Structures of Consciousness and Civilizational Processes : A Critical Reconstruction of Benjamin Nelson's Sociology of Civilizations.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nielsen, Donald A., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nelson, Benjamin, 1911-1977,.

Nelson, Benjamin.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (243 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : Bloomsbury Publishing (US), 2026.

System Details:

text file rdaft

Summary:

This book argues for Benjamin Nelson's continued relevance, demonstrating how Nelson's analysis of cultural universalism, axial shifts in consciousness, and civilizational crises provides a framework for understanding transformative historical processes.

Contents:

Cover

Half Title

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1: Civilizational Revolutions and Breaking Points in the Histories of Structures of Conscience and Consciousness

1.1 Civilizational Transformations, Not the Origin and Structure of "Modernity": Nelson's Main Aims

1.2 Contemporary Revolutions and Civil Wars in the Structures of Consciousness

1.3 Toward a Renewed Vocabulary for the Social Sciences

Chapter 2: In Search of Concepts and an Analytical Framework

2.1 The Historical and Intellectual Milieu: Nelson's Response to Weber, Tawney, and Others

2.1.1 The Historical and Intellectual Context

2.1.2 Tawney and Nelson

2.1.3 Weber and Nelson

2.2 The Human Condition: Processes, Dilemmas, Predicaments

2.3 Existence, Experience, and Expression: Their Roles in Sociocultural Structures and Processes.

Chapter 3: Social Theory, Historical Sociology, and Civilizational Analysis: Shifting Conceptualizations and Theoretical Frameworks

3.1 Cultural Systems and Sociocultural Processes

3.1.1 Culture as Defensive System, Directive System, Dramatic Design, and Symbolic Economy

3.1.2 Madnesses and Civilizations: Anomie, Psychopathology, and the Roles of Mental Healers

3.2 The Civilization-Analytic Perspective

3.2.1 Civilizations, Civilizational Complexes, Inter-civilizational Encounters, and Related Ideas

3.2.2 Eros, Nomos, Logos, Polis, and the Balances Among Civilizational Structures

3.3 Key Concepts in the Study of Sociocultural Processes in Civilizational Perspective

3.3.1 From Rationales of Conscience to Structures of Consciousness

3.3.2 Universalization and Rationalization: Operative Concepts for the Historical Sociology of Civilizations

3.3.2.1 Universalization as a Sociocultural Process.

3.3.2.2 Rationales and Processes of Rationalization.

3.3.3 Circulatory Sociocultural Processes in Civilizations

Chapter 4: Revolutionary Transformations and Breaking Points in Western European Civilization

4.1 Introduction: Civilizational Traditions and Their Role in Civilizational Transformations

4.2 The Axial Shift of the Twelfth Century: Universalization, Rationalization, and Revolutions in the Structures of Conscience and Consciousness

4.3 Between Twelfth and Seventeenth Centuries: Late Medieval Casuistries of Conscience and Newly Emerging Forms of Religious Consciousness

4.4 The Reformation and the Philosophic-Scientific Revolution of the Sixteenth to Seventeenth Centuries

4.5 Intra-civilizational Tensions in Seventeenth-Century Structures of Consciousness: Roots of the "Actuarial Society" and the Rationalization Revolution

4.6 Once Again: Contemporary Revolutions and Civil Wars in the Structures of Consciousness.

Chapter 5: Crises of Civilizations: Symptoms and Diagnoses

Chapter 6: Conclusion: Nelson's Unique Vision of the Sociology of Civilizations

References

Index

About the Author.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

979-82-16-38198-3

979-82-16-38199-0

OCLC:

1581077308