Religion and Nature in the Light of Rosa’s Resonance Theory

German sociologist Hartmut Rosa has developed an integral resonance theory, which is a theory of our relationship to the world. This theory has aroused much interest in recent years not only among sociologists but also among representatives of other humanities and social sciences, including representatives of the science of religion. Therefore, the author considers it worth discussing. The article deals with religion and nature in light of Rosa’s theory. Rosa understands religion and nature as two of the main axes and areas of man’s search for vertical resonance in modernity. In the section devoted to religion, the author presents Rosa’s view that the essence of religion is man’s need for a response. In light of resonance theory, the author examines phenomena such as prayer, worship, religious rites, certain holidays (Christmas), and sin. Schleiermacher, Buber, Gerhardt, Luther and Camus are singled out as particularly relevant thinkers and creators. On this basis, he discusses existential violence, which stems from the need for resonance and the rejection of alienation as its opposite. The section devoted to nature is mainly focused on the problems that hinder modern man in their quest to fulfil their longing for resonance with nature. The author explains Rosa’s thesis that the ecological crisis is, at its core and origin, an existential and cultural crisis and not a crisis of resources. The author draws conclusions concerning the importance of religion and modern man’s fear of the loss of resonance.

Auditory Resonance: A Transdisciplinary Concept?

Focusing on the influential work of the German sociologist Hartmut Rosa, as well as on selected positions in sound studies, this essay explores some aspects of auditory resonance, an over-determined concept exemplified by music that no single conceptual framework can exhaustively explain. For this reason, transdisciplinary research is especially productive in exploring the wide range of auditory resonance if it does not adhere to a seemingly all-inclusive theoretical self-definition but starts from an actual, singular experience. This subjective, even personal response to auditory resonance opens up various intersecting, supplementary, and often competing paradigms of critical analysis that interrogate any hegemonic claims to perspectives and insights potentially implied in single-disciplinary methodologies.

Alfred Vierkandt’s notion of the social group

German sociologist Alfred Vierkandt is hardly remembered today. This may seem surprising. Several prominent sociologists from the German-speaking countries contributed to the Handwörterbuch der Soziologie (1931), which Vierkandt edited and published. However, Vierkandt did not interact with any of them significantly, and this publication brought no recognition of the importance of his sociological oeuvre in Germany, the United States, or elsewhere. His key notion of the social group found no acknowledgment among other contemporary or later sociologists, even though several of them used this notion and discussed social groups in their own writings. Moreover, those who paid close attention to his writings, like Abel and Hochstim, evaluated them quite critically. Both before and after World War II, Vierkandt remained a solitary and relatively unknown author.

Almost Risking It All

This paper provides an argument against understanding risk-taking in design education as something ideally in need of only being calculable and formalisable. Using the German sociologist Ulrich Beck’s theory on risktaking combined with the current discourse on design thinking, together with an analysis of a three week-long interdisciplinary design workshop, we analyse and discuss how risk-taking - as a general concept - in design education is an inherent element of the education itself. We argue, however, non-calculable risks, like human-centred design concerns, like desirability of use, ethics of technology, are an equally important part of a modern-day educational skillset as calculable risks. The aim is arguing for the prospect of interdisciplinary design-based education models as one way of embracing the non-calculable elements of a problem space.

The Plasticity of Our Fears: Affective Politics in the European Migration Crisis

In the field of migration politics, a dominant rhetoric argues that liberal immigration and asylum policies must be avoided because they will inevitably lead to anti-immigration backlashes that exacerbate the very conditions they were supposed to remedy. Drawing on the work of German sociologist Heinrich Popitz and empirical data on the aftereffects of the European migration crisis, the article criticizes this “rhetoric of reaction” (Albert Hirschman) for ignoring the many variables shaping the consequences of more open borders. Backlashes to immigration are real and pose a constraint for liberal immigration policies, but these backlashes are not necessarily politically successful. Societies react neither uniformly nor automatically to rising immigration. A critical variable is the fear engendered by the (real, expected, or imagined) arrival of large numbers of migrants, and this fear can be either ramped up to paranoid levels or calmed by a politics of hope aimed at restoring what Popitz called the “human openness to the world.”

