Stephen Middleton, David R. Roediger, and Donald M. Shaffer (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781496805553
- eISBN:
- 9781496805591
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496805553.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Race and Ethnicity
The Construction of Whiteness is an interdisciplinary collection of essays that examines the crucial intersection between whiteness as a privileged racial category and the various material practices ...
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The Construction of Whiteness is an interdisciplinary collection of essays that examines the crucial intersection between whiteness as a privileged racial category and the various material practices (i.e. social, cultural, political, and economic) that underwrite its ideological influence in American society. In truth, whiteness has rarely been understood outside of academic circles as a problem to be examined, questioned, or interrogated. This is because the ubiquity of whiteness—its pervasive quality as an ideal that is at once omnipresent and invisible—makes it the very epitome of the social and cultural mainstream in America. Yet the undeniable relationship between whiteness and structures of inequality in this country necessitate a thorough interrogation of its formation, its representation, and its reproduction. The essays in this collection seek to do just that; that is, interrogate whiteness as a social construction, thereby revealing the underpinnings of narratives that fosters white skin as the ideal standard of beauty, intelligence, and power.
The essays in this collection examine whiteness from several disciplinary perspectives, including history, communication, law, sociology, and literature. Its breadth and depth makes The Construction of Whiteness a standard anthology for introducing the critical study of race to a new generation of scholars, undergraduates, and graduate students. Moreover, the interdisciplinary approach of the collection will necessarily appeal to those with scholarly orientations in African and African American Studies, Ethnic Studies and Cultural Studies, Legal Studies, etc. This collection, therefore, makes an important contribution to the field of whiteness studies, broadly conceived, in its multifaceted connections to American history and culture.Less
The Construction of Whiteness is an interdisciplinary collection of essays that examines the crucial intersection between whiteness as a privileged racial category and the various material practices (i.e. social, cultural, political, and economic) that underwrite its ideological influence in American society. In truth, whiteness has rarely been understood outside of academic circles as a problem to be examined, questioned, or interrogated. This is because the ubiquity of whiteness—its pervasive quality as an ideal that is at once omnipresent and invisible—makes it the very epitome of the social and cultural mainstream in America. Yet the undeniable relationship between whiteness and structures of inequality in this country necessitate a thorough interrogation of its formation, its representation, and its reproduction. The essays in this collection seek to do just that; that is, interrogate whiteness as a social construction, thereby revealing the underpinnings of narratives that fosters white skin as the ideal standard of beauty, intelligence, and power.
The essays in this collection examine whiteness from several disciplinary perspectives, including history, communication, law, sociology, and literature. Its breadth and depth makes The Construction of Whiteness a standard anthology for introducing the critical study of race to a new generation of scholars, undergraduates, and graduate students. Moreover, the interdisciplinary approach of the collection will necessarily appeal to those with scholarly orientations in African and African American Studies, Ethnic Studies and Cultural Studies, Legal Studies, etc. This collection, therefore, makes an important contribution to the field of whiteness studies, broadly conceived, in its multifaceted connections to American history and culture.
Simone Tosoni and Trevor Pinch
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262035279
- eISBN:
- 9780262336550
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262035279.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Technology and Society
Based on several rounds of academic interview and conversations with Trevor Pinch, the book introduces the reader to the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS), and in particular to the social ...
