Inspired by the Enlightenment’s principles of rationality, positivistic ideologies as well as the nascent modern-industrial state, sociology since its inception in Europe was conceived as a fundamentally secular enterprise. Whereas positivistic streams have been rather left aside, secularism in sociology still remains as a cornerstone of the discipline’s identity. However, is sociology in the 21st-century really ‘secular’? In this dissertation I present to the reader an empirical research about the epistemological influences of Catholicism upon sociology in Mexico, a constitutionally secular state since the 19th century. Theoretically, I draw from authors who have put forward the epistemological influences of Christianity upon western social science. I argue that these authors have unintentionally re-stated, with interesting additions, Durkheim’s rather neglected theses about the socio-religious origin of our ‘categories of thought’ –‘classification’ and ‘causality’ in particular. Although I will not attempt to trace the origins of sociological classifications and causalities back to Catholicism in Mexico, I will argue that it is possible to find salient similarities between both knowledge fields in terms of these categories and other discursive characteristics. By analysing these resemblances in a (neo)Durkheimian-Weberian frame, I will explain how Catholic discourses in Mexico, combined with the Mexican state’s teleological discourses on democracy, modernisation and progress, influence sociological discourses not through Durkheim’s ‘imitative rites’ and a priori ‘necessary connections’, but through a series of ‘bridge’ institutions and particular cultural-ideological structures. Individuals’ own religious beliefs and their deliberate and unintended interactions with these elements and their emergent properties turn apparently parochial Catholic discourses into a series of ‘discursive offensives’ which subtly yet pervasively shape common sense in society at large and also predispose sociology practitioners to adopt and develop i) ‘mono-causal’ and ‘power-over’ interpretations of social phenomena, ii) implicit and explicit dichotomistic logics as well as iii) normative-prescriptive sociological stances. In arguing this, I account for how Weberian authority models and Weberian-Mertonian religious values are not only key ‘background factors’, but also constitute actual cognitive devices in the production of sociological knowledge. I also offer empirical evidence about the role that individuals’ religious beliefs play in the conception of sociological models of power and causality and, by extension, in the construction of scientific reason or scientific beliefs. These accounts support the view of contemporary religions as plastic discourses whose ideological powers permeate, under certain historical conditions, the knowledge produced in scientific domains whose secularity has been mistakenly taken for granted. And this, I conclude, strongly suggests the need to revise the secularist foundations of sociologies of science and scientific knowledge, of sociology in general as well as current monolithic theories and paradigms of secularism and science-religion dualistic debates.

There has been little Australian research on the religious and spiritual values of counsellors � one study only, published by Cross and Khan in 1983. However, this issue is an important one, as counsellors' values may influence their clients and the need of clients may require the attention of the counsellor to religious and spiritual issues. This study consisted of two surveys in which the religious and spiritual beliefs and values of Australian counsellors were examined. The first study addressed some root questions concerning the relevance of religion and spirituality to psychologists and therapists in the counselling situation. The queries concerned (a) the recognition and acceptance by counselling practitioners of the religious/spiritual dimension of a person, (b) whether religious issues, values and beliefs were seen as an integral part of psychotherapy and (c) the degree to which these practitioners saw themselves as religious or spiritual. To answer some of these root questions, the initial objective of the field study was to survey psychologists and therapists in Canberra using the Batson and Ventis (1982) Religious Life Inventory, because this was a framework for identifying the ways in which a person was religious. Added to this were some demographic questions and questions regarding the relevance of religion to work. A poor response rate led to the surveys being sent also to Sydney and Melbourne. Results from this first survey were limited. The term "religion" was found to be far more complex than at first realised, and hence objectives were modified for a second survey. The second survey focussed on perceptions of spirituality of Canberra counsellors. The survey questions were based on the studies by Shafranske and Gorsuch (1984) and Shafranske and Malony (1990). Added to these questions were demographic questions and open questions dealing with personal insights, experiences with symbols, rituals and myths. Ideas for questions were also taken from studies on religion in Australia, including Bouma and Dixon (1986) and the Australian Values Study Survey (1983). The data was analysed first by tabling frequencies, then by cross-tabulating selected variables and computing the chi-square statistic for each cross-tabulation to determine whether the relationship was significant at the 0.05 level. Results suggested that the majority of Canberra practitioners not only perceived spirituality as important to their personal life and clinical work, but also regarded themselves as spiritual people and believed in a transcendent Being and Life Force. Most saw their spirituality as entirely personal and had little connection with organised or traditional religions. Within the counselling relationship approximately half of the counsellors were willing to discuss religious issues, and nearly 90% to discuss their clients' spirituality. Female counsellors were much more likely than male to discuss a client's religious beliefs with them; other differences between the sexes were less marked. The high response rate in this study together with the significant findings indicate the value of further research in this area on a broader scale.