Bibliography
X. Social Sciences
The social sciences that emerged parallel to the natural sciences in the modern West have been part of a social-technological program of enhancing life and creating a new future oriented and progressive kind of society. The idea of social engineering lies at the root of the social sciences. And yet among the many voices wanting to understand and to contour and form social life there is an increasing awareness of the difficulties to determine what is not only changing but in fact enhancing the shared life of a country, a culture, and eventually of humankind. Some psychologists and social scientists have sought to distinguish between basic and more complex human needs and thus offered more refined frameworks to model enhancement (See Project Description). As a consequence, the role of cultural values and spiritual resources and orientations comes to the forefront of discerning the ways of enhancing life. This becomes manifest in attempts to speak of the spiritual/sacred nature of the human person.
What is submerged, what is implicit, and what is not sufficiently examined? Where can “Enhancing Life Studies” make a difference? Where do we want to shift scholarly attention?
Enhancing Life Studies will further shift the focus to cultural values, deep orientations, and non-material resources. In particular these studies will ask: What moves people to enhance both their personal as well as their communal life in institutions? Enhancing Life Studies assume that the spiritual realities are not only embedded, perceived, and lived out by individual persons, but can be rooted in “socio-cultural imaginaries” which in turn influence the formation of society’s institutions ranging from family life to educational institutions or economic formations. Again, in turn, Enhancing Life Studies will investigate in what respect and under what conditions social institutions are helpful in order to discover the spiritual aspirations of people and help actions directed towards the enhancement of life.
Bahro, Rudolf. Logik der Rettung: Wer kann die Apokalypse aufhalten? Ein Versuch über die Grundlagen ökologischer Politik. Stuttgart: Thienemann, 1987.
Bellah, Robert N. „Civil Religion in America.“ Daedalus. Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 96 (1967): 1–21.
Blanchflower, David, and Andrew Oswald. “Well-being over time in Britain and the USA.” Journal of Public Economics 88 (2004): 1359–1386.
Christens, Brian, Jones, Diana L., and Paul W. Speer: “Power, Conflict, and Spirituality: A Qualitative Study of Faith-Based Community Organizing.” Forum Qualitative Social Research 9 (2008): Art. 21
Comte, Auguste. A General View of Positivism. Translated by John Henry Bridges. Alexandria, Virginia: Trubner and Co., 1865.
Droogers, André. “Beyond Secularisation vs. Sacralisation. Lessons from a Study of the Dutch Case.” In A Sociology of Spirituality, edited by Kieran Flanagan and Peter C. Jupp, 81–100. Farnham, Surrey, UK: Ashgate 2007.
Guest, Matthew. “In Search for Spiritual Capital: The Spiritual as a Cultural Ressource.” In A Sociology of Spirituality, edited by Kieran Flanagan and Peter C. Jupp, 181–200. Farnham, Surrey, UK: Ashgate 2007.
Haraway, Donna. Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. New York: Routledge, 1991.
Inglehart, Ronald, and Pippa Norris. Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Inglehart, Ronald. Modernization and Postmodernization. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1997.
Joas, Hans. Die Sakralität der Person: Eine neue Genealogie der Menschenrechte. Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp, 2011.
Latour, Bruno. Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Lilley, Stephen. Transhumanism and Society: The Social Debate over Human Enhancement. Dodrecht; New York: Springer, 2013.
Maslow, A.H. “A theory of human motivation.” Psychological Review 50 (1943): 370–96.
Meadows, Donella H., Dennis l. Meadows, Jorgen Randers and William W. Behrens III. The Limits to Growth: A Report to The Club of Rome. New York: Universe Books, 1972.
Metrozones, eds. Urban Prayers. Neue religiöse Bewegungen in der globalen Stadt. Berlin: Assoziation A 2011.
Meyer, Birgit. “Mediating Absence - Effecting Spiritual Presence. Pictures and the Christian Imagination.” Special issue of Social Research 78 (2011): 1029-1056.
Murphy, Jeffrie G. and Jean Hampton. Forgiveness and Mercy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
Neal, Judith A., Bergmann Lichenstein, Benyamin, and David Banner. “Spiritual perspectives on individual, organizational and societal transformation.” Journal of Organizational Change Management 12 (1999): 175–86.
Popper, Karl. The Open Society and Its Enemies. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press 1971.
Sedikides, Constantine, Lowell Gaertner and Yoshiyasu Toguchi. “Pancultural self-enhancement.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 84 (2003): 60-79.
Verter, Bradford: “Spiritual capital: Theorizing religion with Bourdieu against Bourdieu.” Sociological Theory 21 (2003): 50-174.