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Based on several rounds of academic interview and conversations with Trevor Pinch, the book introduces the reader to the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS), and in particular to the social constructionist approach to science, technology and sound. Through the lenses of Pinch’s lifetime work, STS students, and scholars in fields dealing with technological mediation, are provided with an in-depth overview, and with suggestions for further reading, on the most relevant past and ongoing debates in the field. The book starts presenting the approach launched by the Bath School in the early sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK), and follows the development of the field up to the so called “Science wars” of the ‘90s, and to the popularization of the main acquisitions of the field by Trevor Pinch and Harry Collins’ Golem trilogy. Then, it deals with the sociology of technology, and presents the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) approach, launched by Trevor Pinch and Wiebe Bijker in 1984 and developed in more than 30 years of research, comparing it with alternative approaches like Bruno Latour’s Actor-Network theory. Five issues are addressed in depth: relevant social groups in the social construction of technology; the intertwining of social representations and practices; the importance of tacit knowledge in SCOT’s approach to the nonrepresentational; the controversy over nonhuman agency; and the political implications of SCOT. Finally, it presents the main current debates in STS, in particular in the study of materiality and ontology, and presents Pinch’s more recent work in sound studies.Less
Based on several rounds of academic interview and conversations with Trevor Pinch, the book introduces the reader to the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS), and in particular to the social constructionist approach to science, technology and sound. Through the lenses of Pinch’s lifetime work, STS students, and scholars in fields dealing with technological mediation, are provided with an in-depth overview, and with suggestions for further reading, on the most relevant past and ongoing debates in the field. The book starts presenting the approach launched by the Bath School in the early sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK), and follows the development of the field up to the so called “Science wars” of the ‘90s, and to the popularization of the main acquisitions of the field by Trevor Pinch and Harry Collins’ Golem trilogy. Then, it deals with the sociology of technology, and presents the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) approach, launched by Trevor Pinch and Wiebe Bijker in 1984 and developed in more than 30 years of research, comparing it with alternative approaches like Bruno Latour’s Actor-Network theory. Five issues are addressed in depth: relevant social groups in the social construction of technology; the intertwining of social representations and practices; the importance of tacit knowledge in SCOT’s approach to the nonrepresentational; the controversy over nonhuman agency; and the political implications of SCOT. Finally, it presents the main current debates in STS, in particular in the study of materiality and ontology, and presents Pinch’s more recent work in sound studies.
Simone Tosoni and Trevor Pinch
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262035279
- eISBN:
- 9780262336550
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262035279.003.0003
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Technology and Society
The chapter focuses on the Social Construction of Technology approach (SCOT) by Trevor Pinch and Wiebe Bijker, introducing the reader to its initial formulation (1984), and to the subsequent ...
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The chapter focuses on the Social Construction of Technology approach (SCOT) by Trevor Pinch and Wiebe Bijker, introducing the reader to its initial formulation (1984), and to the subsequent extensions – and sometimes reformulations – elaborated in more than 30 year of empirical research. It first clarifies how the Empirical Programme of Relativism, elaborated by the Bath School to address the social construction of scientific facts, was adapted to technological artifacts. In particular the concepts of relevant social groups, interpretative flexibility, closure or stabilization are in-depth discussed. Regarding relevant social groups, the chapter dedicates a peculiar attention to users, sellers and testers, all understudied in the original formulation of SCOT. The chapter then clarifies SCOT’s take on materiality, and discusses its main differences with the idea of nonhuman agency proposed by Actor-Network Theory (ANT). Finally, it goes back to the Golem Trilogy to discuss with the author the specific take on politics implied by SCOT.Less
The chapter focuses on the Social Construction of Technology approach (SCOT) by Trevor Pinch and Wiebe Bijker, introducing the reader to its initial formulation (1984), and to the subsequent extensions – and sometimes reformulations – elaborated in more than 30 year of empirical research. It first clarifies how the Empirical Programme of Relativism, elaborated by the Bath School to address the social construction of scientific facts, was adapted to technological artifacts. In particular the concepts of relevant social groups, interpretative flexibility, closure or stabilization are in-depth discussed. Regarding relevant social groups, the chapter dedicates a peculiar attention to users, sellers and testers, all understudied in the original formulation of SCOT. The chapter then clarifies SCOT’s take on materiality, and discusses its main differences with the idea of nonhuman agency proposed by Actor-Network Theory (ANT). Finally, it goes back to the Golem Trilogy to discuss with the author the specific take on politics implied by SCOT.
Steven Vogel
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780262029100
- eISBN:
- 9780262326988
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262029100.001.0001
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Environmental Studies
Environmental theory would be better off if it eschewed the concept of “nature” entirely. The concept is too ambiguous and potentially politically dangerous, while as McKibben and others have argued, ...
