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1. In ordinary speech, “anonymity” refers to the concealing of one’s name, to remaining nameless, thus avoiding being questioned as a person. Anonymity is both a protection and a threat. By it individuals escape the control of a group or society and protect themselves against attack by a collective. Anonymity is also a mark of individualizing, a loss of the social relations that belong to the wholeness of the person, a loss of rootage in society. The consequences might be loneliness, substance abuse, the threat of suicide, or crime. 2. Sociology seldom deals with anonymity. The word …

1. Custom as a Social Phenomenon “Custom” is the general term for regular forms of social practice that are recognized by a society and may be expected in it. It embodies social norms with sanctions to enforce observance. For the most part, customs are less obligatory than laws. Laws are what one must do, customs what one must do or ought to do or may do. The dominant morality of a society finds expression in custom as a collection of social norms. Even in older tradition, the conduct conforming to custom is viewed as moral conduct. Yet custom covers more than…

1. Historical Development The beginnings of empirical social science lie in the field of statistics of the 17th and 18th centuries. Under the influence of the Belgian Adolphe Quetelet (1796–1874), “moral statistics,” already common in Germany, was developed as an attempt to show the causal dependency of the individual on general social factors. In addition, under Quetelet among others, official governmental statistics began to be gathered in the second half of the 19th century. The first scientific…

1. Definition The sociology of churches is part of the sociology of religion. It deals with the social forms of Christianity, its influence on society in general, and the way in which it is affected by social factors. Compared with the sociology of religion, it has its own essentially narrower themes. It differs from pastoral sociology inasmuch as, like the sociology of religion, it is value-free. But the distinction is fluid. In general, pastoral sociology is the scholarly social analysis of the …

[English Version] . Alltagssprachlich ist Nachbar, wer »nebenan« wohnt, der, den man sieht, zumindest vom Sehen kennt, der, den man hört, an dessen Leben man ungewollt teilnimmt. Nachbarn kann man in der Regel nicht wählen. Man findet sie vor und muß sich zu ihnen verhalten, in Desinteresse, Anteilnahme oder Konflikt. Nachbarn gehören zum Wohnumfeld. Dieses kann sehr unterschiedlich in seiner Struktur und in seiner räumlichen Ausdehnung sein. Im einen Fall ist es ein Mehrfamilienhaus, im anderen e…

[German Version] taken in the narrow sense of the term, refers to worship proclamation by two preachers engaged in dialogue with one another. Used in a broader sense, however, it may also denote an agenda of fundamental criticism that is dissatisfied with the monological character of the sermon from the pulpit and seeks alternatives that would seem less authority-dependent and more efficient in terms of communication theory. German discussion in homiletics has been debating the issue since the 1960s. The discussion was most intense betwe…

[German Version] In everyday language, a neighbor is someone who lives “next door” to us, whom we see (or at least know by sight), whom we hear, and in whose life we involuntarily participate. As a rule, we cannot choose our neighbors. They are simply there, and we must ¶ behave toward them with interest, disinterest, or hostility. Neighbors are part of a residential environment, which can vary a great deal in structure and spatial extent. In one case, a building may accommodate several families; in another, there may be a more extensive reside…

[German Version] I. Terminology – II. Social Sciences – III. Practical Theology I. Terminology From the 18th century on, the German term Handlungswissenschaft denoted the study of trade ( Handel). It thus came to represent one of the precursors of modern economics. Nowadays it has this meaning only in historical contexts. Its present-day usage refers to the disciplines that deal with action in the broadest sense, from trade through pedagogy …

[German Version] I. Sociology and Social Ethics Instead of the term village ( Dorf), German statisticians today use the term rural community ( Landgemeinde). In a broad sense it denotes communities of up to 5,000 inhabitants, in the narrow sense 2,000. Given the de facto variety of villages, there is no attempt to identify additional defining features. This approach takes into account the fact that rural communities have become attractive as homes for population strata not engaged in agriculture, especially on the urban fringe. After World War II, changes began that led to the …

[English Version] I. Phänomenologisch und sozialwissenschaftlich Der Begriff S. meint relativ verbindliche, von der Tradition vorgegebene Regelformen gemeinsamen Lebens. Ein an der S. ausgerichtetes Verhalten orientiert sich an Kulturmustern, die »seit langem« gelten, oft von den Elterngenerationen bereits praktiziert worden sind. Max Weber spricht deshalb von »Eingelebtheit«. In der dt. Sprache konkurriert mit dem Begriff der S. der des Brauchs. Eine völlige Trennschärfe läßt sich nicht feststellen.…

