Popular religion as morality, interpretation and process

Łuczewski, Michał

doi:0137-4079

This publication is protected by copyright. Access to its digital version is possible on computer terminals in the institution that shares it.

Title: Popular religion as morality, interpretation and process

Abstract:

The purpose of this article is to show that popular religion, just as any other rational system, should be analysed as a set of values, which individuals can support with strong reasons. This statement, essential for my argument, comes from Weber's idea of Wertrationalität, which was developed in Florian Znaniecki's theory of cultural reality and Raymond Boudon's theory of axiological rationality. More specifically, I would like to demonstrate that popular religion is (a) a rational model for reality, since it expresses aspirations and moral values of a peasant group and (b) a rational model of reality, since it constitutes an adequate interpretation of the group's experience. These two assumptions lead to the conclusion that (c) religion is a dynamic process and undergoes transformations according to strength of the reasons which support religious reforms. As a consequence, I shall attempt to prove that in terms of understanding religious phenomena this approach is superior to functionalism, which since the time of Stefan Czarnowski has dominated Polish human sciences. The material to illustrate this thesis is drawn from my monograph of the village Żmiąca, which is the longest studied village not only in the Polish but also in worldwide anthropological literature

References:

Agassi J, Jarvie I.C. 1973, Magic and Rationality Again, The British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 24, No. 2, pp. 236-245
Agassi J, Jarvie I.C. 1967, The Problem of the Rationality of Magic, The British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 18, pp. 55-74
Altermatt U. 1995, Katolicyzm a nowoczesny .świat, Znak, Kraków
Becker H.S. 1993, Theory: The Necessary Evil, [in:] Theory and Concepts in Qualitative Research: Perspectives from the Field, eds. D.J. Flinders and G.E. Mills, Teachers College Press, New York, pp. 218-229
Boudon R. 1994, Art of Self-Persuasion: the Social Explanation of False Beliefs, Polity Press, Cambridge
Buchowski M. 1988, The Rationality of Magic, Philosophy of Social Sciences, Vol. 18, No. 4, pp. 509-518
Bujak F. 1903, Żmiąca. Wieś. powiatu limanowskiego. Stosunki gospodarcze i społeczne, Gebethner i Spółka, Kraków
Bujak F. 1904, Wieś. zachodnio galicyjska u schyłku XIX wieku, Kraków
Burawoy M. 1998, The Extended Case Method, Sociological Theory, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 4-33
Burawoy M. 2003, Revisits: An Outline of a Theory of Reflexive Ethnography, American Sociological Review, Vol. 68, No. 5, pp. 645-679
Burawoy M. et al. 2000, Global Ethnography: Forces, Connections and Imaginations in a Postmodern World, University of California Press, Berkeley
Chlewiński Z. 1984, Czy tylko w Żmiącej?, Wieś., Vol. 380, No. 6, pp. 46-50
Ciupak E. 1982, Religia i religijność, Iskry, Warszawa
Czarnowski S. 1982, Kultura religijna wiejskiego ludu polskiego, [w:] Idem, Wybór pism socjologicznych, PIW Warszawa, pp. 366-400
Dobrowolski K. 1966, Studia nad życiem społecznym i kulturą, Ossolineum, Wrocław
Eisen A. 1978, The Meanings and Confusions of Weberian «Rationality», The British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 57-70
Geertz C. 1966, Religion as a Cultural System, [in:] Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Religion, ed. M. Banton, Praeger, New York, pp. 1-46
Gellner E. 1987, The concept of kinship, and other essays on anthropological method and explanation, Blackwell, Oxford
Gerring J. 2004, What is a case study and what is it good for, American Political Science Review, Vol. 98, No. 2, pp. 341-54
Grabowska M. 2005, Zjawiska religijne i kłopoty z ich badaniem, w: Religijność społeczeństwa polskiego w latach 80-tych. Od pytań filozoficznych do problemów empirycznych, eds. M. Grabowska i T. Szawiel, IS UW, Warszawa
Hałas E. 2006, Classical Cultural Sociology. Florian Znaniecki’s Impact in a New Light, Journal of Classical Sociology, Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 257-282
Kalberg S. 1980, Max Weber’s Types of Rationality: Cornerstones for the Analysis of Rationalization Processes in History, The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 85, No. 5, pp. 1145-1179
Katz J. 2001, From how to why. On luminous description and causal inference in ethnography, Ethnography, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 443-473
Kieckhefer R. 1994, The Specific Rationality of Medieval Magic, The American Historical Review, Vol. 99, No. 3, pp. 813-836
Łuczewski M., Bukraba-Rylska I. 2008, The Żmiąca effect. One hundred years of village monographs in Polans, Österreichische Zeitschrift für Soziologie, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 89-104
Obrębski J. 2005, Problem etniczny Polesia, [in:] idem, Dzisiejsi ludzie Polesia i inne eseje, IFiS PAN, Warszawa
Ortner S.B. 2006, Anthropology and Social Theory: Culture, Power, and the Acting Subject, DUP, Durham
Parker C.G. 1996, Popular Religion and Modernization in Latin America: A Different Logic, Orbis Books, New York
Parker C.G. 1998, Modern Popular Religion. A Complex Object of Study for Sociology, International Sociology, Vol. 13, No. 2, 195-212
Snow D. A., Morrill C., Anderson L. 2003, Elaborating analytic ethnography. Linking fieldwork and theory, Ethnography, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 181-200
Stach P. 1944, Proboszcz sprzed stu lat. Ks. Mikołaj Głąbiński, Currenda nr 5
Stomma Ludwik 1986, Antropologia kultury wsi polskiej XIX wieku, PIW, Warszawa
Szacki J. 1991, Koncepcja narodu w socjologii i historii, [in:] idem, Dylematy historiografii idei oraz inne szkice i studia, PWN, Warszawa
Thomas W., Znaniecki F. 1918-1920, The Polish Peasant in Europe and America, Badger, Boston.
Thompson E. 2000, Trubadurzy imperium, WUJ, Kraków
Topolski J. 1987, Historical Narrative: Towards a Coherent Structure, History and Theory, Vol. 26, No. 4, pp. 75-86
Topolski J. 1991, Towards an Integrated Model of Historical Explanation, History and Theory, Vol. 30, No. 3, pp. 324-338
Topolski J. 1999, The Role of Logic and Aesthetics in Constructing Narrative Wholes in Historiography, History and Theory, Vol. 38, No. 2, pp. 198-10
Topolski J, Righini R. 1997, Narrare la storia: Nuovi principi di metodologia storica, Milan
Wierzbicki Z. T. 1963, Żmiąa w pół wieku później, Ossolineum . PAN, Wrocław-Warszawa-Kraków
Wierzbicki Z. T. 1968, Tradycyjna religijno.æ wiejska (badania monograficzne wsi Zacisze), Roczniki Socjologii Wsi, No. 8, pp. 189-211
Znaniecki F. 1919, Cultural reality, ChUP, Chicago
Znaniecki F. 1928, Przedmowa, [in:] Franciszek Mirek, Elementy społeczne parafii rzymskokatolickiej. Wstęp do socjologii parafii, Poznań
Zowczak M. 2000, Biblia ludowa. Interpretacje wątków religijnych w kulturze ludowej, FNP, Wrocław