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Scholars, especially those in the West, often attribute the construction of alternative spirituality to a culture of individualism. Here, we explore how non-religious scientists construct spirituality in different national contexts, focusing on academic physicists and biologists. Two research questions guide our analyses: How do scientists construct an alternative spirituality and to what extent are their constructions conditioned by the contexts in which they live and work? We rely on surveys of 6,470 scientists in four national/regional contexts and on interviews with 65 self-identified spiritual but not-religious scientists. Our findings reveal that alternative spirituality is more prevalent among scientists in Taiwan and France than in the UK and the US. Second, we find that the construction of spirituality redefines the cultural meanings bundled with religion in these respective contexts. Our research helps to explain how the construction of spirituality is changing the face of religion in different societal contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How did Rational Choice Theory (RCT), traditionally rejected by sociologists for its economic individualism, rise rapidly in the 1980s and the 1990s to theoretical and institutional prominence within sociology? Drawing on Frickel and Gross’ (American Sociological Association, 70(2):204–232 2005) framework for the emergence of scientific/intellectual movements (SIMs), we argue that RCT rose to prominence in sociology in conjunction with: 1) high status actors’ criticism of the previously dominant paradigm, structural functionalism; 2) favorable structural conditions that provided entrepreneurial access to key resources; 3) proliferation through micromobilization contexts; and 4) the ability of those espousing RCT for sociology to draw on dominant cultural motifs outside of academia. The rise of RCT in American sociology provides a case study for how scientific/intellectual movements can find an audience in academic contexts that are predisposed to oppose them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary interpretations of youth transitions have been extensively influenced by sociological preoccupations with individualisation. Hence youth researchers have been inclined to present homogeneous and synchronised portraits of contemporary youth, skipping the crucial underlying structural features that still persist and sustain differential transitions into adulthood. Drawing on in-depth interviews with young people in Kashmir (North India), this article uses Bourdieu’s conceptualisation of interdependent forms of capital to support the proposition that making rational choices and decisions, which does constitute individualisation, also still depends on one’s class position. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Over the past decade, the traditionally masculine pursuit of DIY has attracted an increasing number of female practitioners in France, thus seemingly challenging the long-established gendered division of tasks observed in the domestic sphere. This case study of women's DIY practices in France analyses women's rationale for participation by contrasting agency with economic necessity. Drawing on vertical and horizontal segregation theories, women's participation in DIY is examined as a potential indicator of progress towards greater gender equality in the domestic sphere. Finally, the article argues that women's participation in DIY illustrates the increasing normalisation of an androgynous division of labour already observed in the public sphere. This results from the development of individualistic values that are increasingly challenging the prevalence of gender as a term of reference in the construction of social and individual identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the fall of mainstream secularization paradigms, this article suggests opportunities arise for considering social and political life as 'religious' phenomena and, specifically, for using Taylor's pregnant notion of 'social imaginaries' as a bridge between 'secular' and 'post-secular' social science. Thus, themes implicit in A Secular Age are made explicit and used to challenge how social science is done in 'post-secular' times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I point to contradictions in American individualism not unlike those suggested by Robin M. Williams Jr. I go on to suggest how twenty-first-century sociologists might better understand this aspect of American exceptionalism: not as an egoistic, asocial individualism, but as a covenantal, social voluntarism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author suggests that Ulrich Beck's theory of individualization reflects a crude understanding of class and class analysis that undermines his attempt to supersede concepts of class with a "cosmopolitan" perspective. He suggests that Beck forego his hostility to class simply because it is a concept with a long history.

A number of sociologists and cultural psychologists claim that the United States is a predominantly individualistic country. This article uses a unidimensional index of individualism and collectivism to analyze one of the most debated sociopolitical issues in America: gun ownership and gun control. It tests the hypothesis that the widespread gun ownership in the United States and prevailing attitudes toward gun control represent competing individualistic and collectivistic cultural traditions, respectively. The findings indicate that the index is one of the predictors of gun ownership and of attitudes about gun permits. Keywords: individualism; collectivism; gun ownership; attitudes toward gun control [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses sociology and methodological individualism. Object of sociological inquiry; Viewpoint of methodological individualism; Qualification in order; Methodological individualism and the coercive and formative character of cultural tradition; Role of language in the formation of individual personality.

The article discusses the works and major contributions of Thorstein Veblen in sociology. The works of Veblen has the primary purpose to make an analysis and critique of the existing economic system of capitalism or individualism and laissez-faire. However, Veblen thought that this existing price system was not capable of very long survival. One of the ideas of Veblen states that the whole history of civilization has been characterized by the conflict between the predatory and the industrious groups. Among of the canons of Veblen includes the Canon or Pecuniary Emulation, Canon of Conspicuous Leisure, and the Canon of Conspicuous Consumption.