Cultural Reception: e'g' Latin American Pentecostalism

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Cultural Receptione.g. Latin American
Pentecostalism

• Pentecostalism a Form of Evangelical
  Protestantism that believes in
• Speaking in tongues
• Spirit possession
• Perfectionism
• Millenialism
• Liberation Theology movement within Catholicism
  emphasizing
• Lay interpretation and organization
• Application of Biblical themes to social problems
  and injustice.

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Controversy over Pentecostal Growth

• 3 criticisms
• A form of cultural imperialism
• A form of pacification
• A form of female subjugation
• 3 realities
• Localized form of Protestantism. Often a form of
  cultural revitalization.
• A form of agency, i.e. a way to take control of
  immediate social circumstances.
• A way for females to control their husbands and
  assert their autonomy.

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Basic point

• If a cultural object is successful, no matter how
  ridiculous it might appear, look at receivers to
  see how it fits in their lives.

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Plan

• Today Social Problems
• Next week Culture in Organizations
• Oct.15 Culture and postmodernity
• Oct.22 Midterm, globalization video

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How far weve come

• Instead of humanities approach, the sociological
  approach to culture is relativistic and sees
  culture as durable, closely linked to society and
  study-able like anything else.
• Instead of vague concept of culture, cultural
  object shared significance embodied in form.
• Instead of naïve reflection models we are looking
  at production and reception.
• Instead of naïve demographic or genius theories
  of cultural innovation we have industrial,
  organizational and market explanations.
• Instead of conspiracy theories such as FoxNews is
  simply buying supporters, we get receptions
  studies.

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The Cultural Construction of Social Problems
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The Summer of the Shark

• Actual figures
• 2000 85/13
• 2001 72/5
• 2002 60/3
• Why did it become an issue? (p.117)
• Happening a particularly emotive attack.
• Ideas primordial fear of sharks, American
  interest in nature and danger
• Institutional complex media had an uneventful
  summer, top stories CA energy crisis, Gary
  Condit scandal
• Ends?

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Drunk Driving

• When drunk driving is focused on as cause of
  traffic fatalities, the following are left out
• Sprawl development cars, road design, little
  public transportation.
• Car design safety features (airbags, bumper
  height, car design)

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Why the Focus on Drunk Driving?

• Ideas
• American tendency to emphasize personal
  responsibility.
• American tendency to view alcohol as immoral.
• Institutions
• Govt. focusing on DD deflects attention from
  road building and costly regulations.
• Auto industry DD deflects attention from car
  design.
• MADD a social movement organization that fought
  to make DD a public issue. Emotive Pieta image.

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Social Movements

• Social Movement Organizations Organizations that
  mobilize people to try to make changes in
  dominant institutions.
• Social Movements groupings of social movement
  organizations.
• E.g.s
• Human rights movement SMOs Amnesty
  International, Human Rights Watch, Americas
  Watch.
• -Womans movement SMO NOW.
• -Civil Rights movement SMOs NAACP, Urban
  League, Southern Leadership Council, SNC.

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Collective Identity

• Important step in mobilizing and creating social
  power.
• E.g.s
• New Nations
• Ethnic groups
• Social Movements

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Karen Cerulo the Structure of Right and Wrong.

• Newspaper reports
• Deviant violence
• Normal violence
• Ambiguous violence

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Karen Cerulo the Structure of Right and Wrong.

• Victim Sequence
• Victim 85 yr old Grandmother
• Act is murdered
• Performer by ex-con.
• Context He offered to carry her groceries

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Cerulo contd.

• Performer sequence
• Performer School teacher
• Act shoots
• Victim Intruder
• Context in home invasion

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Cerulo contd.

• Contextual sequence
• Performer 54 yr. old woman
• Context with Alzheimers
• Act commits suicide
• Context assisted by Dr. Kevorkian
• Intentional sequencing?

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Framing Social Problems

• Abortion debate
• Identities
• Anti-abortion pro-life
• Pro-abortion pro-choice
• Issues
• Pro-life
• its not a choice its a child.
• I love children born and unborn
• Pro-choice
• protect a womans right to choose.
• coat hanger with a slash.

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Framing Political Mobilization

• Rallies for America rather than rallies for
  invading Iraq.
• America Comes Together rather than Democrats
  come together