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-~~DECKJS~~
-# Multiple modernities #
-## Multiple modernities ##
-Ryan Schram
-Mills 169, A26
-ryan (dot) schram (at) sydney.edu.au
-Monday and Wednesday, October 10 and 12, 2016
-### Reading ###
-Brenner, Suzanne. 1996. “Reconstructing Self and Society: Javanese Muslim Women and ‘the Veil.’” American Ethnologist 23 (4): 673–97. doi:10.1525/ae.1996.23.4.02a00010.
-## Preparing for the final exam ##
-The **ANTH 1002 final examination is a "take-home" exam**. The question paper will be released on Blackboard on the day and time listed in your exam timetable. It will contain instructions and several kinds of short and long essay questions. You will have 24 hours to complete your answers. You will submit your answers in a single document to a Turnitin dropbox on the class Blackboard site (under "Assessment Information").
-**Start studying now!** Even though this is an open-book and open-notes exam, you should still prepare in advance as you would for any exam. Think about each individual concept, topic and reading as part of the class as a whole. Each of the questions in the exam will ask you to explain how individual examples and ideas illustrate something important about anthropology in the contemporary era.
-If you need **special arrangements to take the exam** for any reason, please email Ryan **immediately**. This can include special consideration or arrangement, disability accommodation, or computer needs. Most people will be able to submit their exam from any computer, their own or a lab computer, just as you submitted your essay.
-## The rise of cities ##
-### US urbanisation ###
-* USA 1900: 30% of people live in cities
-* USA 1990: nearly 80% live in cities (US Census 1995).
-### World urbanisation ###
-* In 1800, 3% of the world lived in cities.
-* In 1900, 19%.
-* In 2000, 47% ... and recently over half of people live in cities (The Economist 2007).
-What do you think are the main differences between rural and urban societies?
-## What is a contemporary society? ##
-This class is about the conditions of life and society in the contemporary world.
-The contemporary world is:
-* Interconnected. Everyone lives in some kind of conjuncture of cultures and orders.
-* Fluid. Societies are produced through their interactions with other cultures, and every society is a product of their history.
-* Complex. Many different kinds of logic coexist within every society, like reciprocity and commodity exchange, or in-the-world or on-the-world
-* Defined by unintended side-effects. All societies are changing all the time, but change goes in different directions, and history is not linear or progressive.
-In other words, anthropologists argue that you cannot understand life in the contemporary world by a **"from-to" story**, e.g. from tradition to modernity, from oral to literate, or from sustainable husbandry to industrial exploitation. Each contemporary society is a **"both-and" story**.
-## Multiple modernities ##
-This week we taking a second look at the concept of modernity. Today I
-want to talk about modernity as a distinct kind of change.
-On Wednesday, I want to argue that there is more than one kind of
-modernity. Specifically,
-* All societies change, but not all societies end up being the same.
-* Not all kinds of social change are progress.
-By the end of this week, I hope to have explained why anthropologists
-for the most part are very skeptical that there is such a thing as
-modernity. They prefer to talk about it as multiple modernities, each
-with its own logic and history.
-Before we get going, I should mention that my slides for today are
-much denser than usual. This lecture is also much denser and more
-abstract. So I suggest that you concentrate on listening and use the
-words on the screen as a guide to the main points. Don't try to copy
-down everything on the screen. All of the slides are online on
-anthro.rschram.org.
-## Max Weber: the man, the myth, the sociologist ##
-Max Weber (1864-1920) is widely considered the founder of modern
-sociology. Along with Emile Durkheim, he is credited with some of
-social science's main ideas.
-Weber's approach to social forms starts from the view that there are
-different types of society, and one can compare them to understand
-each better.
-## Weber and modernity ##
-For Weber "traditional" societies were different from "modern"
-societies.
-Traditional societies are based on following rules because 'this is
-the way it has always been.'
-Modern societies allow more freedom for individuals to make
-choices. Modern societies are based on agreements between individuals.
-Weber says that modern societies are **more rational** than
-traditional societies.
-## That doesn't sound like anthropology ##
-Weber did not look at cultural differences the way that
-anthropologists do. His views about social change are ethnocentric. He
-assumed that all societies were moving toward greater rationality,
-which he saw in the German state.
-Let's look at Weber's key ideas to see how he arrives at this idea of
-modernity.
-## Weber's theory of society ##
-Weber's theory of society starts with the concept of "social action". There are four types of social action, each based on a type of meaning they embody.
-* Traditional: I do it because this is how it has always been.
-* Affective: I do it because it expresses my emotions.
-* Value-rational: I do it because this is the best possible way to
-  advance a collective goal of my society.
-* Instrumental-rational: I do it because I get the most for the least
-  amount of effort.
-## Social action and society ##
-People are always motivated to act by a combination of all four types
-of motivation: tradition, affect, value-rationality, and instrumental
-rationality.
