A Conversation on Aesthetics and Affects of Power

The purpose of the article is to uncover the potential of symbolic violence in the religious sphere on the basis of an analysis of P. Bourdieu's social space concept. The achievement of the goal involves solutions for the following tasks: a) to determine the peculiarities of the rivalry of religious relations subjects for domination in the religious field; b) to find out the impact specifics of the symbolic resource depending on the religious interests and needs of individuals. The theoretical basis of the study is based on P. Bourdieu's concept of social space, which is built around the triad "field" – "capital" – "habitus". The basis of symbolic violence in the religious field is, on the one hand, the competition for monopoly on symbolic capital, on the other, the laity's demand for religious needs and the supply of capital by religious instances – individuals or instituts. Religious habitus determines the nature, form and effectiveness of strategies that may involve religious authorities to the activities distribution for the satisfaction of their own religious interests. The scientific novelty of the results obtained is the understanding of the rivalry of agents of the religious field for the possession of symbolic capital as a struggle for recognition by other entities, as well as by laity as consumers of religious services. Social recognition is seen as a vital need of individuals, rooted in the intersubjective conditions of their activity and dependent on the approving reactions of an entourage. Within the religious field, symbolic violence unfolds depending on the individuals' or instituts' position in the structure of the religious power distribution, as well as the nature of competition for the monopoly on the production and disposal of religious capital. Religious capital acts as a tool of domination, which allows to commit symbolic violence in the religious sphere by imposing senses, meanings, norms, rules. Consequently, practices of symbolic violence function in the form of introducing into the habitus of individuals perceptions of the social world based on religious values. The rivalry of participants in the struggle for monopoly ownership of symbolic capital in the religious field of – a "church", a "prophet" and a "sorcerer" – is accompanied by the establishment of religious pluralism and a free "religions market".

The usage of the augmented reality is increasing in various religious fields. Virtual visualizations replace the theatrical elements with which church institutions used to operate in the past. The latest media technologies cause a specifically perception of religious ideas and symbols by believers. Consequently, augmented reality is a way of spectacularly visualizing religious topics, and new technologies have an effective impact on the consciousness of contemporary religious adherents. Thus the purpose to determine the main directions, functions, risks and perspectives of applying augmented reality in the religious education and practice of believers is very actual. Augmented reality is a convenient interactive method of forming parishioner’s knowledge, creeds and, ultimately, a steadfast belief in the importance of regular religious practice. The main target audiences for implementing such new technologies consists from children, youth, pilgrims and people with disabilities. Despite serious objections from opponents, the application of augmented reality in religious education and daily practice has a great potential. So the use AR-technology in different directions (learning game, interactive quizzes, animated guides, biblical and hagiographic stories visualization, praying prompts et cet.) is an interesting phenomenon of the religious practice. This methodology could be improved only in case of in close cooperation with teachers, priests and IT-professionals. Thus augmented reality needs their methodologically correct, gradual, controlled programmatic implementation in different religious fields. The phenomenon of dissemination of the latest technologies in the education and daily life of religious communities requires further scientific reflection.

The authors deal with the problems of transformation of religion in the information society, in particular, the modification of religious practices updated on the Internet. Digitalization appears in modern society and culture not only as a technical and technological phenomenon, but also as a socio-cultural challenge, which is to be answered by the religious sphere. Under the influence of the global process of digitalization religion, as one of the forms of public consciousness, finds and implements innovative ways of practice. In the structure of these practices, as the authors show in the article, the information and communication element is the most suitable for digitalization. The article reveals the content of the concept of "religious practices" as a continuation of the evolutionary chain of development and transformation of meanings originating in social philosophy: social action – social communication – social practices. The researchers consider the essence of the main provisions of the theory of practices by Theodore Shatsky. The paper reveals the essence of religious practices, describes their features, presents typologies of religious practices on various grounds. The division of social practices into conventional and innovative (according to V. Radaev) as a variant of assessing the prospects and orientation of digitalization in the religious sphere is approved. The phenomenon of digitalization of religious practices is associated with new opportunities to meet the religious needs of the believer. The authors give some examples of digitization of religious practices in foreign religious communities, which demonstrate the capabilities and technological features of this process, reveal its content and likely social consequences. The paper describes the main characteristics of the religious field of modern Belarus, in order to understand the conditions of digitization of religious practices and the presentation of the national and historical specifics of Belarus. The researchers give a brief overview of the representation of religious organizations in Minsk on the Internet (due to the greatest representativeness of religious diversity). They suggest the results of the analysis of the sites of religious communities in Minsk, which make it possible to assess the degree and results of digitization of the religious sphere of Belarus, the readiness of religious organizations to operate in the digital space, the scale of consumption of digital religious products.

