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THE DEGRADATION OF THE SACRED: APPROACHES OF COOLEY AND GOFFMAN
Author(s) -
Creelan Paul
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
symbolic interaction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.874
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1533-8665
pISSN - 0195-6086
DOI - 10.1525/si.1987.10.1.29
Subject(s) - legitimation , sociology , mysticism , sociology of culture , epistemology , aesthetics , anthropology , philosophy , law , theology , political science , politics
Charles Horton Cooley and Erving Goffman both have provided similar, although usually overlooked, contributions to a sociology of religion and culture, namely, their analysis of the process whereby sacred representations of the self‐transcending aspect of human nature frequently devolve into fragmented or distorted cultural symbols that increasingly provide legitimation for self‐interest alone. Cooley's writings revolve around the dynamic whereby the cultural symbols of Christian mysticism degenerate into the liberal models of economic man. Goffman's work centers around the manner in which sacred rituals, originally emblematic of the social, are degraded and distorted by the onset of self‐interested motivations.