Jeffrey Alexander - The Power of Symbols

"Society needs symbols, myths, narratives...and modernity cannot just be rationalization", explains Jeffrey Alexander, Lillian Chavenson Saden Professor of Sociology and Co-Director, Center for Cultural Sociology at Yale University. "We need to understand the power, the energy and the glue that keeps civil society together and motivates people", from Occupy to Tahrir Square, says Alexander, by trying to redefine the cultural in social theory. Myths, narratives and iconic symbols have disappeared in the course of modernization... But how can cultural sociology bring these important ideas back to the theory of democracy? Reset-Dialogues has interviewed Jeffrey Alexander during the Istanbul Seminars 2012.
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Interview by Nina zu Fürstenberg
Filmmaker: Anna Fanuele

Watch all of our videos here: http://www.resetdoc.org/stories/index/00000000145

The Istanbul Seminars are an annual highly academic early summer seminar organized in Istanbul (with Bilgi University, which also hosts the event) by ResetDoC where cultural and scientific thinkers in social sciences, philosophy, political theory, sociology, legal studies and religion discuss our common future. The seminars tackled the following topics. Postsecularism (2008), Religion, Human Rights and Multicultural Jurisdictions (2009), Realigning liberalism: pluralism, integration, identities (2010), Overcoming the trap of resentment (2011), The promise of democracy in troubled times (2012), The Sources of Political Legitimacy. From the Erosion of the Nation-State to the Rise of Political Islam (2013), The Sources of Pluralism - Metaphysics, Epistemology, Law and Politics (2014).
More information on http://www.resetdoc.org

Видео Jeffrey Alexander - The Power of Symbols канала Reset DOC - Dialogues on Civilizations