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Environmental theory would be better off if it eschewed the concept of “nature” entirely. The concept is too ambiguous and potentially politically dangerous, while as McKibben and others have argued, if “nature” means a world independent of human action it may no longer exist – and even if it did that’s not where environmental problems arise. The world that actually “environs” us is always a built one, and is “socially constructed” in the sense that humans literally construct it in their practices. We are not alienated from nature but rather from that (built) environment, in that we do not recognize, or take responsibility for, its builtness. “Thinking like a mall” means recognizing that the distinction between the “natural” and the “artificial” is untenable: artifacts are as material, and so as independent of humans, as anything else. Environmental questions are political questions, about what sort of environment we want to build: “nature” can’t answer them, only those beings capable of engaging in democratic political discourse can. But under capitalism such discourse is virtually impossible, and instead individuals can only engage in private market transactions with each other that when aggregated produce harmful “externalities” that no one intends. This is the source of environmental problems. Only by choosing our practices not as individuals but as democratically a community could such problems be overcome.Less
Environmental theory would be better off if it eschewed the concept of “nature” entirely. The concept is too ambiguous and potentially politically dangerous, while as McKibben and others have argued, if “nature” means a world independent of human action it may no longer exist – and even if it did that’s not where environmental problems arise. The world that actually “environs” us is always a built one, and is “socially constructed” in the sense that humans literally construct it in their practices. We are not alienated from nature but rather from that (built) environment, in that we do not recognize, or take responsibility for, its builtness. “Thinking like a mall” means recognizing that the distinction between the “natural” and the “artificial” is untenable: artifacts are as material, and so as independent of humans, as anything else. Environmental questions are political questions, about what sort of environment we want to build: “nature” can’t answer them, only those beings capable of engaging in democratic political discourse can. But under capitalism such discourse is virtually impossible, and instead individuals can only engage in private market transactions with each other that when aggregated produce harmful “externalities” that no one intends. This is the source of environmental problems. Only by choosing our practices not as individuals but as democratically a community could such problems be overcome.
Kim Van Liefferinge
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781474421775
- eISBN:
- 9781474449519
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474421775.003.0020
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, World History: BCE to 500CE
Technology is a ubiquitous aspect of the everyday world. Although hard to ignore in this day and age, Classical scholars have shown little awareness of this observation in their research. Technology ...
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Technology is a ubiquitous aspect of the everyday world. Although hard to ignore in this day and age, Classical scholars have shown little awareness of this observation in their research. Technology has primarily been studied from a restricted angle, most notably a technical or economic one. The former perspective views technology as a purely technical force, concentrating principally on tools and techniques. The latter focuses on innovation, and its capability to increase production outputs and trigger economic growth. Both approaches, however, neglect the complex range of factors that actually contribute to technological change, inevitably leading to misconceptions about the role of technology in the ancient world. This chapter presents a different way of approaching Classical technology. Using the sociological theory of Social Construction of Technological Systems, it argues that technological change always occurs against the backdrop of interdependent environmental, social, economic and political factors. It applies this approach to the case study of the Athenian silver mines in the Laurion. The focus is on the practice of silver production, with special attention to social groups and their interaction in a broader environmental, political and economic context. This framework enables a more contextualized and thorough understanding of technological change in Athenian society.Less
Technology is a ubiquitous aspect of the everyday world. Although hard to ignore in this day and age, Classical scholars have shown little awareness of this observation in their research. Technology has primarily been studied from a restricted angle, most notably a technical or economic one. The former perspective views technology as a purely technical force, concentrating principally on tools and techniques. The latter focuses on innovation, and its capability to increase production outputs and trigger economic growth. Both approaches, however, neglect the complex range of factors that actually contribute to technological change, inevitably leading to misconceptions about the role of technology in the ancient world. This chapter presents a different way of approaching Classical technology. Using the sociological theory of Social Construction of Technological Systems, it argues that technological change always occurs against the backdrop of interdependent environmental, social, economic and political factors. It applies this approach to the case study of the Athenian silver mines in the Laurion. The focus is on the practice of silver production, with special attention to social groups and their interaction in a broader environmental, political and economic context. This framework enables a more contextualized and thorough understanding of technological change in Athenian society.
Taylor Dotson
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780262036382
- eISBN:
- 9780262340861
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262036382.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Movements and Social Change
This chapter presents a far different approach to concerns regarding technologically driven changes to communal life than is typical. Rather than lament lost community or celebrate the present, it ...