Wohlrab-Sahr, Monika: “Konversion als Resozialisation.” Zeitschrift für Staats- und Europawissenschaften 18 (1998): 373-388
Bibliography
X. Social Sciences
The social sciences that emerged parallel to the natural sciences in the modern West have been part of a social-technological program of enhancing life and creating a new future oriented and progressive kind of society. The idea of social engineering lies at the root of the social sciences. And yet among the many voices wanting to understand and to contour and form social life there is an increasing awareness of the difficulties to determine what is not only changing but in fact enhancing the shared life of a country, a culture, and eventually of humankind. Some psychologists and social scientists have sought to distinguish between basic and more complex human needs and thus offered more refined frameworks to model enhancement (See Project Description). As a consequence, the role of cultural values and spiritual resources and orientations comes to the forefront of discerning the ways of enhancing life. This becomes manifest in attempts to speak of the spiritual/sacred nature of the human person.
What is submerged, what is implicit, and what is not sufficiently examined? Where can “Enhancing Life Studies” make a difference? Where do we want to shift scholarly attention?
Enhancing Life Studies will further shift the focus to cultural values, deep orientations, and non-material resources. In particular these studies will ask: What moves people to enhance both their personal as well as their communal life in institutions? Enhancing Life Studies assume that the spiritual realities are not only embedded, perceived, and lived out by individual persons, but can be rooted in “socio-cultural imaginaries” which in turn influence the formation of society’s institutions ranging from family life to educational institutions or economic formations. Again, in turn, Enhancing Life Studies will investigate in what respect and under what conditions social institutions are helpful in order to discover the spiritual aspirations of people and help actions directed towards the enhancement of life.
Bahro, Rudolf. Logik der Rettung: Wer kann die Apokalypse aufhalten? Ein Versuch über die Grundlagen ökologischer Politik. Stuttgart: Thienemann, 1987.
Bellah, Robert N. „Civil Religion in America.“ Daedalus. Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 96 (1967): 1–21.
Blanchflower, David, and Andrew Oswald. “Well-being over time in Britain and the USA.” Journal of Public Economics 88 (2004): 1359–1386.
Christens, Brian, Jones, Diana L., and Paul W. Speer: “Power, Conflict, and Spirituality: A Qualitative Study of Faith-Based Community Organizing.” Forum Qualitative Social Research 9 (2008): Art. 21
Comte, Auguste. A General View of Positivism. Translated by John Henry Bridges. Alexandria, Virginia: Trubner and Co., 1865.
Droogers, André. “Beyond Secularisation vs. Sacralisation. Lessons from a Study of the Dutch Case.” In A Sociology of Spirituality, edited by Kieran Flanagan and Peter C. Jupp, 81–100. Farnham, Surrey, UK: Ashgate 2007.
Guest, Matthew. “In Search for Spiritual Capital: The Spiritual as a Cultural Ressource.” In A Sociology of Spirituality, edited by Kieran Flanagan and Peter C. Jupp, 181–200. Farnham, Surrey, UK: Ashgate 2007.
Haraway, Donna. Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. New York: Routledge, 1991.
Inglehart, Ronald, and Pippa Norris. Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Inglehart, Ronald. Modernization and Postmodernization. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1997.
Joas, Hans. Die Sakralität der Person: Eine neue Genealogie der Menschenrechte. Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp, 2011.
Latour, Bruno. Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Lilley, Stephen. Transhumanism and Society: The Social Debate over Human Enhancement. Dodrecht; New York: Springer, 2013.
Maslow, A.H. “A theory of human motivation.” Psychological Review 50 (1943): 370–96.
Meadows, Donella H., Dennis l. Meadows, Jorgen Randers and William W. Behrens III. The Limits to Growth: A Report to The Club of Rome. New York: Universe Books, 1972.
Metrozones, eds. Urban Prayers. Neue religiöse Bewegungen in der globalen Stadt. Berlin: Assoziation A 2011.
Meyer, Birgit. “Mediating Absence - Effecting Spiritual Presence. Pictures and the Christian Imagination.” Special issue of Social Research 78 (2011): 1029-1056.
Murphy, Jeffrie G. and Jean Hampton. Forgiveness and Mercy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
Neal, Judith A., Bergmann Lichenstein, Benyamin, and David Banner. “Spiritual perspectives on individual, organizational and societal transformation.” Journal of Organizational Change Management 12 (1999): 175–86.
Popper, Karl. The Open Society and Its Enemies. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press 1971.
Sedikides, Constantine, Lowell Gaertner and Yoshiyasu Toguchi. “Pancultural self-enhancement.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 84 (2003): 60-79.
Verter, Bradford: “Spiritual capital: Theorizing religion with Bourdieu against Bourdieu.” Sociological Theory 21 (2003): 50-174.
Wohlrab-Sahr, Monika: “Konversion als Resozialisation.” Zeitschrift für Staats- und Europawissenschaften 18 (1998): 373-388