I come from the field of criminology via anthropology, and as primarily an academic, I can safely say there are lots of stupid things that the social sciences do which make it hard to "translate"...
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I come from the field of criminology via anthropology, and as primarily an academic, I can safely say there are lots of stupid things that the social sciences do which make it hard to "translate"...
It has indeed been awhile, Marc, and from my lurking here the last couple of years, it appears you're doing fine. We've been busy, rolling out new courses, hiring new faculty, holding symposiums,...
Marc, I don't think the practice of witchcraft/sorcery, in the context of ritual child sacrifice, has got anything to do with social stress or social strain at all. Infanticide, maybe, because...
I'm aware of key problems with my proposal, and its Orwellian overtones, but the main point is to follow a 1st Amendment path to control of the media and not tamper with other freedoms there such as...
I'm going to venture a proposal for a free press theory accounting for the new media of cyberspace. First of all, I'm focusing upon free press instead of free speech because that's where the real...
One of the issues that has been overlooked on this thread is lawfare, not so much in the asymmetrical sense of using international law for moral advantage, but in the OPLAW sense of how much and how...
I think the best criminological exposition of Prof. David Kennedy's "pulling levers" approach is in this law review article at Harvard. The rolling stone article makes mention of Kennedy's ideas...
I couldn't keep from jumping in, as fear is one of my favorite emotions to discuss. Perhaps I could best contribute in a sociological vein (although my field is criminology). I think the previous...
Well, I don't know about posting the whole article. It was written a long time ago and is a very rudimentary expostion of Parsonianism applied to a Filipino insurgency problem. I can try to attach...
Marc, I sent a copy of that old paper of mine to you by email. I couldn't get around the file size limitations here.
Marc; I hope it's not just you and I having this conversation. Not that I don't mind the company, but I'd love to hear from some others too because some of the prior comments about my (ontological)...
rightwingprof: what field did you change to? I switched from anthropology to criminology and never regretted it, but I do run into a lot of animosity and elitism from straight-up anthropologists. I...
Regarding Parsons (forgetting Durkheim and Weber for now), isn't it true that a symbolic media of exchange, like making money or engaging in legitimate economic behavior, serves to connect components...
Well, Rex. Sorry that other-worldly mysticism and non-participative least effort doesn't seem to describe any Islamist you know, but the processes I'm describing operate at a level which is not...
I was just pondering some application of Weber's ideas. There's no necessity for "exhaustion" nor sectarianism. The goal of inner-worldly asceticism could be accomplished by other means. For...
OK, a naive comment on my last post. I have zero experience in engaging a mosque. There probably is no accreditation authority, but maybe there's some way to put pressure on them from above. I dunno....
If not the iron cage, then basically I am suggesting an application of the ideas in Weber's Protestant Ethic for battling Islamist extremism. My reasoning goes like this. Since any theocratic...
One would think that a mosque, just like any organization, would have rules and regulations that constrain or control ideological behavior. It seems encouraging self-control is our best bet, or...
Been thinking about Ju-Ju lately, and the problems of mono-religious cultures versus multi-religious cultures, in the context of COIN, engaging the mosque, and all that. It seems quite the project...
It's my understanding that, historically, the role of the mosque is to be a place of learning and financial assistance. Madrassas have since come along for the former, and associations now prevent...
I agree with walrus. After reading the paper, I was struck by how restrained the authors were. In the words of one of them, they wanted to avoid the dangers of sociological determinism. While none...
The more I think about it, the more I'm sold on this civil religion thing. Christianity (which I'm assuming is prevalent), or Wicca (what have you), can be something running private and independently...
The Iranian regime has gone on record saying they will eliminate Israel and crush America. One can take this as a sign their animus toward Israel is greater, but they will definitely try to draw...
Dr. Metz, thanks for sharing your article. I always like reading you, and didn't know if you were inviting comment or not, but will so anyway, from my perspective. What I appreciate most are your...
We have a somewhat significant presence of Wiccans here at Ft. Campbell. My previous experience with them has been that they are just lapsed Christians or someone who stopped going to church and/or...