{"id":15346,"date":"2017-11-15T17:26:26","date_gmt":"2017-11-16T01:26:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=15346"},"modified":"2017-11-15T17:26:26","modified_gmt":"2017-11-16T01:26:26","slug":"uh-oh-i-am-in-way-over-my-head","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/uh-oh-i-am-in-way-over-my-head\/","title":{"rendered":"Uh Oh, I am in WAY over my head"},"content":{"rendered":"

[1]\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When my family eats at Cracker Barrel, we play the triangular game where we try to jump and remove as many pegs as possible. \u00a0If you are not very good at the game, the game describes you as an IGNORAMUS. (Christian comedian Timothy Hawkins does the funniest show on this game).<\/p>\n

I have to be honest, I feel like an total ignoramus after reading Elliott’s book on\u00a0Contemporary Social Theory: An Introduction.<\/em>\u00a0To say I was frustrated would be an understatement. I was also bored beyond belief. Here’s why, but even more importantly, here is what I did about it…<\/p>\n

Just reading the word THEORY puts me into a deep comatose sleep. I nearly drowned in every theory class I ever attempted. I am a practical guy. Theory seemingly has got me nowhere in my life.<\/p>\n

So, I cheated. That’s what I did, I cheated! I remember someone in our chat saying they read LGP7’s papers from last year (you might remember Jake said he slept with one of them). So I peeked at what last year’s authors blogged. I picked out main words from their posts like, “post-modernism, globalization, capitalism and individualism” and dug into those. It was a start for me, at least I could break the book down into a few bite sized pieces I partially understood.<\/p>\n

By the way, in LGP7’s blogs, I was not able to find a quality review of our book, which made me think I wasn’t the only ignoramus out there!<\/p>\n

I also did a study on the author. Anthony Elliott is off-this-planet intelligent. Honestly, I get a picture in my mind of a guy who has never, not for one second, done a single fun thing his whole life. He must spend his every waking minute burning brain cells in the research lab and reading all 10 volumes of the XYZ theory of blah, blah, blah. He has job titles that are so deep, I still don’t understand what he does. Of the 40 books he has authored, this one appears to be his masterpiece.<\/p>\n

Elliott amazed me that he even included a criticism section to several theories he highlighted. Here is a guy who is so smart, he fully understands the complex CRITICISMS of the very theories I struggle to grasp.<\/p>\n

I even had to go outside his book to get a definition of “social theory” that I understood. From GoogleScholar I found this beauty, “Social theory is a system of generalized statements about social phenomena.”[2] Yes, now I was getting somewhere! Generalized statements about social phenomena. My critical thinking skills say he made some of this up, but then he backs it up.<\/p>\n

I am making progress. More about that later.<\/p>\n

Now I could BEGIN to try to understand sections like “The reproduction of mothering”[3] and “The gulf war did not take place.”[4] After I performed the X-RAY tool contained in the Kindle App, I found myself enjoying the sections on the capitalism of Levi-Strauss and McDonalds (McDonaldization?). [5]<\/p>\n

I realize we are all wired a little differently. To some of you reading my blog, this book made perfect sense. You probably thought is was well worth the $58 bucks to purchase it. You understand “social theory” and it charges your battery to read it. Please take no offense, but I am not wired that way–at all! This is no excuse, I am still going to give this a try.<\/p>\n

So, here we go…<\/p>\n

The best key theme of this book from my perspective is “social theory” highlights the relationship between the individual and society. [6]<\/p>\n

I will attempt to connect my dissertation topic of Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University to my new understanding of Elliott’s theories–from the individual to society. Here we go, this is my attempt at social theory from my perspective.<\/p>\n

For many individuals, the American dream issue of commercialism<\/strong> has fueled an insatiable desire for acquiring more goods. Beginning with the industrial revolution, continuing forward with the rapid growth of consumer credit (debt), individuals in the West elevate their standard of living equal to or above their parents, even though their parents have thirty extra years to achieve this. Society then places undue pressure on young families to keep up with the Joneses. Enter covetousness<\/strong>. Families flee cities and build in suburbia. Houses grow larger while families shrink smaller. The BMW becomes the status symbol of choice. [7] Prioritization<\/strong>\u00a0gets out of whack. Contentment-less<\/strong> is introduced.<\/p>\n

