears to be a much richer construct than previous formulations positing a relationship between self-concept and consumer brand choice

In a Different Voice. Psychological Theory and Women’s Development. Cambridge, MA (Harvard University Press) 1982.

Abstract: Introduction 1. Woman's Place in Man's Life Cycle 2. Images of Relationship 3. Concepts of Self and Morality 4. Crisis and Transition 5. Women's Rights and Women's Judgment 6. Visions of Maturity References Index of Study Participants General Index

The archaeology of knowledge

Abstract: We may not be able to make you love reading, but archaeology of knowledge will lead you to love reading starting from now. Book is the window to open the new world. The world that you want is in the better stage and level. World will always guide you to even the prestige stage of the life. You know, this is some of how reading will give you the kindness. In this case, more books you read more knowledge you know, but it can mean also the bore is full.