by Gilles Lipovetsky (1994)
In a book full of playful irony and striking insights, the controversial social philosopher Gilles Lipovetsky draws on the history of fashion to demonstrate that the modern cult of appearance and superficiality actually serves the common good. Focusing on clothing, bodily deportment, sex roles, sexual practices, and political rhetoric as forms of "fashion," Lipovetsky bounds across two thousand years of history, showing how the evolution of fashion from an upper-class privilege into a vehicle of popular expression closely follows the rise of democratic values. Whereas Tocqueville feared that mass culture would create passive citizens incapable of political reasoning, Lipovetsky argues that today's mass-produced fashion offers many choices, which in turn enable consumers to become complex individuals within a consolidated, democratically educated society. Superficiality fosters tolerance among different groups within a society, claims Lipovetsky. To analyze fashion's role in smoothing over social conflict, he abandons class analysis in favor of an inquiry into the symbolism of everyday life and the creation of ephemeral desire. Lipovetsky examines the malaise experienced by people who, because they can fulfill so many desires, lose their sense of identity. His conclusions raise disturbing questions about personal joy and anguish in modern democracy.
Nezar AlSayyad
Rooted in real-world observations, this book questions the concept of tradition. In his introduction, Nezar AlSayyad discusses the meanings of the word 'tradition' and the current debates about the 'end of tradition'. Thereafter the book is divided into three parts.
Mark Häberlein
"Studies the development of religious congregations in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, from 1730 to 1820. Focuses on German Reformed, Lutherans, Moravians, Anglicans, and Presbyterians. Also examines how Roman Catholics, Jews, and African Americans were absorbed into this predominantly white Protestant society"--Provided by publisher.
Alastair Hannay
"Kierkegaard and Philosophy: Selected Essays makes seventeen of the most important papers on Kierkegaard available in one place for the first time. Their author, renowned Kierkegaard scholar Alastair Hannay, has substantially revised many of his earlier essays and prepared three new essays especially for this volume." "Written by the world's foremost Kierkegaard scholar and translator, Kierkegaard and Philosophy is an indispensable resource for all students of Kierkegaard's work."--Jacket.
Abraham J. Karp
Abraham J. Karp's Jewish Continuity in America focuses on the three major sources of American Judaism's continuing vitality: the synagogue, the rabbinate, and Jewish religious pluralism. Particularly illuminating is Karp's examination of the coexistence and unity-in-diversity of American religious Jewry's three divisions - Orthodox, Reform and Conservative - and of how this Jewish religious pluralism fits into the larger picture of American religious pluralism.