Theorizing the form and impact of sport scandals

Sport scandals have attracted significant interest within and beyond the sociology of sport. However, developing a theoretical understanding of sport scandals has so far been neglected. Therefore, the two-fold purpose of this conceptual paper is to outline a theoretical model for understanding the form of a sport scandal, and to construct two typical sport scandals that can assist us in theorizing and differentiating how sport scandals may have varying effects on society. In our work, we rely on insights on form formulated by the German sociologist Niklas Luhmann combined with notions of ideal types derived from Max Weber. Accordingly, scandals are described as examples of paradoxical forms where excluded meaning re-enters to create spaces of temporary liminality. Despite their common characteristics, we are able to construct two ideal types of scandals – bureaucratic fallacy and charismatic failure – to understand why scandals may have varying impacts on the environment.

Rosa’s Theory of Resonance: Its Importance for (the Science of) Religion and Hope

This article deals with the resonance theory of the German sociologist Hartmut Rosa, which has aroused a lot of interest among scholars in the humanities and social sciences, including researchers in the field of religion. The article focuses on its importance for religion, particularly the science of religion and hope. The author presents Rosa’s theory first from the anthropological and sociological aspect. He then turns to Rosa’s understanding of religion. On this basis, the author draws his conclusions, which are as follows: The main significance of the resonance theory for religion and the science of religion is in the rehabilitation of religion as an anthropological constant. It follows that Rosa’s theory of resonance is an important contribution to substantiating the importance of religion and supporting its cultivation. Secondly, Rosa’s theory is an important contribution and support to the flourishing of hope due to its scientific support for religion. Another contribution of Rosa’s theory to hope is that it helps us understand the connection between resonance, existential hope, and meaning, and thus contributes to our being more successful in developing existential hope and discovering the meaning of our lives and world. This is important for our quality of life.

Theosophical duty as an alternative to the risk society

The risky nature of modern civilization finds one of its alternatives and possibilities for overcoming in the theosophical understanding of the duty of the individual to society. This is the thesis of the proposed article. The thesis is defended by comparing elements of the concept of “Risk Society” by the German sociologist Ulrich Beck and the understanding of duty and politics in Helena Blavatsky’s latest work “The Key to Theosophy”. The seemingly paradoxical comparison is argued with the need to find new ways and approaches to overcome the crisis of humanity, which has not yet been able to take advantage of the best achievements and ideas of its great minds over the centuries to this day. Personal change in the direction of high morality and responsibility to all and everything leads to a change in society – this is the main conclusion that is made in the article.

Resonance as an integral part of human resilience

The author analyses the relationship between the concepts of resilience and resonance. He argues for the thesis that resonance is an integral part of the genuine human resilience. Therefore, there is no contradiction between resonance and resilience if we understand these two concepts correctly. The opposite arises only if we understand resilience as a kind of robust and rigid resistance, but which, as the author argues, does not correspond to the notion of true human resilience. Since resonance is an integral part of human resilience, we can say that human resilience depends on their being in resonance relationships. The understanding of the resonance that the author takes for the grounding of his main thesis was developed by German sociologist Hartmut Rosa. Thus the paper includes also the presentation of Rosa’s conception of resonance and his theory of our relationship to the world. Despite the focus on the main thesis, the article is not only a contribution to the understanding of resilience, but also enriches the understanding of (Rosa’s) notion of resonance by showing its importance for resilience. The author argues that classical theological virtues (faith, hope, and charity (love)) can be positive factors of human resilience, and illuminates them from the point of view of resonance.

Stars in their eyes: magazines and celebrity content

The purpose of this research paper is to examine the celebrity phenomenon as it relates to consumer magazines produced in the United States. Boorstin's definition of the term celebrity is a broad one, encompassing all persons who are known simply for their "well-knownness," regardless of vocation (Boorstin 57). For the purposes of this paper, this classification will be abridged, focussing solely on well-known persons or celebrities engaged in the dramatic arts. George Simmel, a first generation German sociologist whose work has had a seminal influence on the development of modern philosophy and sociology, addresses the role of the actor in shaping public opinion and, in turn, reality. More recently, scholars across a diversity of fields from sociology to film studies, such as Alberoni, Dyer, Gamson, Kellner, and Moran, have examined the influence of celebrities on societal values and culture. Film critic Richard Schickel has gone so far as to call celebrity "possibly the - most vital shaping (that is to say, distorting force) in our society" (xi).