The pace quickens with the technological<\/strong> age. In addition to additional car and real estate expenses, connectivity<\/strong> now demands computerization, cell phones and the internet. Throw in cable television and other societal pressure for instant gratification<\/strong> and time pressures dominate. Disposability<\/strong> enters the scene, simplicity exits. Buy more, throw it away quickly, move on as fast as you can–even if you have to pay more. Online shopping hammers the mall industry.<\/p>\n

All of a sudden, the attention span of our society is miniscule. Debts rise because decision making skills have been compromised. People don’t bat an eye at paying for bottled water<\/em>. Somehow, even God gets squeezed out because time management skills are also compromised. Before most realize what has happened, the “trials of life” [8] (some of which are self-inflicted) usher in the age of distractibility<\/strong> and the age of\u00a0elevated stress levels<\/strong>. To add insult to injury, communication becomes null and void, we don’t even notice our neighbors in need. Nobody has time to pause and find out.<\/p>\n

Church participations suffers. Child centered parenting<\/strong>\u00a0[9] dictates Sunday travel sports teams for 4th graders in hopes of achieving college scholarships, and again society tells the individual you can do it all and have it all. Train wrecks are present everywhere. Marriages crumble. The rat race is on…<\/p>\n

BUT, then the Bride of Christ, HIS church, opens the scriptures, preaches the gospel, disciples young believers, replaces lies with the TRUTH. Individuals, with God’s grace, begin to put the brakes on this insanity. Jesus does what he promises as he transforms hearts and minds.<\/p>\n

Shadows of the age of gratitude and generosity<\/strong> appear. Those who practice these principles mature and change their family tree. [10] They step away from the mousetrap of the “deceitfulness of wealth” explained in the parable of the sower. Some of their neighbors notice. Society now desires wise stewardship. \u00a0Being faithful stewards becomes more important–with the environment, with our time, with our families and with our resources.<\/p>\n

And the church leads the way as it takes God’s tithes and offerings and stewards them for Kingdom causes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

{Please understand, I am not a social theorist. This was simply my attempt to explain phenomena that I am seeing related to my dissertation. Every bolded word<\/strong> could be a chapter in my social theory book, as I understand it. It’s not perfect, but I believe I have made progress in my knowledge of what social theory is…}<\/p>\n

[1] \u00a0Abstract Word Cloud for Sociological Theory (<\/em>Royalty Free Stock Photos from 123rf.com: accessed November 15, 2017)<\/p>\n

[2] Williams, Berenice.\u00a0Introduction to Social Theory: Part 2\u00a0<\/em>(Quick Time on slideplayer.com: accessed November 14, 2017)<\/p>\n

[3] Elliott, Anthony. Contemporary Social Theory: An Introduction<\/i>. Routledge, 2014. p. 217-219.<\/p>\n

[4] Ibid., p. 267-269.<\/p>\n

[5] Ibid., p. 23-26.<\/p>\n

[6] Ibid., p. 11.<\/p>\n

[7] Ramsey, Dave. Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University Member Workbook<\/em>. Lampo Licensing, LLC, 2012.<\/p>\n

[8] Mark 4:19.\u00a0Barker, Kenneth L., ed. The Holy Bible: New International Version<\/i>. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2017.<\/p>\n

[9]\u00a0Ezzo, Gary, and Anne Marie. Ezzo. Growing Kids God’s Way: Biblical Ethics for Parenting<\/i>. Louisiana, MO: Growing Families International, 2002.<\/p>\n

[10]\u00a0Ramsey, Dave. Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University Member Workbook<\/em>. Lampo Licensing, LLC, 2012.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[1] When my family eats at Cracker Barrel, we play the triangular game where we try to jump and remove as many pegs as possible. \u00a0If you are not very good at the game, the game describes you as an IGNORAMUS. (Christian comedian Timothy Hawkins does the funniest show on this game). I have to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":96,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[238],"class_list":["post-15346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-elliott","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/96"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15346"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15357,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15346\/revisions\/15357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}