Abstract
Research suggests that societies are becoming more materially secure, less intensely religious and that social interactions are increasingly computer mediated. However, sociological theorists have not yet developed robust mechanistic theories explaining how social cohesion might be generated under these new conditions. This is a notable omission because scholars have demonstrated empirically that materially secure, non-religious, people tend to be more individualistic, have more diverse networks, and are less socially engaged than traditionally religious individuals (Zuckerman et al., The nonreligious: Understanding secular people and societies, Oxford University Press, 2016). Does the secularization of societies necessarily imply societal instability, anomie, or isolation? If not, why not? Here, we posit the existence of a continuum of modes of social cohesion that are characterized by a suite of historically contingent variables which impact the volume, scope, and rate of human interactions. This novel theory of “distributive effervescence” specifies how emotional energy might be generated via punctuated interactions with heterogeneous others across diverse settings.
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McCaffree, K., Shults, F.L. Distributive effervescence: emotional energy and social cohesion in secularizing societies. Theor Soc 51, 233–268 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-021-09470-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-021-09470-0