The American Ritual Tapestry: Social Rules and Cultural Meanings

by Mary Jo Deegan, Dan A. Chekki

Overview

American rituals are vital to the creation and renewal of cultural meanings and rules for social interaction. These rituals are rooted in tradition yet are rapidly changing: a contradiction of hyper-modern society. This phenomenon was first explored by Professor Deegan in her 1989 study American Ritual Dramas. The theory examines both participatory rituals and mass-media rituals to show how everyday people become attached to and alienated from other rituals. Elaborating on the critical dramaturgy theory, the essays in this collection show how patterns can be changed to create a more emancipatory and celebratory society.

The topics covered in the collection include an analysis of Santa Claus, skinheads, hate crimes, and strip dancing, among other topics. Each contributor has participated in these rituals and many examine related cultural artifacts such as music, brochures, and so forth. As the essays show, postmodern theory has gratly underestimated the power and coherence of these events. An important study for scholars and other researchers involved with sociological theory, social psychology, and popular culture.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313304651
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	09/24/1998
Series:	Controversies in Science , #122
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	1320L (what's this?)

About the Author

MARY JO DEEGAN is Professor of Sociology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her research interests include theory, methods, women, disability, and the history of sociology. She has published more than 80 articles, chapters, and books, including American Ritual Dramas (Greenwood, 1989) and Women in Sociology (Greenwood, 1991), and coedited With Her in Ourland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (Greenwood, 1997).

Table of Contents

Introduction: Weaving the American Ritual Tapestry by Mary Jo Deegan
Racism as a Core Code in American Ritual
White Nationalists' Media-Constructed Rituals: The Interplay of Technology and Core Codes by Todd J. Schroer
Evil and the American Dream by Michael R. Ball
Sexism as a Core Code in American Ritual
The Case of Amateur Stripping: Sex Codes and Egalitarianism in Heterosocial Settings by Thomas C. Calhoun, Rhonda Fisher, and Julie Ann Harms Cannon
There She Is: The Miss America Pageant as American Ritual Drama by Lisa K. Nielson
American Rituals and Globalization
The Americanization of Ritual Culture: The "Core Codes: in American Culture and the Seductive Character of American "Fun" by Mary Jo Deegan
American Ritual Drama in Action: The Disney Theme Park by Yochanan Altman
A "Christmas" Story: An Analysis of the Santa Claus Phenomenon by Sharon K. Larson
American Rituals and the Sacred in Hyper-Modern Society
American Rituals and American Gods by Anthony Blasi
A Sacred Myth in Secular Packaging: Gillan's Jourbaney Through the Witch World by Mary Jo Deegan
Rapidly Changing American Rituals
The Ex-Wife at the Funeral by Agnes Riedmann
Quinceañera: The Mexican-American Initiation Ritual of Young Women by Bert Watters
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

After an introductory chapter by the editor, 11 contributions by sociologists (most affiliated with the U. of Nebraska-Lincoln) are arranged in sections on racism, and then sexism, as core codes in American ritual; globalization; the sacred in hyper-modern society; and rapidly changing American rituals. A sampling of topics: amateur stripping, the Miss America pageant, the Disney theme park, American gods, the ex-wife at the funeral, and the Mexican-American initiation ritual of young women. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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