{"id":10040,"date":"2016-11-02T22:19:21","date_gmt":"2016-11-03T05:19:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/?p=10040"},"modified":"2016-11-02T22:19:21","modified_gmt":"2016-11-03T05:19:21","slug":"its-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-and-i-feel-fine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/its-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-and-i-feel-fine\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s the End of the World as We Know it… and I Feel Fine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"31v9rbj-ncL\"<\/a>As an undergrad anthropology student many moons ago, I was introduced to Durkheim, Weber, and Marx. And while scholars such as Durkheim and Levi-Strauss straddle the disciplines of anthropology and sociology, I find more affinity with the anthropology field. Whereas anthropology seeks to understand and describe contexts, social theory inclines more towards projecting, predicting, and ultimately, controlling society. Is that a fair statement? Anthony Elliot bluntly states it is not[1]<\/a>, but remarks throughout the text suggest otherwise.<\/p>\n

For instance<\/p>\n

It is one thing to write opinion articles, and yet another to actually influence the shape of contemporary politics. But it is just that which Giddens has done. <\/em> 370<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And<\/p>\n

\u2026the bulk of luminary social theorists reviewed in the course of this book have not only contributed to the public sphere and politics, but have found ways of extending and enriching it<\/em>. 371<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Finally, and perhaps most jarring,<\/p>\n

\u2026so serious is the damage done to human life today that much social theory insists it is only by confronting the worst and most painful aspects of current global realities that we might hope to develop plausible alternative social and institutional possibilities<\/em>. 368<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But in a larger sense, I am concerned with the very foundation upon which social theory is built, namely, the principle that societies (or the global society) is on the verge of collapsing, a sense of an impending Doomsday:<\/p>\n

The review of contemporary developments in social theory provided in the course of this book suggests that the prevailing violence, risks and dangers facing the planet are coming closer and closer to crashing the established social structures of modern life. This is perhaps but another way of saying we may be facing the end of the world as we know it<\/strong><\/em>. 371<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A common thread throughout Elliot\u2019s introduction of social theorists is that our world is filled with violence, inequality, and destruction, to the point that we are approaching annihilation and falling apart:<\/p>\n