The article analyses the Slovak preschool education sector using Bourdieu’s field theory. It describes stable and volatile points in the evolution of preschool education in terms of the power games occurring within the specific social field of power relations shaped during these games. It explores the groups of powerful players that represent the political, civic-professional and academic sub-fields exerting an influence over the preschool field who in different ways and at various times control the preschool field and structure within it the hierarchy of power relations in preschool education governance. The analysis is empirically illustrated; the power relations played out and were renewed when the national preschool curriculum was undergoing fundamental change. It describes the strategies, processes and consequences of changes in the power relations between the sub-fields and the associated behaviour of the actors. The analysis shows how the power conflicts ultimately led to the homologous relations between the sub-fields transforming into democratically- -structured power relations in preschool education governance.

The Mughal Empire was a Muslim Turkish empire that ruled in the same time periods as the Ottoman and Safavid states. Akbar Shah is one of the most notable and the most controversial and negative comments made about him, although there are those who stand out from the Mughal sultans with their different performances. Akbar Shah has made many reforms and innovations in the political, economic, military, cultural and religious spheres. The most important and noticeable change in these activities has been in the religious field. He showed himself in the change in the religious field with the establishment of a new religion called "Din-i Ilahi". This innovation caused great controversy and caused social upheavals in public life. Akbar Shah was considered Akbar (the greatest) by his supporters, Akbar (the greatest) by his opponents and enemies, and Ekfer (the greatest infidel) by his lodges because of his daring in such a radical and great work and his other works. The Religion-i-Divine, which he founded, for some reason was short-lived, did not succeed in achieving the desired goal. It is possible to include many political, social and religious reasons among the reasons why it dec not succeed. Among religious reasons that provide a strong contribution to the end of this system, in general, Islamic scholars, and private accumulation as deep, effort and their courage contrary to Islam, relentlessly struggling with this new structure, Imam-I Rabbani (K.s.) it is important to mention.