[German Version] I. The Concept – II. Sociology of Religion – III. Practical Theology I. The Concept Present-day sociology considers individualization a central feature of modern societies (Society: I, II). It is rooted in the process of social differentiation or, more precisely, in the development of functional subsystems that for the most part have their own organizational structures. Individuals no longer necessarily belong to every subsystem. Commonly – though not always – membership in subsystems comes t…

[German Version] I. Social Sciences and Ethics – II. Practical Theology I. Social Sciences and Ethics The term the masses (or the crowd) is a peculiarly modern, strongly normative designation for a great number of human beings thought of as an amorphous whole. Since antiquity there have been references to disorganized groups of people, uneducated and hence susceptible to demagoguery ( óchlos, plebs), but the modern use of the term presupposes specific processes of deracination in industrial societies along with the concomitant obsolescence – real or supp…

[German Version] I. Phenomenology and Social Sciences – II. Ethics – III. Mores and Church Life – IV. Ecclesiastical Mores I. Phenomenology and Social Sciences The term “mores” (cf. Ger. Sitte) refers to regular forms of common living that are relatively binding and provided by tradition. Behavior oriented to mores relates to cultural patterns that have been valid for “a long time,” and were often practiced by previous generations. M. Weber thus speaks of “embeddedness” ( Eingelebtheit). In German, the term Sitte (“mores”) competes with Brauch (Custom). There is no sharp dis…

[German Version] I. Practical Theology The systematic study of the church as a social entity (Churched) began with A. v. Oettingen in the 19th century. In the context of practical theology, the church studies published by P. Drews beginning in 1902 produced accurate descriptions of the life of the church. These were joined in subsequent decades by smaller individual studies, especially of the religiosity of industrial workers. Pastoral sociology began to take shape in France and the Netherlands, buil…

[German Version] I. Social History, Sociology, Social Ethics – II. Practical Theology I. Social History, Sociology, Social Ethics The concept of home (or home country, Ger. Heimat) stirs ambivalent emotions: Heimat stands for the longing for security and rest, but, misused as propaganda, also for ideological resistance to the new and the foreign. In contrast to the customary connotation of connections to origins and the imprint of tradition (cf. Education/Formation: II), E. Bloch understands home as an expression of unfulf…

1. Modern Problems and Issues The term “foreigners” defines individuals or social groups in relation to a particular state. People become foreigners when they stay in a country other than their own. Depending on the circumstances in the host country, their presence may or may not be welcome. The social problem involved in the concept is twofold: foreigners live as aliens, as those who do not belong; and they are seen by residents to be aliens, not to belong. Different situations give rise to specific…

[German Version] I. Philosophy – II. Theology – III. Ethics – IV. Practical Theology I. Philosophy The concept of action is of central importance for philosophical ethics and anthropology. It is closely related to the concept of person, since persons are the subjects of action and cognition (the latter always itself an action, since it necessarily involves judgment). We may distinguish …

[German Version] I. History of Religions – II. Church History – III. Current Situation I. History of Religions Brotherhoods are a special form of community, not constituted by traditional forms of relationship (Covenant). They are mono-gendered groupings (also “sisterhoods”) distinguished by certain homogeneous characteristics. Initiation groups are often the origin of brotherhoods in cultural histo…

[English Version] I. Zum Begriff: Religionssoziologie und Religionswissenschaft R. oder Soziologie der Rel. beschäftigt sich mit den sozialen Aspekten und Ausformungen der Rel. Dazu gehören offensichtlich die rel. Institutionen, Organisationen sowie soziale Gruppen. Auch weniger feste, situative soziale Formationen, wie Versammlungen, Zeremonien und kollektive Rituale (z.B. Prozessionen [ Ritus/Ritual]), zählen zum Forschungsbereich der R. In einem weiteren Sinn, der v.a. die deutschsprachige Tradition…

[German Version] I. Terminology The sociology of religion studies religion’s social aspects and manifestations, clearly including religious institutions, organizations, and social groups. It also studies more situational forms, less clearly defined, such as gatherings, ceremonies, and collective rituals (e.g. processions [Rite and ritual]). In an extended sense, character…