Synopses & Reviews
"Sylvan's thesis furnishes far more of the same valued experiences than is usually realized: ritual activity, communal ceremony, a philosophy and worldview, a code for living one's life, a cultural identity, a social structure, a sense of belonging, and crucially, Sylvan argues encounters with the numinous."
Journal of Religion
Most studies of the religious significance of popular music focus on music lyrics, offering little insight into the religious aspects of the music itself. Traces of the Spirit examines the religious dimensions of popular music subcultures, charting the influence and religious aspects of popular music in mainstream culture today and analyzing the religious significance of the audience's experiences, rituals, and worldviews. Sylvan contends that popular music subcultures serve the function of religious communities and represent a new and significant religious phenomenon.
Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork using interviews and participant observation, Sylvan examines such subcultures as the Deadheads, raves and their participants, metalheads, and Hip Hop culture. Based on these case studies, he offers a comprehensive theoretical framework in which to study music and popular culture. In addition, he traces the history of West African possession religion from Africa to the diaspora to its integration into American popular music in such genres as the blues, rock and roll, and contemporary musical youth subcultures.
Review
"Taking us on a journey from West Africa to San Francisco, Robin Sylvan reminds us that being moved by the music means much more than simply understanding the lyrics. From rock to rap, disco to heavy metal, Sylvan takes the whole music experience seriously, exploring how its very performance--and its subsequent affect on the audience--touches the entirety of what makes us human, in what can only be considered a religious experience of sound, beat, dance, ritual, and world view. . . . Will challenge your presumptions about the significance of music in general, these genres in particular, and the way we understand religion to work in the lives of ordinary people." --, -Eric Michael Mazur,coeditor of God in the Details: American Religion in Popular Culture
Synopsis
Sylvan examines the religious dimensions of popular music subcultures, charting the influence and religious aspects of popular music in mainstream culture today.
Synopsis
Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork using interviews and participant observation, Sylvan examines such subcultures as the Deadheads, raves and their participants, metalheads, and Hip Hop culture. Based on these case studies, he offers a comprehensive theoretical framework in which to study music and popular culture.
Synopsis
This lively anthology brings together many of the best theoretical essays on crime causation published in the American Society of Criminology's journal
Criminology. In
The Criminology Theory Reader, Stuart Henry and Werner Einstadter have edited key articles into concise, student-friendly readings without compromising the essays' original integrity. The book captures the essence and diversity of thinking about crime by including representative articles from the major theoretical perspectives: classical and rational choice, biological and psychological, ecology, strain and subcultural, social learning and differential association, neutralization and social control, labeling and social constructionist, and Marxist and critical theory.
The Criminology Theory Reader also contains cutting-edge thinking on feminist theory, postmodernist, constitutive, and integrated approaches. The overview essay and helpful section introductions guide students through the core debates. The following respected theorists are among the contributing authors: Beirne, Clarke, Stark, Bursik, Felson, Akers, Laub, Agnew, Simpson, Chambliss, Melossi, Feeley, Friedrichs, Thornberry, Hirschi, Yeager, Bernard, and Rafter.
The Criminology Theory Reader is the perfect reference for those interested in the explanations of crime and criminality.
About the Author
Professor
Stuart Henry is in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology at Eastern Michigan University. Together with Professor Emeritus
Werner Einstadter, he hasauthored numerous books on crime and deviance, including
Criminological Theory: An Analysis of Its Underlying Assumptions. Professor Emeritus Werner Einstadter is in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology at Eastern Michigan University. Together with
Professor Stuart Henry , he has authored numerous books on crime and deviance, including Criminological Theory: An Analysis of Its Underlying Assumptions.