Self (social) Destruction in an Intentional Community Social Control Mills College Fall 2009
Feb 24, 2016
Self (social) Destruction in an Intentional Community
Social ControlMills College Fall 2009
The Book and Author
Quakers
http://ushistoryimages.com/images/quakers/fullsize/quakers-3.jpg
Who Were the Puritans?
• In post reformation England, protestants who felt that Church of England remained “too Catholic”
• Wanted to replace “episcopacy” with “congregationalism”
• Fundamental tension: a movement that stressed individual, non-centralized approach
• Predestination. Duty of constant reform, attention to detail, avoidance of sin.
Puritan Houses
http://media.photobucket.com/image/puritans%20quakers%20%20massachusetts%20bay/maggie6138/villagehouses.jpg
http://amhist.ist.unomaha.edu/module_files/Puritan%20Worship%20Service.jpg
Puritan Worship
Where Did They Come From?
http://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/6Nations/EoL/fig7.gif
Puritan Punishment
http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/ATHEISM/puritans.jpg
A Case is a Case of Many Somethings
“moral panics”
religion &
control*
exile communities
cults
intentional communities
17th c. fringe grps.
sociology of boundaries
* Taliban?
Law and Authority in Massachusetts Bay
• Pp 54ff• Charted as business company• Origins in protest, how to transform into
loyalty?• Ragtag collection of legal ideas + BIBLE• Bible• Orthodoxy vs. congregational independence
The Devil and Who I Am
It is quite natural, then, that they would seek new frames of reference to help them remember who they were; and just as natural that they would begin to look with increasing apprehension at the activities of the Devil. One of the surest ways to confirm an identity, for communities as well as for individuals, is to find some way of measuring what one is not. …for [the devil] had always loomed in Puritan imagery as a dark adversary against which people could test the edge of their own sainthood. (64)
Puritans as A CASE OF WHAT?
• “intentional community”• Structure/beliefs highly aligned• Exile community• Cult• Protestantism• Voluntary exiles• 17th century fringe groups
Shape of the Book
1. On the Sociology of Deviance
2. The Puritans of Massachusetts Bay
3. The Shapes of the Devil
4. Stabilities &Instabilities in Puritan Crime Rates
5. Puritanism and Deviancy
Deviance is relative. Crime is normal. Communities
are about their boundaries.
A utopian society in which civil rules and moral beliefs
would be aligned.
A community threatened by its own ideas (1) God’s >
man, (2) let us do our thing, (3) the devil is real
Social control takes time and energy and so community only
gets as much deviation as it can
afford to police
General Trajectory
“They” not living up to
“the” standards.
Need to purify.
Catholic Churchgodchurchperson
2nd Gen Puritans in Massthere goes the community
Antinomiansauthorityideas/book/inspiration
1st Gen Puritans in Mass.church leaders = community leaders
Protestants/Anglicanshierarchy/centralization
Puritans in Englandlocal control
Calvin, Luthergodperson
Corruption!
Not serious about
change!
Whence authority?
Oh No! Immigrants!Quakers
religion really private
3rd Gen Puritans in Mass.No outside threat? Invent one!
Devil = Overly Mystical?
They are inside of us!
young vs. old
inside vs outside
old vs.
young
village vs.
state?
people vs.
church?
Claims
• crime (or rather the reaction to it) concentrates the consciousnesses of community members on what it means to be in/of this community
• unless “the rhythm of group life is punctuated by moments of deviant behavior…social organization would be impossible.” (Erikson):
Attending to Deviance…Creates “fellow feeling”
• Recognizing and reacting to deviation• …as collective…• …provides an opportunity for separate individuals…• …to merge their personal sentiments…• …and experience group solidarity.
Even in a society of angels
It does not offend the collective because it is a
crime; it is a crime because it offends the collective…
Chapter 1: All the Sociology You Need
• Boundaries
Contradictory Social Forces
Those promoting conformity Those promoting diversity
All Behavior Varies and Groups Have a Collective Sense of “How we do it”
• Two possibilities
Under “Acceptable” Over
“Acceptable”
Different
All Behavior Varies and Groups Have a Collective Sense of “How we do it”
Another way to look at it…
US US
THEM THEM
THEM
Exercise: Values and Social ControlSelect from the list below an issue that is important to you.
Sexism Racism Homophobia Ecology Energy Food (vegan, etc. or eathing disorders) Smoking Child rearing practices Drinking Drugs
Let's say you and your comrades decide it's time to get serious about this issue. Your task is to describe a "puritan-esque" approach to this issue in a community like Mills. You decide you will start a "hall" or "house" around this issue.
Form a group and either split into "boosters" and "devil's advocates" (or skeptics) or decide that you'll rotate these roles.
1. Describe the basic values, purpose, etc. of your group/organization. Do the values of the organization suggest anything about how it should be run?
2. Try to identify who can join the group/movement. Should there be any restrictions? Who should decide? How will you tell who "fits"?
3. Episode I : Who is qualified to speak as an expert within the group? Do some people have more credibility than others?
4. Episode II: One of the following events occurs– A campus event/issue arises and your group is called upon to coalition with another.– Tensions with a similar but different group/movement.– You decide to work with a professor to create an academic class on the topic.
By analogy to Erikson, what are some things you might expect to see?
5. Episode III : The impure among us need to be found and purged. What happens?