James V. Spickard

Bio: James V. Spickard is an academic researcher from University of Redlands. The author has contributed to research in topics: Sociology of religion & Religious experience. The author has an hindex of 17, co-authored 79 publications receiving 1032 citations. Previous affiliations of James V. Spickard include Fielding Graduate University & Brill Publishers.

Steps Toward a Sociology of Religious Experience: The Theories of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Alfred Schutz

Abstract: Sociologists of religion, in their concern for the social effects of religious institutions and the functions of religious meaning systems for people's identities, have neglected to study religious experiences. This paper explores Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's theory of flow experiences and Alfred Schutz's theory of the tuning-in relationship as possible approaches to studying the experiential dimension of religion. Csikszentmihalyi's notion of "the flow experience," while ultimately reductionist, focuses on the nonconceptual side of autotelic activities. Schutz's analysis of musical performance elucidates the preconceptual sociality of all experiences shared in inner time. We suggest that both theories offer conceptual tools that can be applied to religious experiences. Taken together they suggest an approach for sociologists attempting to explore this hitherto neglected domain.

Rethinking Religious Social Action: What is “Rational” about Rational-Choice Theory?

Abstract: The rational-choice/market-model of religions really consists of two, separable parts : a model of religious behavior plus a rational-choice explanation of why that behavior occurs. This article examines three key theoretical assumptions of the latter explanation. It shows two of these to be false and the third to be so vague as to be useless. This undercuts a rational-choice psychology as an explanation for religious actions. It undercuts, however, neither the utility of the market-model itself nor of a rational-choice model of human behavior (as opposed to action). Together these can describe the overall structure of the religious marketplace, but cannot - and need not - describe the subjective actions of religious persons

A Guide to Mary Douglas's Three Versions of Grid/Group Theory

Abstract: In several publications over the last 18 years, Mary Douglas has advanced a theory for correlating cosmological beliefs with concrete social life. Though she acknowledges that her thinking has changed with time, nowhere does she systematically address the underlying differences between her recent and previous formulations. This article identifies three main versions of Douglas's theory, which are highly unlike. Each version differently typifies her comparative dimensions "grid" and "group." Sometimes the variables are understood socially, sometimes cosmologically. Each version has a different intent: the first speaks of the structural resemblances between cosmologies and individuals' social experiences; the latest concentrates on the ways cosmologies are used to keep individuals in line. In the past few years a growing number of scholars has made use of Mary Douglas's "grid/group" theory for correlating beliefs with concrete social life. They have looked to her work for answers to two classic sociological questions of particular interest to students of religion: What social circumstances encourage particular kinds of religious sensibilities? And what kinds of institutions do people of given sensibilities construct for themselves? Operating largely in a Durkheimian mode, Douglas has revived the issue of how social factors condition belief without, she claims, becoming reductionist. The ways social reality constructs consciousness are as important as the ways that reality is itself socially constructed. Certain social settings encourage certain ways of seeing the world: grid/group theory is designed to make the connection explicit and predictions possible. In particular, New Testament scholars have been attracted to Douglas's work to

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

萨义德的“Orientalism”释义

Abstract: 萨义德以其独特的双重身份,对西方中心权力话语做了分析,通过对文学作品、演讲演说等文本的解读,将O rie n ta lis m——"东方学",做了三重释义:一门学科、一种思维方式和一种权力话语系统,对东方学权力话语做了系统的批判,同时将东方学放入空间维度对东方学文本做了细致的解读。

Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life

Abstract: Meanwhile, the authors' antidote to the American sicknessa quest for democratic community that draws on our diverse civic and religious traditionshas contributed to a vigorous scholarly and popular debate. Attention has been focused on forms of social organization, be it civil society, democratic communitarianism, or associative democracy, that can humanize the market and the administrative state. In their new Introduction the authors relate the argument of their book both to the current realities of American society and to the growing debate about the country's future. With this new edition one of the most influential books of recent times takes on a new immediacy.\