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This article utilizes Ulrich Beck's concept of 'reflexive modernity' to account for the ambivalent view of humour in the public sphere: its celebration as a form of criticism of irrationality and injustice and its censure as a vehicle for the denigration of subordinate or marginal groups and identities. The article argues that the power and ambivalence of humour in contemporary culture can be understood with reference to the two key features of reflexive modernization: the demand for the discursive justification of all claims to cognitive and normative authority and the obligation to respect the equal rights of all individuals. Drawing on Beck's distinction between a 'first' and 'second' modernity, the article uses the example of the Danish 'Muhammed Cartoons' to show that critical-emancipatory joking cannot simply lay claim to an 'Enlightenment' view of secular-scientistic reason in conflict with an atavistic and backward 'religion' due to the transformation of reason by reflexive scientization and the transformation of religion resulting from the effects of globalization and cultural cosmopolitization. The article draws on accounts of the comic practice of Muslim comedians and a consideration of the British TV sit-com Rev to demonstrate the possibility of a 'religious' joking that is thereby eminently 'modern' whilst respecting the values of human universality and individual dignity. The article concludes by reiterating the centrality of Beck's theory for the understanding of the enduring power of comic representation to constitute a cultural reflexivization endemic in contemporary society and argues for the relevance of 'reflexive modernity' to cultural sociology.

The Unification Church, or the Unificationism, also known as HAS-UWC (Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity) or "Moonies" (the term deemed now as disrespectful) but originating from the name of the founder Sun Myung Moon, who set up this Christian religious movement in Northern Korea in 1954 has approximately 3 million followers worldwide. Its existence and popularity are a global phenomenon, interesting not only for sociologists of religion but for politicians, philosophers and people of faith. The impact of this movement and the two-way social change remain a rare subject of study and this paper aims to fill the gaps and to discuss contemporary situation in regards to its followers.

Madson, Mark, J. "The Gospel in Singapore: The Impact of Civil Religion and Civil Law." Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2015. 240 pp. The author explores the development of civil religion in the Republic of Singapore, paying special attention to its sources in English common law, Confucianism, and the Peoples' Action Party (PAP) ideology of economic pragmatism. Colonial and modern civil religious law, including the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act of 1990, serve as the basis for analyzing the interaction of the state and traditional religious traditions. The Singapore Story, as told by Lee Kuan Yew and the PAP, provides a narrative context for interpreting the terms of Singaporean civil religion. The concepts of harmony and self-cultivation are explored within traditional Confucianism and civil religion. The active righteousness of this civil religion is then compared and contrasted with the passive or spiritual righteousness of Christianity using confessional Lutheran theology. Because civil righteousness is promoted by an authoritarian government so pervasively, it puts at risk a proper understanding of Christian righteousness. Therefore, the Church must respond to civil religion with a public theology. The narrative of this theological response includes distinguishing the passive righteousness of faith from all other forms of righteousness. This public theology need not attempt to Christianize law and society but it must clearly delineate the dual rule of God and the created orders which take on a unique form in Singapore. Finally, some considerations of the limits of obedience to political authority and the direction of service within the orders of Singaporean life are outlined.

Today, there are a lot of studies on climate change and sustainability from social sciences' perspectives. Achievements of sociology, psychology or political sciences can be extremely helpful in designing, adopting, implementing and evaluating of effective climate and sustainability policy. However, so far, social sciences, excluded neoclassical economics and dogmatic law, have being marginalizing in the mainstream of climate and sustainability science, politics and discourse. Social studies also have not been included in the IPCC' and other important agencies' reports. In consequence, there is a significant gap in our understanding many facets of climate change and other civilizational threats and possible tools to mitigating them, which may be a reason of the pure effectiveness of the past policies. In this paper I would like to present a few of examples, what social sciences, especially sociology and psychology can contribute to climate and sustainability discourse, as well as, propose hypothesis which could explain marginalization of social sciences today. I will conclude that there are needed more studies about reasons of little widespread social perspective and barriers of incorporating social sciences' approaches to political and non-governmental sphere. In my opinion, in these studies could be used perspectives of cognitive and social psychology or constructivist version of sociology of knowledge, then sociology could became object of its own research, which will result in such kind of "sociology of sociology". ; Obecnie istnieje wiele badań społecznych poświęconych problematyce zmian klimatu i zrównoważenia (nie chcąc używać nieco oksymoronicznego wyrażenia "zrównoważony rozwój"). Osiągnięcia socjologii, psychologii i nauk politycznych mogą okazać się niezwykle pomocne w projektowaniu, adopcji, implementacji i ewaluacji skutecznej polityki dotyczącej tych sfer. Jednakże, jak na razie, nauki społeczne, nie licząc ekonomii neoklasycznej i dogmatyki prawa były marginalizowane w głównym nurcie nauki, polityki i dyskursu dotyczących klimatu i zrównoważenia. Dorobek nauk społecznych nie został także uwzględniony w raportach IPCC i innych ważnych instytucji zajmującymi się tymi problemami. W konsekwencji, istnieje istotna luka w naszym rozumieniu wielu aspektów zmian klimatu i innych zagrożeń cywilizacyjnych, a także w możliwych narzędziach do przeciwdziałania im, co może być powodem skromnej efektywności poprzednich polityk. W niniejszej pracy chciałbym zaprezentować parę przykładów tego, co nauki społeczne, a szczególnie socjologia i psychologia mogą wnieść do dyskusji na temat zmian klimatu i zrównoważenia, a także przedstawić hipotezę mogącą wyjaśnić marginalizację nauk społecznych, z którą mamy obecnie do czynienia. W podsumowaniu zawrę tezę, że potrzebnych jest więcej badań na temat powodów małego rozpowszechnienia perspektywy nauk społecznych i na temat barier we włączeniu podejścia nauk społecznych do praktyki politycznej i działalności pozarządowej. W mojej opinii, w przyszłych badaniach mogłaby zostać wykorzystana perspektywa psychologii poznawczej i społecznej, a także konstruktywistycznej wersji socjologii wiedzy. W ten sposób, socjologia stałaby się przedmiotem badań samej siebie, co skutkowałoby istnieniem swego rodzaju socjologii socjologii.