Fruitful Conversations in Religion, Culture, and Teaching
The drastic reversal of many essential elements of Maoism by Deng Xiaoping indicates that in order to preserve the very survival of the Party, the founding principle, as sacred as Maoism, can be rejected. In this sense, Maoism was treated in a transactional way, so much so that once its utility ceased to exist, it was immediately thrown away.
In his 1974 essay, ""One of the Many Faces of China: Maoism as a Quasi-Religion," Joseph M. Kitagawa acknowledges Chairman Mao’s movement to create a new culture as “Maoism.” Instead of calling this movement a “religion,” he refers to Maoism as a “quasi-religion.” In doing so, he attempts to avoid the clashing reactions that often comes along with referring to a movement as a religion. Yet, viewing the development of Maoism in terms of the sociology of religion can help us understand the way it has mapped the culture, ethnicity, and gender of today’s China.
Keeping with the spirt of the season, we've assembled another edition of the Jedi Council for a review of The Last Jedi that you'll only find here at Sowing the Seed. Drs. Matthew J. Cressler, and Megan P. Goodwin join forces to discuss the ins and outs of Episode VIII with our curator.
An undergraduate student uses social theory to consider why Americans appear more invested in decrying school shootings than ending them.
The way a person perceives a sensory stimulus may result from that person’s cultural arrangements, suggesting that perception is trained or nurtured... If someone has been taught and surrounded by the belief that a certain sensory stimulus is powerful, then that person will continue to believe it.
