The Awakening-Cycle Controversy
Participants in a 1983 symposium in Sociological Analysis debated the existence of periodic “awakenings” in American society. The precise issues in dispute were often blurred by a tendency to equate awakenings with peaks in revival activity, at best an imperfect measure. The awakening-cycle construc...
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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Published: |
[publisher not identified]
1985
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In: |
Sociological analysis
Year: 1985, Volume: 46, Issue: 4, Pages: 425-443 |
Online Access: |
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Summary: | Participants in a 1983 symposium in Sociological Analysis debated the existence of periodic “awakenings” in American society. The precise issues in dispute were often blurred by a tendency to equate awakenings with peaks in revival activity, at best an imperfect measure. The awakening-cycle construct may be further clarified by comparing it with related cyclical models: Whitney Cross's linkage of revivals and economic downturns; E.P. Thompson's “chiliasm of despair” thesis; Anthony F.C. Wallace's model of “revitalization”: and Thomas Kuhn's model of scientific revolutions. An examination of these approaches suggests that the awakening-cycle theory remains promising but requires modification, principally by assigning greater significance to outbursts of millennialism as a key indicator. |
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ISSN: | 2325-7873 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Sociological analysis
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/3711158 |