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This chapter presents a far different approach to concerns regarding technologically driven changes to communal life than is typical. Rather than lament lost community or celebrate the present, it describes the status quo as sociotechnically constructed. Technological societies need not be characterized by the relatively thin and fragmented social practices of networked individualism; things could be otherwise. This take on community and technology is further distinguished by how it sees different arrangements for providing belonging as political: They provide some people with a satisfying experience of community but not others. Although network scholars see networked individualism as liberating, many people are as lonely as ever. Finally, this approach parts ways with traditional science and technology studies: 1) Rather than focus on sexy, esoteric technoscience, it concerns itself with the needs and experiences of average people 2) It analyses the barriers to change instead of merely providing an historical or ongoing account of it 3) It emphasizes the role of the built environment, a technology often overlooked within technology studies.Less
This chapter presents a far different approach to concerns regarding technologically driven changes to communal life than is typical. Rather than lament lost community or celebrate the present, it describes the status quo as sociotechnically constructed. Technological societies need not be characterized by the relatively thin and fragmented social practices of networked individualism; things could be otherwise. This take on community and technology is further distinguished by how it sees different arrangements for providing belonging as political: They provide some people with a satisfying experience of community but not others. Although network scholars see networked individualism as liberating, many people are as lonely as ever. Finally, this approach parts ways with traditional science and technology studies: 1) Rather than focus on sexy, esoteric technoscience, it concerns itself with the needs and experiences of average people 2) It analyses the barriers to change instead of merely providing an historical or ongoing account of it 3) It emphasizes the role of the built environment, a technology often overlooked within technology studies.
Ara Francis
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9781447304432
- eISBN:
- 9781447307884
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447304432.003.0007
- Subject:
- Sociology, Marriage and the Family
This chapter draws on a study of middle-class parents in the US who identify their children as having significant problems, such as learning and developmental disabilities, mental illnesses and ...
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This chapter draws on a study of middle-class parents in the US who identify their children as having significant problems, such as learning and developmental disabilities, mental illnesses and substance addictions, focusing on the processes of problem construction, i.e. how parents come to view their children as having significant problems of a particular kind. A social constructionist perspective is taken, addressing whose definitions of trouble prevail, in which contexts, and why, and exploring the micro-politics of this process. The formative role of wider family members, friends, school officials and medical professionals is highlighted in reinforcing perceived maternal responsibilities to monitor and cultivate development. For parents raising children with challenging behaviour, a medical frame of reference could simultaneously be the source of the problem, shaping their interpretations of their children’s conduct in ways that may sometimes problematise behaviour which would otherwise be viewed in terms of difference and nonconformity, and the solution, with parents fighting hard to gain public recognition that their children’s problems were legitimately medical, as opposed to the more ‘ordinary’ consequences of bad parenting.Less
This chapter draws on a study of middle-class parents in the US who identify their children as having significant problems, such as learning and developmental disabilities, mental illnesses and substance addictions, focusing on the processes of problem construction, i.e. how parents come to view their children as having significant problems of a particular kind. A social constructionist perspective is taken, addressing whose definitions of trouble prevail, in which contexts, and why, and exploring the micro-politics of this process. The formative role of wider family members, friends, school officials and medical professionals is highlighted in reinforcing perceived maternal responsibilities to monitor and cultivate development. For parents raising children with challenging behaviour, a medical frame of reference could simultaneously be the source of the problem, shaping their interpretations of their children’s conduct in ways that may sometimes problematise behaviour which would otherwise be viewed in terms of difference and nonconformity, and the solution, with parents fighting hard to gain public recognition that their children’s problems were legitimately medical, as opposed to the more ‘ordinary’ consequences of bad parenting.
Ara Francis
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9781447304432
- eISBN:
- 9781447307884
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447304432.003.0005
- Subject:
- Sociology, Marriage and the Family
This chapter draws attention to the tensions and ‘divides’ concerning methodological approaches to researching family troubles, focusing on qualitative methodologies and arguing that they share a ...
