Why Groups Matter to Sociocultural Evolution : How Religio-Cultural Entrepreneurship Drove Political and Religious Evolution in Ancient Israel

Evolutionary concepts have a rich history in sociological theory, from Spencer to Durkheim, Marx to Weber. Recently, a neo-evolutionary revival has occurred in the social sciences, (1) bringing neuroscience into dialogue with age old sociological questions of origins; (2) considering the gene-culture relationship; and (3) constructing sweeping general theories of sociocultural evolution. Generally, the role collective actors play in the evolutionary process is taken for granted, as is the contingent, multi-directional, and multi-linear paths evolution takes when we focus on specific cases. The paper below examines the evolution of the ancient Israelites from the 8th-6th centuries BCE, teasing out a theory that supplements these other important areas. Specifically, it is argued that (a) institutional entrepreneurs are the collectives that drive sociocultural selection processes by innovating organizationally, normatively, and symbolically; (b) their cultural assemblages are sources of variation upon which sociocultural forms of selection, like Spencerian or Marxian, can work; and, (c) institutional spheres evolve and become “survivor machines” for the entrepreneur’s assemblage, imposing it on a significant proportion of the population and reproducing it across time and space.Arts, Faculty ofSociology, Department ofReviewedFacult

Money, love, and sacredness: generalised symbolic media and the production of instrumental, affectual, and moral reality

A central and long-standing theoretical problem in sociology concerns how differentiated social units are integrated. This problem, however, has been peripheralised since the decline of functionalism, while legitimation and regulation/power-differentials have moved to the forefront. This article argues that by reconceptualising the concept, generalised symbolic media, a robust theory of integration can be posited that does not sacrifice the importance of regulation (control) or legitimation (meaning). This paper extends both the Simmelian and functionalist versions of media by: (1) precisely defining the concept; (2) examining its two forms-a specialised institutional language and as an external referent of value; (3) elucidating the three modes of orientation various media impose; and (4) extending the function of media beyond (social) exchange to include other institutional processes such as communicative action, performance, and ritualised interaction. Ultimately, a reconceptualised theory of generalised symbolic media offers sociology a mechanism that simultaneously highlights the diversity found across institutional spheres, as well as the limits humans have in dealing with the problems posed by differentiation.44547

Toward a General Theory of Institutional Autonomy

Institutional differentiation has been one of the central concerns of sociology since the days of Auguste Comte. However, the overarching tendency among institutionalists like Durkheim or Spencer has been to treat the process of differentiation from a macro, ‘outside in’ perspective. Missing from this analysis is how institutional differentiation occurs from the ‘inside out’, or through the efforts and struggles of individual and corporate actors. Despite the recent efforts of the “new institutionalism” to fill in this gap, a closer look at the literature will uncover the fact that (a) they have tended to conflate macro-level institutions and meso-level organizations and (b) this has led to a taken for granted approach to institutional dynamics. This paper seeks to develop a general theory of institutional autonomy; autonomy is a function of the degree to which specialized corporate units are structurally and symbolically independent of other corporate units. It is argued herein that the process by which these ‘institutional entrepreneurs’ become independent can explain how institutions become differentiated from the ‘inside out’. Moreover, this paper offers five dimensions that can be operationalized, measuring the degree to which institutions are autonomous.Arts, Faculty ofSociology, Department ofReviewedFacult

‘Integrity, Sportsmanship, Character’: Baseball’s Moral Entrepreneurs and the Production and Reproduction of Institutional Autonomy

Sociologists have long argued that institutions like religion or economy can become relatively distinct spheres that facilitate and constrain action, goal setting, and decision-making. But, few empirical studies have looked closely at how institutions become relatively distinct cultural and structural domains. This paper examines how institutional entrepreneurs—in this case, Major League Baseball (MLB) sportswriters—build and sustain institutional boundaries by considering how they create a distinct cultural discourse that infuses baseball places, times, and events with culturally distinct meanings. Drawing from sportswriters’ columns, documentaries, and monographs written on baseball, we show that MLB entrepreneurs have developed and disseminated a discourse oriented around the generalized medium of sport exchange, interaction, and communication: competitiveness. Using these data, the paper below examines how this medium becomes quantified and embodied in tangible and intangible forms. Additionally, the paper draws on sports columns that illustrate how MLB entrepreneurs protect the autonomy of a sacred core (the Hall of Fame) from internal threats (gambling and performance-enhancement drugs) and external corruption (the influence of money). The paper ends with a discussion of implications for the applicability of the findings to other sports and institutional domains