African Indigenous Jurema: The Greatest Common Divisor of the Brazilian Minimum Religion Nancy Cardoso and Cláudio Carvalhaes To Afonso Maria Ligório Soares who taught us to do theology as pilgrims, from tent to tent, in transitory ways, but animated, since our pilgrim bodies are always the home of the Spirit. Over the course of the last few decades, questions surrounding what encompasses a minimally Brazilian religion (MBR) have been discussed and debated in conjunction with the consolidation of the religious studies field. One of the most significant attempts to address the issue was articulated by Andre Droogers, who gathered contributions made during the 1970s and the 1980s in the Revista Religião e Sociedade (1987). Brazil is a country that has had to overcome its own self‐understanding as a Catholic Christian country and to acknowledge its religious polyphony over and above any attempt by the Church to establish cultural consensus. This process of acknowledgment remains an important task today, as this process is still incomplete and the religious field has only become increasingly complex. Carlos Brandão identifies “a great symbolic matrix of common use, onto which each group edits and adds its own repertoire of beliefs,” and Pedro Ribeiro de Oliveira considers that “…there should be more than one set of religious elements available to different religions,” suggesting that a possible MBR would stem primarily from popular Catholicism. Rubem Cesar Fernandes prefers to talk about a “common substrata capable of reaching an agreement among the many traditions” or “elements of general knowledge” that are shared by several religions with certain variations on the “relationship among each of the parties” (God, nature, human beings, deceased souls, and both positive and negative deities). He particularly debates the role and function of the “clergy” as a “translator” in relation to the religious mass seen as “polyglot,” yet unable to translate its contents on its own. Drooger, however, believes that the MBR is not dependent on intermediaries (translator priests), nor does it need recognition from so‐called institutionalized religions. Based upon this debate, Droogers proposes the following concept for MBR: It is a religiosity that is publicly manifested in secular contexts, that is conveyed by mass media, but also by ordinary language. It is part of Brazilian culture. It exists on a national level and can even serve nationalistic purposes. Since its inception, this debate has developed in many ways and has continued to inquire about Brazilian culture and what might be unique to it in terms of its relevance to the religious question. This process of actualization has taken two discernible paths: a descriptive research method based on science and methodologies used in anthropology, sociology, history, etc., and research centered upon particular subjects’ (women, black people, gays, etc.) modes of belief. While the first path has solidified the intuitions present among the “patriarchs” of religious studies, the second has acknowledged the divergence in dealing with religious power and its representations (class, gender, ethnic, etc.). Two important examples of this second research trajectory deserve to be mentioned here: Brazilian feminist and black theologies. Ivone Gebara highlights the experience of poor, black, native women in Latin America: prostitutes, women who were abandoned by their husbands, etc., and gives priority to women making choices for themselves as the first step toward determining the role and function religion serves for them. In this sense, a real “minimum” does not exist, but we should still ask what the “minimum” for women is. Gebara relativizes all efforts at a so‐called women's “popular reading of the Bible” and identifies a potentially more meaningful set of realities and power relations. Similarly, Afonso Maria Ligorio deconstructs the debate on syncretism and religious enculturation, asserting that most efforts to establish a viable “minimum” end up reinforcing the “maximum” religion and its capacity of annexation. To Ligorio, displacing the issue of enculturation as a means of correcting a decayed and flawed syncretism fails to deal with the power issues present in the religious sphere. Was it African and indigenous people who corrupted Portuguese Catholicism, or it was the latter who violated the ancient traditions of the former? This question highlights an ambiguous relationship, but loses its paradox to...

After gaining sovereignty in 1991, the Republic of Byelarus had to independently form its policy in religious aff airs, which was based on the reaction to the changes taking place in the religious sphere. These changes concerned both the radical revaluation of the role and socio-cultural status of religion in the history and culture of Byelarus and the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the religious fi eld: the number of believers, religious organizations, religious publications and the nature of state-confessional relations were changing. In search for an optimal model of organization and regulation of the religious sphere, Byelarus has passed through several stages, learning and improving its own and the global experience. The present-day religious situation in Byelarus is the logical result of several cultural, historical and socio-political processes, as well as the result of a whole complex of reasons, some of which have a long history, while others are a product of the post-Soviet period and the present conjuncture. Many characteristics of the modern religious fi eld (religious structure, the nature of religiosity of the population, the presence of non-traditional religiosity and quasi-religiousness, and the peaceful nature of inter-confessional relations) make Byelarus similar to most countries of the civilized world, while others have their own specifi c characteristics. At the same time, the religious diversity in Byelarus has quite pronounced ethnic features: some national groups are the main carriers of certain religions, which is predetermined by their historical past. Thus, the Polish Catholics, German Lutherans, Russian Old Believers and Muslim Tatars are typical elements in the ethno-religious structure of modern Byelarus. Another characteristic of the contemporary religious situation in Byelarus is the internal organizational stability of religious organizations and confessions. Researchers might also be interested in religious-political reconstructions, which are typical for some intellectuals and take place in the framework of the debate about the Byelarussian identity and political future: if you choose your faith, you choose your political ideal. In this context, of special interest is the problem of peculiar socialization of historical and religious themes into actual political life, which began during the USSR collapse and aimed at formation of new national ideology.