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This chapter draws attention to the tensions and ‘divides’ concerning methodological approaches to researching family troubles, focusing on qualitative methodologies and arguing that they share a concern with meanings and staying close to everyday contexts, underpinned by a primarily inductive epistemology. In relation to family troubles, the author suggests that qualitative methodologies are particularly well-suited to ask two core questions: how people construct ‘family troubles’ and how these constructions are related to social systems of power and inequalities. Using the example of the emergence of child abuse as a significant publicly-defined family trouble in 20th century Western societies, the author argues that qualitative methodologies can consider the processes through which such troubles are recognized and constructed, including historical considerations of the parts played by particular professional interests and the (classed) resistance to and support for the definitions of child abuse that emerged. Close examination of the social constructions of particular family troubles can be important in helping to frame appropriate interventions.Less
This chapter draws attention to the tensions and ‘divides’ concerning methodological approaches to researching family troubles, focusing on qualitative methodologies and arguing that they share a concern with meanings and staying close to everyday contexts, underpinned by a primarily inductive epistemology. In relation to family troubles, the author suggests that qualitative methodologies are particularly well-suited to ask two core questions: how people construct ‘family troubles’ and how these constructions are related to social systems of power and inequalities. Using the example of the emergence of child abuse as a significant publicly-defined family trouble in 20th century Western societies, the author argues that qualitative methodologies can consider the processes through which such troubles are recognized and constructed, including historical considerations of the parts played by particular professional interests and the (classed) resistance to and support for the definitions of child abuse that emerged. Close examination of the social constructions of particular family troubles can be important in helping to frame appropriate interventions.
Carolyn Moxley Rouse
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781469630359
- eISBN:
- 9781469630373
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469630359.003.0011
- Subject:
- Political Science, Public Policy
The United States Healthy People 2010 initiative, designed to focus nationally funded health research and care on achieving a set of nationwide goals, was directed toward the elimination of racial ...
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The United States Healthy People 2010 initiative, designed to focus nationally funded health research and care on achieving a set of nationwide goals, was directed toward the elimination of racial and ethnic health disparities. While racial and ethnic disparities are complex (with the health of some minority groups surpassing the national average), the health of black Americans continues to fall short of the national average. By focusing on the presumptions embedded in the design of health disparities research, this chapter addresses why Healthy People 2010 largely failed to reduce racial health inequality. Importantly, in thinking about health inequalities, researchers initially failed to consider how race is socially constructed; how data collection is never value-neutral (see King, chapter 8, this volume); and, finally, the limits of randomized control trials (deductive methods) when it comes to making sense of complex behavioral and structural data. The chapter ends by describing how ethnographic insights can help complicate the assumptions and conclusions of health disparities research.Less
The United States Healthy People 2010 initiative, designed to focus nationally funded health research and care on achieving a set of nationwide goals, was directed toward the elimination of racial and ethnic health disparities. While racial and ethnic disparities are complex (with the health of some minority groups surpassing the national average), the health of black Americans continues to fall short of the national average. By focusing on the presumptions embedded in the design of health disparities research, this chapter addresses why Healthy People 2010 largely failed to reduce racial health inequality. Importantly, in thinking about health inequalities, researchers initially failed to consider how race is socially constructed; how data collection is never value-neutral (see King, chapter 8, this volume); and, finally, the limits of randomized control trials (deductive methods) when it comes to making sense of complex behavioral and structural data. The chapter ends by describing how ethnographic insights can help complicate the assumptions and conclusions of health disparities research.
Michelle Bentley
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781526104717
- eISBN:
- 9781526120861
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781526104717.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Security Studies
This chapter analyses the chemical weapons taboo – the idea that chemical weapons are so abhorrent that they cannot be tolerated. In particular it engages with the work of Richard Price. It ...
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This chapter analyses the chemical weapons taboo – the idea that chemical weapons are so abhorrent that they cannot be tolerated. In particular it engages with the work of Richard Price. It reinterprets the taboo from the perspective of Quentin Skinner and his concept of the ‘innovating ideologist.’ Instead of viewing the taboo as a social construction, this analysis argues that actors can exert significant agency over the taboo and the way in which it is employed in political discourse.Less
This chapter analyses the chemical weapons taboo – the idea that chemical weapons are so abhorrent that they cannot be tolerated. In particular it engages with the work of Richard Price. It reinterprets the taboo from the perspective of Quentin Skinner and his concept of the ‘innovating ideologist.’ Instead of viewing the taboo as a social construction, this analysis argues that actors can exert significant agency over the taboo and the way in which it is employed in political discourse.
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9789888139156
- eISBN:
- 9789882209756
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888139156.003.0005
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Asian Studies
This research is to explore the social and psychological forces that influence the identity of a man who has come to describe himself as a “homosexual”. An attempt is made to understand the emergence ...
