RELS 161 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Social Constructionism, Flying Spaghetti Monster, Metanarrative

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Religious Studies
• Course: RELS 161
• Professor: Ian Alexander Cuthbertson

Document Summary

Modern metanarratives (cid:523)progress, science, truth, secularization, disenchantment(cid:524) abandoned. Consumer identity (cid:523)niche markets/ branded individuality-like facebook profile(cid:524) Religious irony (cid:523)fsm- flying spaghetti monster painting) Popular culture is produced/ consumed according to different agendas. Double actions: work on us/ fulfills needs and desires. Functions vary between global, national, institutional, individual, cultural, and subcultural levels. Functions vary between contexts (cid:523)i. e. different individuals etc. will prioritize different functions(cid:524) Functions vary in time (cid:523)i. e. periods, decades, lifetimes, times of day(cid:524) Takacs: four main functions: disseminate ideology (cid:523)express/ affirm social values(cid:524, raise consciousness (cid:523)enlighten/ empower individuals(cid:524, provide therapy (cid:523)help individuals cope with problems(cid:524, offer stimulation/ distraction (cid:523)provide pressure(cid:524) Functions (cid:883)-(cid:885) are often also associated with religion: disseminate ideology. (ard social constructionism: objective reality depends on prevailing ideologies. Soft social constructionism: social reality depends on prevailing ideologist (cid:523)social norms, expectations(cid:524) Norm: an expected/ acceptable way of thinking/ acting. Normalization: the process according to which certain values etc. (cid:523)discourse(cid:524) become taken-for-granted. Socialization: the process of internalizing social norms.