Contemporary society

About: Contemporary society is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 3991 publications have been published within this topic receiving 91755 citations.

What's in a Research Project: Some Thoughts on the Intersection of History, Social Structure, and Biography

Abstract: Social influences on the formation of research agendas comprise one of the central problems of control and power in contemporary societies. The contemporary world is one in which the exercise of control is provided not by brute force but by the defining patterns of communication by which a society gives direction and organization to its social affairs. The production of knowledge has implications for how we conceive, organize, and challenge our ongoing social relations.This article focuses upon the social formation of research by considering autobiography, biography, and institutions. Our research programs are not conceived solely as those of individual imagination, but involve a complex relation among community, institutions, social structure, and individuals. The discussion focuses upon the relation of U.S. corporate liberalism, Protestant theology, and Jewish identity, and the role of the university as a dynamic in the administration of the State. The story is not one of causation. Yet, it is a...

The Sociological Implications for Contemporary Buddhism in the United Kingdom: Socially Engaged Buddhism, a Case Study

Abstract: Introduction Buddhist Studies has, for well over a century, been seen by many in the academy as the domain of philologists and others whose skills are essentially in the translation and interpretation of texts derived from ancient languages like classical Chinese, Pali, Sanskrit, and its hybrid variations, together with the commentarial tradition that developed alongside it. Only in the last thirty-five years has there been an increasing number of theses, journal articles, and other academic texts that have seriously addressed the developments of a Western Buddhism as opposed to Buddhism in the West. As Prebish (2002:66) attests, based on his own 1975 experience of teaching Buddhism in the United States, "Even a casual perusal of the most popular books used as texts in introductory courses on Buddhism at that time reveals that Western Buddhism was not included in the discipline called Buddhist Studies." Fundamentally, this paper addresses Buddhist identity in contemporary settings, and asks what it means to be Buddhist in the West today. This is the overarching theme of my doctoral research into socially engaged Buddhism in the United Kingdom, which addresses the question of how socially engaged Buddhism challenges the notion of what it means to be Buddhist in the twenty-first century. The scope of this paper is to portray part of that work, and, in so doing, it suggests methodological approaches for students of Western Buddhism, using my research into the identity of socially engaged Buddhists in the United Kingdom as a case study. It is, however, divided into three themes. First, it presents socially engaged Buddhism and the difficulties that it presents to Western Buddhist Studies in the areas of identity, authenticity, and validity. Second, it delineates an assessment of the sub-discipline that has become the study of Western Buddhism in the United States, and its significance for the United Kingdom. In that context it addresses, briefly, the question of a globalized Western Buddhism, and, having made a case for it, explores a number of recent findings in U.S. scholarship, drawing on parallels with my own research. Finally, it examines how Western Buddhism is interpreted using sociological methods of investigation and suggests an ethnographic style of investigation appropriate for researchers in the field. As part of the case study evidence, I draw on the preliminary findings of a survey of socially engaged Buddhists conducted in the United Kingdom. Sociology, when applied to studies of Buddhist groups and organizations (lay or monastic, ethnic or convert, or in combination), seeks to answer questions relative to both the place of Western Buddhism in contemporary society and what it means to be Buddhist in that environment. Of concern to scholars in the United States, and me, in my research, are questions about the nature of Western Buddhist identity. Queen (1999:xiv), indicates, in his description of Western Buddhism, that it can be seen as "religious identities in transition." The question of identity is key in assessing what Hinnells (1997b:64) infers when he claims, "A religion is what it has become." It is at this theme of identity in transition that (in part) my research is aimed. The debate addresses a number of phenomena that supports the notion of changing Buddhist identities in the West, which takes account of the sociocultural transmission of Buddhism into Western cultures. The apolitical, otherworldly stereotypes presented by Weber (1958) and others are not a feature of an engaged Buddhist worldview, which embraces social and political cultures, and acts out a Buddhist lifestyle challenging the moral and ethical infrastructure of society from a number of standpoints. Not least from the perspectives of human rights, ecology, and social degradation, as well as moral and ethical positions taken in relation to war and peace, including arms trading and the proliferation of the seeming "armed enforcement of democracy" in the world, as highlighted by the unprecedented Buddhist support for the "stop the war" campaign in the United Kingdom over the Iraq war. …

Entrepreneurship as a new liberal art

Abstract: The skills and knowledge required to engage in entrepreneurship are vital elements of participating fully in contemporary society. We consider the “crisis” in the liberal arts in the USA and show why entrepreneurship can and should be considered fundamental to a renewed and contemporary conception of the liberal arts. Integral to our arguments is a pragmatic view that considers research and teaching in entrepreneurship to be inextricably intertwined. By examining the study of organizations across several social science and humanities disciplines, we highlight the relative narrowness of the current empirical domain of much entrepreneurship research associated with business schools and management journals and develop examples showing the potential theoretical value of substantially expanding the empirical domain of entrepreneurship as organization creation for both research and teaching. Our argument is that the study of entrepreneurship as a new liberal art can be an important source of individual and group emancipation and a fundamental means through which entrepreneurs can become who they want to be while creating the impact on the world they envision. We offer this as a statement of the appropriate domain of entrepreneurship to guide our approach to both research and teaching.

The New Fundraisers: Who organises charitable giving in contemporary society?

Abstract: Charitable fundraising has become ever more urgent in a time of extensive public spending cuts. However, while the identity and motivation of those who donate comes under increasingly close scrutiny, little is known about the motivation and characteristics of the ‘askers’, despite almost every donation being solicited or prompted in some way. This is the first empirically-grounded and theorised account of the identity, characteristics and motivation of fundraisers in the UK. Based on original data collected during a 3-year study of over 1,200 fundraisers, the book argues that it is not possible to understand charitable giving without accounting for the role of fundraising.

The Activist Role of the Black Church: A Theoretical Analysis and an Empirical Investigation of One Contemporary Activist Black Church

Abstract: Various writers who have directed their attention to the study of the historical origins of the African-Methodist Episcopal Church (AMEC), which began in 1816 under the leadership of Richard Allen, generally place their analyses within the context of the economic, political, and social climate during the early 19th century (George, 1973; Lincoln, 1974; Mukenge, 1983; Wilmore, 1972). The conclusion reached by these writers can be summarized by referring to Mukenge's (1983, p. 33) argument that the AMEC emerged as a movement responding to deprivations caused by the structural blockages of legitimate expectations in the Black population. Mukenge explains that although the ideological climate provided the framework for the freeman's claims to equality, there was a blatant contradiction between these ideal values and the real status of Black Americans. These contradictions, according to some writers, still exist in contemporary society. Studies indicate that in spite of all the social and legal changes that have occurred as a result of the civil rights movement, African Americans still represent a seriously disadvantaged group. This position is succinctly articulated by Jaynes and Williams in their statement that "the status of Black Americans today can be characterized as a glass that is half full-if measured by progress since 1939-or a glass that is half empty-if measured