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Sex, Sacredness, and Structure: Contributions to the Sociology of Collective Dreams
Author(s) -
Vester HeinzGünter
Publication year - 1993
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.1993.16.2.105
Subject(s) - dream , rhetorical question , sociology , epistemology , the symbolic , psychoanalysis , philosophy , psychology , linguistics , neuroscience
The article starts with a metaphoric and rhetorical use of the dream concept and then deals with collective dreams. Borrowing ideas from Freud, Durkheim, and Levi‐Strauss, concepts are developed to describe collective dreams, for example, the American Dream. I demonstrate that binary oppositions, such as Durkheim's “sacred versus profane” distinction, structure collective dreams. Different forms of symbolic operation are described.