Self (social) Destruction in an Intentional Community

Social ControlMills College Fall 2009

The Book and Author

http://books.google.com/books?id=-BMOAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA242-IA1&ci=108,93,804,1152&source=bookclip

Quakers

http://ushistoryimages.com/images/quakers/fullsize/quakers-3.jpg

Who Were the Puritans?

• In post reformation England, protestants who felt that Church of England remained “too Catholic”

• Wanted to replace “episcopacy” with “congregationalism”

• Fundamental tension: a movement that stressed individual, non-centralized approach

• Predestination. Duty of constant reform, attention to detail, avoidance of sin.

Puritan Houses

http://media.photobucket.com/image/puritans%20quakers%20%20massachusetts%20bay/maggie6138/villagehouses.jpg

http://amhist.ist.unomaha.edu/module_files/Puritan%20Worship%20Service.jpg

Puritan Worship

Where Did They Come From?

http://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/6Nations/EoL/fig7.gif

Puritan Punishment

http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/ATHEISM/puritans.jpg

A Case is a Case of Many Somethings

“moral panics”

religion &

control*

exile communities

cults

intentional communities

17th c. fringe grps.

sociology of boundaries

* Taliban?

Law and Authority in Massachusetts Bay

• Pp 54ff• Charted as business company• Origins in protest, how to transform into

loyalty?• Ragtag collection of legal ideas + BIBLE• Bible• Orthodoxy vs. congregational independence

The Devil and Who I Am

It is quite natural, then, that they would seek new frames of reference to help them remember who they were; and just as natural that they would begin to look with increasing apprehension at the activities of the Devil. One of the surest ways to confirm an identity, for communities as well as for individuals, is to find some way of measuring what one is not. …for [the devil] had always loomed in Puritan imagery as a dark adversary against which people could test the edge of their own sainthood. (64)

Puritans as A CASE OF WHAT?

• “intentional community”• Structure/beliefs highly aligned• Exile community• Cult• Protestantism• Voluntary exiles• 17th century fringe groups

Shape of the Book

1. On the Sociology of Deviance

2. The Puritans of Massachusetts Bay

3. The Shapes of the Devil

4. Stabilities &Instabilities in Puritan Crime Rates

5. Puritanism and Deviancy

Deviance is relative. Crime is normal. Communities

are about their boundaries.

A utopian society in which civil rules and moral beliefs

would be aligned.

A community threatened by its own ideas (1) God’s >

man, (2) let us do our thing, (3) the devil is real

Social control takes time and energy and so community only

gets as much deviation as it can

afford to police

General Trajectory

“They” not living up to

“the” standards.

Need to purify.

Catholic Churchgodchurchperson

2nd Gen Puritans in Massthere goes the community

Antinomiansauthorityideas/book/inspiration

1st Gen Puritans in Mass.church leaders = community leaders

Protestants/Anglicanshierarchy/centralization

Puritans in Englandlocal control

Calvin, Luthergodperson

Corruption!

Not serious about

change!

Whence authority?

Oh No! Immigrants!Quakers

religion really private

3rd Gen Puritans in Mass.No outside threat? Invent one!

Devil = Overly Mystical?

They are inside of us!

young vs. old

inside vs outside

old vs.

young

village vs.

state?

people vs.

church?

Claims

• crime (or rather the reaction to it) concentrates the consciousnesses of community members on what it means to be in/of this community

• unless “the rhythm of group life is punctuated by moments of deviant behavior…social organization would be impossible.” (Erikson):

Attending to Deviance…Creates “fellow feeling”

• Recognizing and reacting to deviation• …as collective…• …provides an opportunity for separate individuals…• …to merge their personal sentiments…• …and experience group solidarity.

Even in a society of angels

It does not offend the collective because it is a

crime; it is a crime because it offends the collective…

Chapter 1: All the Sociology You Need

• Boundaries

Contradictory Social Forces

Those promoting conformity Those promoting diversity

All Behavior Varies and Groups Have a Collective Sense of “How we do it”

• Two possibilities

Under “Acceptable” Over

“Acceptable”

Different

All Behavior Varies and Groups Have a Collective Sense of “How we do it”

Another way to look at it…

US US

THEM THEM

THEM

Exercise: Values and Social ControlSelect from the list below an issue that is important to you.

Sexism Racism Homophobia Ecology Energy Food (vegan, etc. or eathing disorders) Smoking Child rearing practices Drinking Drugs

Let's say you and your comrades decide it's time to get serious about this issue. Your task is to describe a "puritan-esque" approach to this issue in a community like Mills. You decide you will start a "hall" or "house" around this issue.

Form a group and either split into "boosters" and "devil's advocates" (or skeptics) or decide that you'll rotate these roles.

1. Describe the basic values, purpose, etc. of your group/organization. Do the values of the organization suggest anything about how it should be run?

2. Try to identify who can join the group/movement. Should there be any restrictions? Who should decide? How will you tell who "fits"?

3. Episode I : Who is qualified to speak as an expert within the group? Do some people have more credibility than others?

4. Episode II: One of the following events occurs– A campus event/issue arises and your group is called upon to coalition with another.– Tensions with a similar but different group/movement.– You decide to work with a professor to create an academic class on the topic.

By analogy to Erikson, what are some things you might expect to see?

5. Episode III : The impure among us need to be found and purged. What happens?