Seth Abrutyn's Quick Files

The Quick Files feature was discontinued and it’s files were migrated into this Project on March 11, 2022. The file URL’s will still resolve properly, and the Quick Files logs are available in the Project’s Recent Activity

Reconceptualizing the Dynamics of Religion as a Macro-Institutional Domain

Macro-institutional analysis was once central to sociological inquiry, such that Durkheim saw it as synonymous with sociology. With the failure of Parsonsian grand macro theory, sociology shifted its lens to the organization, or meso-level of analysis. While producing key insights into the dynamics of corporate units, the macro-environment has become ambiguously theorized. In the paper below, the emergent properties and dynamics of the religious institution—an important sphere of human action central to classical sociology and currently a vibrant subfield—are elucidated. It is argued an analysis at the macro-institution can produce a more robust understanding of social organization and action, which supplements the important meso-level models by more precisely defining and delineating the contours of the macro-level. The paper below achieves this goal by (a) explicating the generic qualities of all religious institutions and (b) positing the key intra- and inter-institutional dynamics affecting various levels of society

Reconceptualizing the Dynamics of Religion as a Macro-Institutional Domain

Macro-institutional analysis was once central to sociological inquiry, such that Durkheim saw it as synonymous with sociology. With the failure of Parsonsian grand macro theory, sociology shifted its lens to the organization, or meso-level of analysis. While producing key insights into the dynamics of corporate units, the macro-environment has become ambiguously theorized. In the paper below, the emergent properties and dynamics of the religious institution—an important sphere of human action central to classical sociology and currently a vibrant subfield—are elucidated. It is argued an analysis at the macro-institution can produce a more robust understanding of social organization and action, which supplements the important meso-level models by more precisely defining and delineating the contours of the macro-level. The paper below achieves this goal by (a) explicating the generic qualities of all religious institutions and (b) positing the key intra- and inter-institutional dynamics affecting various levels of society

From Chiefdoms to States : Toward an Integrative Theory of the Evolution of Polity

The evolution of the polity, particularly the transition of chiefdoms to states, has been the subject of considerable debate. In this paper, we engage the discussion surrounding the meta-theoretical positions on the tempo of change, specifically whether states emerged gradually from quantitative changes in chiefdom societies – gradualism - or if their appearance was the result of punctuated and qualitative change - punctuated equilibrium. After revisiting the classic debate, we update it with new contributions drawn from the natural and social sciences. We contend that chiefdoms do not simply become states as a result of increases in the size of component parts; instead, punctuated equilibrium, stemming from responses to selection pressures from social forces, has more empirical support than gradualism in explaining state formation. We then take steps toward an integrative model of polity evolution, in which the state emerges as a discrete change resulting from social forces reaching critical thresholds.Non UBCArts, Faculty ofSociology, Department ofReviewedFacult

The Socioemotional Foundations of Suicide : A Microsociological View of Durkheim's Suicide

Durkheim’s theory of suicide remains one of the quintessential “classic” theories in sociology. Since the 1960s and 1970s, however, it has been challenged by numerous theoretical concerns and empirical dilemmas, particularly the large number of cases that do not appear to fit Durkheim’s general model. The paper below elaborates Durkheim’s macro-level typology of suicide by sketching out the socioemotional structure of suicide that undergirds why social integration and moral regulation matter to suicidality. Beginning with Durkheim’s own insights on the Individual Forms of suicide, we integrate social psychological, psychological, and psychiatric advances in emotions and argue that (1) egoistic, or attachment-based suicides, are driven primarily by sadness/hopelessness, (2) anomic/fatalistic, or regulative suicides, are driven by shame, and (3) mixed-types exist and are useful for developing a more robust and complex multi-level model of suicide that highlights the experience of multiple aspects of social reality.Arts, Faculty ofNon UBCSociology, Department ofReviewedFacult