-One type of motivation is always predominant in a single form.
-People do different kinds of actions in different kinds of contexts.
-Different social institutions call on people to be different kinds of
-actors and to think about themselves and the value of their action in
-a certain way.
-## Examples ##
-Think about these examples. Each of these actions has a different
-meaning for the person who does them.
-Giving a fruit loaf. It's getting close to the holiday season and so
-there's lots of family gatherings. You may feel obligated to do
-something for the people hosting a party for you. Mauss would say that
-this obligation is reciprocity. Weber didn't believe in
-reciprocity. It's a tradition. You basically do it out of habit.
-Giving change to the Salvos.
-Buying ramen noodles.
-Each of these have different kind of primary motivation. Each social
-role one plays -- relative, donor, customer -- embodies a different
-value.
-## Religion as a type of social action ##
-What kind of value does religion embody? Or, from an actor's point of
-view, what is the motivation for participating in religious worship
-and a religious organization?
-## Religion as a type of social action ##
-In most senses of the word, people are not motivated to participate in
-religion for reasons of economic gain, at least not primarily. It
-isn't **instrumentally rational**, at least not primarily.
-By the same token, religious institutions are not set up to create a
-space for people to pursue self-interested goals.
-Many people find religion emotionally satisfying. But many people find
-soap operas emotionally satsifying too, so that can't be the only
-motivation.
-Tradition, yes, perhaps.
-## Religion as ethics ##
-For Weber, some religions draw people because they give them an answer
-to the ultimate meaning of life, and show them how to be an ethical
-person. They ask people to do things based on "value
-rationality". Pursuit of a collective goal is the reason why people
-pray, worship and participate in a religious community.
-## Religion is rationalization ##
-Religion is a force in society because it gives people an alternative
-to tradition. It forces them to examine why they do what they do.
-In other words, religion rationalizes people's social behavior.
-## Religious change leads to social change ##
-Weber argued that many religious movements sowed the seeds of social
-revolutions.
-As society became more rationalized in general, he believed people
-would not need religion to give them motivation to be rational. They
-could rely on systems based on instrumental rationality, like
-bureaucracy and markets.
-## The Protestant Ethic ##
-The Weber thesis is that the development of an ascetic form of
-Protestant Christianity spurred the development of market exchange and
-capitalist production. This is presented in his famous book //The
-Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism// (1905).
-## The Protestant Ethic ##
-Calvin teaches that salvation is for the elect. There's nothing you
-can do to earn salvation.
-What you do with your life has nothing to do with your relationship to
-God.
-If you were successful, it was a **sign** that you were in the
-elect. Wealth is not valuable for its own sake.
-A person should follow one's "calling" as a duty to God.
-The **means** of earning a living (a calling) are separate from the **ends**
-(a living, wealth and success). Thus if one is wealthy, one can be
-deatched from this wealth and deal with objectively.
-## Twist! ##
-Protestant reformers condemned people for being consumed with
-worldliness: being greedy and venal. Greed is bad.
-Because their philosophy was based on a new way of thinking of the
-person as an individual, they actually paved the way for disembedding
-the economy from social relationships.
-Greed is good? Not really. Weber concludes that Protestantism led to
-people believing that self-interest is just human nature.
-## Modernization theory ##
-In the past, anthropologists and sociologists wanted to know how
-societies became more modern, and moved toward the type of society
-found in Europe. This school is called **"modernization theory."**
-Robert Bellah, Tokugawa Religion (1957).
-James Peacock, Muslim Puritans (1978).
-## Why is Weber's theory influential? ##
-Even though Weber was ethnocentric in some ways, he did think that
-culture played a role in the history of society.
-The values people learn from cultural institutions, especially
-religion, cause a society to change.
-## Next lecture ##
-Weber predicted that modern societies would be secular. Why hasn't
-that happened?
-Why has there been a "return" to religion even as the world becomes
-more "rational"? Why is membership in a religion so important for
-people of postcolonial societies such as Indonesia?
-We examine the "Islamic revival" and the revival of public forms of
-piety.
-## References ##
-Bellah, Robert N. 1957. Tokugawa Religion: The Values of Pre-Industrial Japan. Glencoe, Ill.: The Free Press.
-The Economist. 2007. “The World Goes to Town,” May 3. http://www.economist.com/node/9070726.
-Peacock, James L. 1978. Muslim Puritans: Reformist Psychology in Southeast Asian Islam. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press.
-“Urban and Rural Population: 1900 to 1990.” 1995. United States Census Bureau. October. https://www.census.gov/population/censusdata/urpop0090.txt.
-Weber, Max. 1905. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of
-Capitalism. London: Unwin Hyman. https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/weber/protestant-ethic/index.htm.
-## A guide to the unit ##
-{{page>1002guide}}

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