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This research is to explore the social and psychological forces that influence the identity of a man who has come to describe himself as a “homosexual”. An attempt is made to understand the emergence of male homosexual identities in Hong Kong – which is predominantly a Chinese community under western influence for more than one century. The results suggest that male homosexual identity arises not so much from homosexual behaviour per se but from the stigma and heterosexist beliefs that encompassed it. The acquisition of homosexual identity is largely a response to the cultural definitions of marriage and family, gender and sex roles, as well as a way to handle a culturally induced set of difficulties of getting access to emotional and sexual fulfilment in an environment that prohibits it.Less
This research is to explore the social and psychological forces that influence the identity of a man who has come to describe himself as a “homosexual”. An attempt is made to understand the emergence of male homosexual identities in Hong Kong – which is predominantly a Chinese community under western influence for more than one century. The results suggest that male homosexual identity arises not so much from homosexual behaviour per se but from the stigma and heterosexist beliefs that encompassed it. The acquisition of homosexual identity is largely a response to the cultural definitions of marriage and family, gender and sex roles, as well as a way to handle a culturally induced set of difficulties of getting access to emotional and sexual fulfilment in an environment that prohibits it.
Dorien Zandbergen
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780823239450
- eISBN:
- 9780823239498
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823239450.003.0021
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in the San Francisco Bay Area, this chapter addresses “New Edge,” a brand of “New Age” spirituality featuring the belief that the New Age can be realized through ...
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Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in the San Francisco Bay Area, this chapter addresses “New Edge,” a brand of “New Age” spirituality featuring the belief that the New Age can be realized through advanced technologies of the type pioneered in Silicon Valley. Rooted in corporate and academic settings, New Edge originated in the California countercultural movements of the 1960s and 1970s and continues to define itself as countercultural. It understands technology to be sacred, even though its “true potential” (i.e., extending people's senses by helping them to “see more,” “become aware,” “bring out their true selves,” etc.) may remain unfulfilled due to corporate incorporation and commodification. Much like understandings of the Internet by scholars of “cyber-religion” back in the 1990s, then, and despite its keen awareness of the socially constructed nature of things, New Edge is still informed by the technologically deterministic notion that technology has a “true essence.”Less
Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in the San Francisco Bay Area, this chapter addresses “New Edge,” a brand of “New Age” spirituality featuring the belief that the New Age can be realized through advanced technologies of the type pioneered in Silicon Valley. Rooted in corporate and academic settings, New Edge originated in the California countercultural movements of the 1960s and 1970s and continues to define itself as countercultural. It understands technology to be sacred, even though its “true potential” (i.e., extending people's senses by helping them to “see more,” “become aware,” “bring out their true selves,” etc.) may remain unfulfilled due to corporate incorporation and commodification. Much like understandings of the Internet by scholars of “cyber-religion” back in the 1990s, then, and despite its keen awareness of the socially constructed nature of things, New Edge is still informed by the technologically deterministic notion that technology has a “true essence.”
Aaron W. Hughes
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199356812
- eISBN:
- 9780199358199
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199356812.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism, Philosophy of Religion
Jewish philosophy, like any religious based philosophy, does not begin in wonder, but self-defense. The task of such a defense must, by necessity, be constructed on the wobbly ground of privilege and ...
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Jewish philosophy, like any religious based philosophy, does not begin in wonder, but self-defense. The task of such a defense must, by necessity, be constructed on the wobbly ground of privilege and denial. Upon such a shaky foundation, Jewish philosophy sets itself up as the arbiter of the good, the true, and the beautiful. That which fits and upholds this reading is emphasized, and that which embarrasses or contradicts can be neatly excised. The cost of such an enterprise is the production of a particular type of Judaism, in which we see reflected a particular set of concerns and wills to power that seek to enforce it. To explore this in greater detail, this chapter focuses on the artificiality of the terms and categories bequeathed to us by our nineteenth-century forebears, classifications that are still largely in use today.Less
Jewish philosophy, like any religious based philosophy, does not begin in wonder, but self-defense. The task of such a defense must, by necessity, be constructed on the wobbly ground of privilege and denial. Upon such a shaky foundation, Jewish philosophy sets itself up as the arbiter of the good, the true, and the beautiful. That which fits and upholds this reading is emphasized, and that which embarrasses or contradicts can be neatly excised. The cost of such an enterprise is the production of a particular type of Judaism, in which we see reflected a particular set of concerns and wills to power that seek to enforce it. To explore this in greater detail, this chapter focuses on the artificiality of the terms and categories bequeathed to us by our nineteenth-century forebears, classifications that are still largely in use today.
