Are Meanings the Name of the Game? Religion as Symbolic Meaning and Religion as Power

Bibliographic Data

ID4299792
AuthorsStephen S Bush (John Brown University, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume6
Issue12
Pages525-533
Publication date2012-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligion Compass (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1749-8171 • E-ISSN: 1749-8171
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1749-8171.2012.00361.x
OpenAlexW1564291407
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited11

Searching for symbolic meanings," Talal Asad says, "is not the name of my game." In putting things like this, Asad leads us to believe that the approach to the study of religion he favors, which focuses on social power, is at odds with the approach Clifford Geertz advances, which focuses on the interpretation of symbolic meaning. However, for a particular action or pattern of behavior to affect social power structures, it must possess symbolic meaning. So the social power approach and the interpretive approach are not as different as some of their respective advocates indicate

Epistemology · Linguistics · Odds · Political science · Politics · Psychoanalysis · Psychotherapist · Sociology · Symbolic interactionism · Symbolic power · The Symbolic · Communication · Computer Science · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Religion and Society Interactions · Religion, Society, and Development · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology · Social Psychology

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