Browsing by Author "Bartel, Megan"

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    Religious "Interpersonal Network Proximity" and the Case for Recognition
    (2014-09-29) Bartel, Megan; Joy, Morny
    This thesis addresses the secular societal transition away from traditional, tight-knit forms of community to a more networked model. This social shift is interesting to consider in tandem with theories of secularization that emphasize the rise of an individualized social imaginary. Within a networked society, individuals remain inherently communicative and thus retain the ability to cultivate social capital in new and interesting ways. This has implications for religion as religious communities can also be seen as increasingly networked. Such developments might have the potential to challenge more traditional forms of religious authority. In light of these ideas, a consideration of philosophical understandings of recognition can prove helpful when determining how marginalized religious individuals might create new networked communities through which contemporary modes of recognition could be generated. Through this process, social media resources may serve to increase networking capabilities and thus the potential to cultivate a form of social capital that is ethically grounded in a mode of recognition for which justice is the ultimate goal.