A necessary, but surprisingly neglected, postulate within economic and rational choice theories on religious phenomena is that religion is a matter of individual choice. But what does it actually mean to choose religion? Is it a choice similar to other choices - or is it something rather different? In this article individual choices of religious beliefs and practices, both from theoretical and empirical points of view, are discussed. The empirical material consists of ten in-depth interviews within one particular, and also rather special, religious field - namely the Swedish New Age movement. Some of the main findings concern the respondents' strategies to estimate costs/benefits and to reduce different kinds of uncertainty. In the interviews we find an interesting duality. On the one hand there seems to be a highly individualized ideology, stressing individual responsibility and authority; on the other hand social contacts and recommendations seem to be of great importance.

The relevance of the research of historical memory in religious movements is due to the modern temporal transformation and the need to study the problem of translation of the previous generations experience in the conditions of permanent socio-cultural changes. The purpose of the work involves the study of problems related to the mechanisms of historical memory in religious movements. On the basis of the studied sources, the importance of discussions about the definition of religion and post-secular/desecularization for the research of historical memory is substantiated. It is shown that religious experience is influenced by social processes, so it is necessary to take into account the socio-cultural dynamics, as well as political and economic changes in the evaluation and analysis of the religious aspects of historical memory. We analyze how these discussions influenced the assessment of changes in the role of religious institutions, as well as the transformation of the content of images of historical memory and religious practices. It is proved that the historical memory for religious movements can act as a symbolic resource, but the experience gained in the religious sphere is also regularly used by other communities. Particularly interesting is the mutual influence of the political and religious spheres, which were separately analyzed in the framework of our research. It is proved that the problems of the research of religious aspects of historical memory coincides with the main trends of memory studies.

Most religious texts and practices warrant the exclusion of women from religious rituals and public spheres during the menstrual flow. This is seemingly at odds with the very idea of ‘Religion’ which binds the human beings with God without any gender and sexual discrimination. The present article attempts to problematize the ascription of negative values on menstruating women prevalent in both Hinduism and Christianity, two major world religions of the East and the West. After briefly stating the patriarchal values that restrict women from participating in religious rituals and shaming them during menstruation as seen from both these religions, the article highlights the alternate feminist perspectives in beliefs that positively value the menstruating bodies. Thus, the notion of profanity is revalued as sacred in these alternate religious perspectives. Drawing from the writings of Mary Douglas, we then examine the connection between the notion of purity/impurity and menstruation and argue that what makes something pure or impure depends upon the archetype the society chooses to represent itself. In itself, nothing is either pure or impure in the sense of having a value or disvalue. This argument is exemplified through a feministic-hermeneutic approach to the religious practices in two major world religions. The article concludes by uncovering the patriarchal values held by religions as the cause of menstrual taboos in religious practices and argues that the notions of purity/impurity and sacred/profane are the results of the valuations made—from a patriarchal or feministic perspective.

This article uses conceptions of liminality as found in the works of French social theorist and philosopher Georges Bataille and anthropologist Victor Turner to resolve limitations in Pierre Bourdieu’s functionalism. The concept of ‘liminal’ religious fields (e.g., charismatic effervescence) helps to account for the affective, irrational, heterogeneous, and/or sacred aspects of social life, while maintaining the explanatory power of Bourdieu’s theoretical framework. In particular, this critical revision to Bourdieu allows a better understanding of religious events that obscure the lines between religious practice and madness, such as the Toronto Blessing.

