Symbols, Power and Politics

The volume is the first one in the series Studies in Sociology: Symbols, Theory and Society. The authors from Australia, Finland, Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, who contributed to it, are sociologists bound by a conviction that the study of the social context of making use of symbols cannot be underestimated. Conception of symbolism as a social phenomenon and not an autonomous semiotic system is of their common interest and a symbolic interactionist perspective is apparent in many texts. The readiness to trespass the boundaries of various approaches and disciplines is noticeable. The volume is divided into three parts: Symbols and Society. Theoretical Perspectives; Political Discourse and Symbolic Action; Religious Symbolism and Power. Symbolism of discourses, symbolic objects and symbolic actions are three intrinsically related domains that were studied.

Autorentext

The Editor: El bieta Häas, the editor of the volume, is Professor of Sociology at the Catholic University of Lublin, Poland. Her publications include: Symbols in Interaction, Warsaw 2001: Oficyna Naukowa (in Polish). She edited and introduced: Theodore Abel, The Columbia Circle of Scholars. Selection from the Journal (1930-1957), Frankfurt am Main 2001: Peter Lang.

Inhalt

Contents: Gary Alan Fine: Coordination, Symbolic Action and the Quadrants of Social Order - Richard Grathoff: Symbolic Types in Political Actions: A Phenomenological Perspective on Symbols, Powers and Politics - Marek Czyzewski: Collective Symbolization in Public Debates on Right-Wing Extremist Violence - John Borland: Let's Go Walking: History, Symbols and Action in the Reproduction of Ulster Loyalism - Elzbieta Halas: Public Symbols and Polish Identity. Change and Ambiguity of Meaning in State Holidays Calendar of the Third Republic of Poland - Jerzy J. Smolicz: Native Tongues and Family Structures as Symbols of Ethnic Identity: an Australian Experience - Grazyna Woroniecka: Conflict Over Joint Householders' Possession in Perspective of Discoursive Symbolism - Annamaria Orla-Bukowska: Religious Symbols, Political Power: the Cross, the Star of David and Auschwitz-Birkenau - Martti Muukkonen: Less Than a Confession but Much More Than a Mere Formula of Agreement. The YMCA's Paris Basis as a Symbol of Unity.