Page 309 - Religion in the Media Age Media, Religion & Culture

298 Notes

27 For a culturally nuanced view, see Appadurai (1991).
28 See, for example, Eck (2001).
29 There has been particular progress in the field of anthropology. See, e.g.,
Ginsburg et al. (2002).
30 The tradition loosely based on Marshall McLuhan, but more recently identified
with works such as Meyerwitz (1985).
31 Giddens (1991).
32 See Gergen (1991) for the articulation of the view that such knowledge is, in
fact, disempowering and problematic. Giddens takes a different view, that we
must simply understand this as a condition of contemporary life.
33 I much prefer “late modernity” to “postmodernity” as a description of the
contemporary era. Not only am I somewhat skeptical that the claimed elements
of “postmodernity” might have been able to reach far and wide enough in the
culture to achieve any totalizing or epochal status, but I am also skeptical that
these elements (in particular, claims about the status of symbols and ideals) can
be found to be in flux anywhere outside the terms of academic, postmodern
discourse. I am convinced, with Giddens and others, that we do live in a time
of “late modernity,” where fundamental social, conceptual, cultural dimensions
are typical of an “age.”
34 Jameson (1992), Harvey (1989).
35 Baudrillard (1983).
36 For a complete discussion, see Carter (2000). See also Neuhaus (1986).
37 Hunter (1992).
38 McLuhan of course suggested that film and television, while sharing visuality,
also differed, in that one was more absorbing (cool) than the other. For a
psychological discussion of visuality, see Messaris (1994). See also Sturken and
Cartwright (2001), pp. 45–69. For a discussion of issues of the visual with rela-
tion to contemporary American religion, see Morgan and Promey (2001) and
Morgan (1998).
39 I am indebted to one of my teachers, Ray Birdwhistel, for drumming into us, “the
first question should not be ‘what is happening?’ but ‘where is this happening?’”
40 Gerbner and Connolly (1978).
41 Muggeridge (1977).
42 Myers (1989).
43 Schultze et al. (1991).
44 Schultze (2002).
45 Postman (1986).
46 Fore (1987). See also Fore (1990).
47 Medved (1992).
48 Bennett (1993).
49 Gerbner et al. (1984). See also Gerbner et al. (1989).
50 Buddenbaum and Stout (1996).
51 See survey work by Robert O. Wyatt reported in Dart and Allen (1993),
pp. 21–7. Hoover et al. (1995).
52 Dayan and Katz (1992).
53 Rothenbuhler (1998).
54 Marvin (1999).
55 Couldry (2003).
56 Durkheim (1995).
57 Carey (1975).
58 For a recent critique of Carey’s use of the term ritual, see Saebø (2003).
59 For a prominent and influential example, see Bird (2003). See also Ginsburg et
al. (2002).