The purpose of the Real Work Lecture (KKN) V of STIBA Makassar students is to increase the Islamic knowledge and religious awareness in the community of Mataallo Village, Bajeng District, Gowa Regency. This KKN is a form of community service as a pillar of the Tridarma Perguruan Tinggi. The method of implementing this activity is to map the problems and needs first using the SOAR analysis instrument. After analyzing the problems and needs, work programs are prepared according to the needs of the community. The work programs that have been successfully implemented are Pelatihan Penyelenggaraan Jenazah, Pesantren Ramadan, and Festival Anak Saleh. The results of the activities are the enthusiasm and support of the community for each activity, especially the government and the students and youth. The community feels great benefits after participating in various KKN programs, including the increase in knowledge, insight and religious practices, especially related to the organization of corpses, taharah, prayer and fasting, as well as reading and writing the al-Qur’an. The sustainability of this program is in the form of further coaching for participants, especially training on the handling of abnormal corpses, such as corpses with certain diseases, accident victims, victims of natural disasters, and others, which require special treatment and are different from corpses in general; need to continue to accompany students of SMP-SMA Aksara especially in the religious field by adding several teachers who focus on the religious field and coordinating students with religious organizations at the junior and senior high school levels; as well as the need for efforts from their respective Kindergarten/TPA caregivers to continue fostering and deepening the interests and talents of the students.

Since King Mohammed VI came to power in 1999, he has adopted a comprehensive gender-sensitive policy to promote women’s empowerment and gender equality in Morocco. Due to his dual role as both a political and religious leader, the monarch has played a crucial part in ensuring adequate consensus and overcoming polarization around the issue of advancing women’s status in the Kingdom. In the religious sphere, women have consolidated their positioning, notably after the Casablanca bombings on May 16, 2003. The events triggered a significant feminization strategy, which has granted women access to diverse religious positions. This strategy has contributed to fostering the position of Moroccan women in religious institutions and involved them in the fight against extremism. This article uses qualitative content analysis of a sample of royal speeches, letters, and Sharifian Decrees to examine the official gender policy in the religious domain. This analysis provides a backdrop for investigating five major gender-driven initiatives in the religious field: inviting women scholars to speak before the king during the Hassania Lecture Series in the month of Ramadan, appointing women scholars to various institutions of religious scholarship, initiating the training of female religious professionals, supporting female public recitation of the Quran, and allowing women to access the notary profession. Data analysis reveals that the king’s religious and political leadership and his oversight of gender-sensitive reform have facilitated the inclusion of women in the religious realm, despite its historically male-dominated nature.

The emergence of new digital technologies in modern work organizations is also changing the way employees and employers communicate, design work processes and responsibilities, and delegate. This paper takes an interdisciplinary—namely sociological and philosophical—perspective on the use of AI in healthcare work organizations. Using this example, structural power relations in modern work organizations are first examined from a sociological perspective, and it is shown how these structural power relations, decision-making processes, and areas of responsibility shift when AI is used. In the subsequent ethical part, opportunities for a fairer organization of work, but also dangers due to possibly changed power relations are elaborated and evaluated by presenting a realistic scenario from everyday clinical practice. After combining a proceduralist account of organizational ethics with a virtue-ethical approach, it is argued that certain organizational and character dispositions are necessary for employers and employees to meet the challenge of changing structural power relations in the future. With the same goal, a summative sociological perspective discusses challenges to workplace co-determination.

This book takes a new approach to the study of Roman elites' religious practices and beliefs, using current theories in psychology, sociology, and anthropology, as well as cultural and literary studies. The book focuses on what the elites of the Middle Republic (ca. 250–ca. 100 BCE) actually did in the religious sphere, rather than what they merely said or wrote about it, in order to provide a more nuanced and satisfying historical reconstruction of what their religion may have meant to those who commanded the Roman world and its imperial subjects. The book examines the nature and structure of the major priesthoods in Rome itself, Roman military commanders' religious behaviors in dangerous field conditions, and the state religion's acceptance or rejection of new cults and rituals in response to external events that benefited or threatened the Republic. According to a once-dominant but now-outmoded interpretation of Roman religion that goes back to the ancient Greek historian Polybius, the elites didn't believe in their gods but merely used religion to control the masses. Using that interpretation as a counterfactual lens, the book argues instead that Roman elites sincerely tried to maintain Rome's good fortune through a pax deorum or “peace of the gods.” The result offers rich new insights into the role of religion in the lives of the Roman ruling elite.