This book deals with triumphant and tragic heroes, with victims and perpetrators as archetypes of the Western imagination. A major recent change in Western societies is that memories of triumphant heroism-for example, the revolutionary uprising of the people-are increasingly replaced by the public remembrance of collective trauma of genocide, slavery and expulsion. The first part of the book deals with the heroes and victims and explores the social construction of charisma and its inevitable decay. Part 2 focuses on a paradigm case of the collective trauma of perpetrators: German national identity between 1945 and 2000. After a time of latency, the legacy of nationalistic trauma was addressed in a public conflict between generations. The conflict took center stage in vivid public debates and became a core element of Germany's official political culture. Today public confessions of the guilt of the past have spread beyond the German case. They are part of a new post-utopian pattern of collective identity in a globalized setting.

This book deals with triumphant and tragic heroes, with victims and perpetrators as archetypes of the Western imagination. A major recent change in Western societies is that memories of triumphant heroism-for example, the revolutionary uprising of the people-are increasingly replaced by the public remembrance of collective trauma of genocide, slavery and expulsion. The first part of the book deals with the heroes and victims and explores the social construction of charisma and its inevitable decay. Part 2 focuses on a paradigm case of the collective trauma of perpetrators: German national identity between 1945 and 2000. After a time of latency, the legacy of nationalistic trauma was addressed in a public conflict between generations. The conflict took center stage in vivid public debates and became a core element of Germany's official political culture. Today public confessions of the guilt of the past have spread beyond the German case. They are part of a new post-utopian pattern of collective identity in a globalized setting.

Jeffrey C. Alexander brings together new and leading contributors to make a powerful and coherently argued case for a new direction in cultural sociology, one that focuses on the intersection between performance, ritual and social action. Performance has always been used by sociologists to understand the social world but this volume offers the first systematic analytical framework based on the performance metaphor to explain large-scale social and cultural processes. From September 11, to the Clinton/Lewinsky affair, to the role of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Social Performance draws on recent work in performative theory in the humanities and in cultural studies to offer a novel approach to the sociology of culture. Inspired by the theories of Austin, Derrida, Durkheim, Goffman, and Turner, this is a path-breaking volume that makes a major contribution to the field. It will appeal to scholars and students alike.

Proposes a theory of collective and national identity based on culture and language rather than power and politics. In the text the author applies this theory to what he calls Germany's axial age and shows how the codes of 19th-century German identity in turn became those of the divided Germany between 1945 and 1989. The identity described in the text derives from the ideas of German intellectuals, from the uprooted Romantic poets to the influential German mandarins. Carried by the emerging bourgeoisie, it was constructed on the tensions between power and spirit, money and culture, and the sacred and profane. The book discusses how German identity also took four distinct forms: the nation as the invisible public of Enlightenment patriotism; the nation as the Romantics' aesthetic holy grail; the Left Hegelian nation at the barricades of democracy; and the nation as an extension of the Prussian state.

This book proposes a theory of collective and national identity based on culture and language rather than power and politics. Applying this to what he calls Germany's 'axial age', Bernhard Giesen shows how the codes of nineteenth-century German identity in turn became those of the divided Germany between 1945 and 1989. The identity he describes derives from the ideas of German intellectuals, from the uprooted Romantic poets to the influential German mandarins. Carried by the emerging bourgeoisie, it was constructed on the tensions between power and spirit, money and culture, and the sacred and profane.

Dieser Band gibt eine allgemeine Einfuhrung in das Fachgebiet Soziologie und zeigt deren Stellung innerhalb der Sozialwissenschaften. Er informiert uber die wichtigsten theoretischen Modelle zur Erklarung sozialen Verhaltens und zur Erfassung gesamtgesellschaftlicher Strukturen und Prozesse."

Obwohl 'Soziale Ungleichheit' als ein klassisches Thema der Gesellschaftstheorie gelten muss, war die Diskussion um die Ur- sachen, Formen und Veranderungen sozialer Ungleichheit gegen Ende der siebziger Jahre eher in den Hintergrund der sozial- wissenschaftlichen Theoriediskussion geraten. In den letzten Jahren wurde die Debatte um die soziale Ungleichheit in einer Reihe von Sammelbanden jedoch wieder aufgenommen: Theorie- stucke, die als abgeschlossen galten, wurden neu belebt, und aus der Perspektive einer Theorie 'horizontaler Disparitaten' wurden neue Formen der sozialen Ungleichheit in den Mittel- punkt geruckt. Neuere Theorien, die fachuniversale Geltung beanspruchen, wurden jedoch bisher nur in seltenen Fallen explizit auf das Thema soziale Ungleichheit angewandt. Diese Lage gab den Anstoss und Anlass fur die Sektion 'Soziologische Theorien', im Oktober 1985 in Bremen eine Tagung mit dem The- ma 'Soziologische Theorien der Ungleichheit' durchzufuhren. Mit dieser Tagung sollte- - ausgehend vom neuesten Entwick- lungsstand klassischer Positionen - einerseits die Debatte um aktuelle Beitrage der Ungleichheitsforschung auf der Seite der soziologischen Theorie aufgenommen und fortgefuhrt, an- dererseits sollten aber auch neue allgemeine Theorieansatze zur Erklarung und Analyse sozialer Ungleichheit angeregt wer- den. Weiterhin schien es geboten, nach den Wechselbeziehungen von empirischer Ungleichheitsforschung und dem Stand der Theoriediskussion zu fragen.

Jeffrey C. Alexander brings together new and leading contributors to make a powerful and coherently argued case for a new direction in cultural sociology, one that focuses on the intersection between performance, ritual and social action. Performance has always been used by sociologists to understand the social world but this volume offers the first systematic analytical framework based on the performance metaphor to explain large-scale social and cultural processes. From September 11, to the Clinton/Lewinsky affair, to the role of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Social Performance draws on recent work in performative theory in the humanities and in cultural studies to offer a novel approach to the sociology of culture. Inspired by the theories of Austin, Derrida, Durkheim, Goffman, and Turner, this is a path-breaking volume that makes a major contribution to the field. It will appeal to scholars and students alike.