Suchergebnisse

▪ Abstract  The late twentieth century has seen far-reaching changes in the translocal cultural regimes known as world religions. This review examines the politics and meanings of recent changes in three such religions: Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. It highlights the nature of the forces reshaping religious meanings and authority, the processes promoting conversion and standardization, and the implications of these religious refigurations for our understanding of late modernity itself. Though modernity is multiple and every tradition unique, this review suggests that all contemporary religions confront a similar structural predicament, related to the globalization of mass societies and the porous pluralism of late modernity.

Sites of Desire, Economies of Pleasure: Sexualities in Asia and the Pacific. Lenore Manderson and Margaret Jolly. eds. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997. 367 pp.

The issue of whether democracy & civil society are compatible in certain cultures & polities across the world is explored. It is contended that the spread of democratic civility by itself does not ensure implementation of either democracy or civil society. The assertion that non-Western nations are unsuitable to develop civil society because they have failed to adopt Western modernizing practices is challenged. It is maintained that the successful implementation of civil society requires an emphasis on particular civic values & establishment of a broad-based political culture; moreover, it is claimed that democratic civility needs involved citizens & a civilized government. The contention that the social processes that engender civic values are "natural" is questioned; in addition, it is claimed that the civil rights & political participation discourses are no longer entirely Western creations. Citing the existence of several "uncivil" organizations, it is stated that the practice of viewing horizontally structured society as enhancing democratic ideals & verticalism as reducing democratic values must be reconsidered. J. W. Parker

The cultural & organizational components required for the development of civil society in Muslim cultures is studied, focusing on the movement for civil society in contemporary Indonesia. The conventional perception of Islamic politics as unified is challenged; several strands of political thought have emerged from the Islamic political tradition in Indonesia. An overview of Indonesia's colonization reveals the existence of a movement toward civil society before independence was declared in 1945. The rise of a central state & concomitant decline of civil society during the 1950s & 1960s & the return of democratic civility during the 1980s & 1990s are discussed. Analysis of Indonesian civil society confirms the assertion that civic values are not naturally engendered by certain societal institutions; rather, it is contended that the interaction between such institutions & the state is an overlooked yet necessary component in the establishment of civil society. J. W. Parker

The Pursuit of Certainty: Religious and Cultural Formulations. Wendy James. ed. London: RoutJedge, 1995. 316 pp.

On the Subject of "Java." John Pemberton. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1994. 333 pp.

Book reviewed in this article:Culture and Society in New Order Indonesia. Virginia Matheson Hooker, ed. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1993. 302 pp. Dissociated Identities: Ethnicity, Religion, and Class in an Indonesian Society. Rita Smith Kipp. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1993. 320 pp.