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2016-08-25T11:55:14Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Elisa Silva Vidal.pdf: 851181 bytes, checksum: ca9fb6943777b8e6b9a505c16f1c50b9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-25T11:55:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Elisa Silva Vidal.pdf: 851181 bytes, checksum: ca9fb6943777b8e6b9a505c16f1c50b9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-11 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / The conservatism manifests itself in a timely manner in the brazilian contemporaneity and ideologically marks the discourse, actions and values perpetuated by religious institutions. Therefore, this research, based on the Marx’s social theory, aims to bring elements to analyze the representativeness of the conservative values in the everyday life of young people bound to different religions. For this purpose, we made a bibliographic research and subsequently a field research, where we applied semi-structured interviews with four youth – two evangelicals, one catholic and one umbandista – which considerer the religion as part of their life. This is therefore a modern theme, important for the apprehension of the young’s reality who adhere to the religions of the Brazilian conjuncture, aiming to contribute for the understanding of the values, expectations and life references of a population which is part of the professional activity of Social Service. In this perspective, this paper is of big relevance because it approaches a rarely considered subject on Social Sciences and it brings to the academy questions that help the understanding of the relation between conservatism, youth and religion / O conservadorismo se manifesta de maneira pontual na contemporaneidade brasileira e ideologicamente marca o discurso, ações e valores perpetuados pelas instituições religiosas. Diante disto, este estudo objetiva, fundamentado na teoria social de Marx, trazer elementos a fim de analisarmos a representatividade de valores conservadores na vida cotidiana de jovens vinculados a diferentes religiões. Para tanto, enquanto caminho metodológico, fizemos uma pesquisa bibliográfica e posteriormente realizamos uma pesquisa de campo na qual aplicamos entrevistas semiestruturadas com quatro jovens – dois evangélicos, um católico e um umbandista – que situam a religião como parte constitutiva de suas vidas. Trata-se, portanto, de um tema de pesquisa atual, importante para a apreensão da realidade dos jovens que aderem às religiões na conjuntura brasileira, visando contribuir para o conhecimento dos valores, anseios e referências de vida de uma população que é parte constitutiva do exercício profissional do assistente social. Nesta perspectiva, este trabalho é de grande relevância por abordar uma temática pouco explorada no Serviço Social e por trazer à academia questões latentes para entendermos a relação entre conservadorismo, juventude e religião

La tesi indaga, attraverso un percorso di ricerca qualitativa, la relazione tra appartenenza religiosa e scelte professionali dei membri e dei dirigenti di cinque associazioni d’ispirazione cattolica impegnate sul tema del lavoro e di un sindacato. Il percorso di ricerca teorico si è svolto su due filoni: uno che prendeva in esame i temi propri della Sociologia del lavoro, le tesi attorno alla fine dell’epoca del lavoro e il ruolo del lavoro nella costruzione dell’identità; il secondo di Sociologia della religione e dunque la persistenza della religione nella sfera pubblica tra paradigma della secolarizzazione e nuove teorie, ma anche alcuni approfondimenti storici sul movimento cattolico e dottrinari sul lavoro nella dottrina sociale. L’indagine empirica ha evidenziato la difficoltà di parlare del significato e del valore personalmente attribuito al lavoro, ma anche il ruolo di mediazione di significati svolto dall’associazione: dalle interviste infatti è emerso che proprio nella mediazione della mission associativa si trova la chiave del rapporto fede-lavoro. Alla luce di tali risultati è stata ipotizzata una classificazione delle associazioni in base alla visione del lavoro che propongono. / The thesis investigates, through a qualitative search, the relationship among religious affiliation and professional choices of the members and the executives of five associations of Catholic inspiration and a labor union. The theoretical research had been developed on two seams: one based on themes proper of the Sociology of the job, the theses around the end of the epoch of the job and the role of the job in the construction of the identity; the second of Sociology of the religion and therefore the persistence of the religion in the public sphere between paradigm of the secularization and new theories, but also some historical close examinations on the movement Catholic and on the theme of "work" in the catholic social doctrine. The empirical investigation underlined the difficulty of speaking about the meaning of the job and the value personally attributed to the job, but also the role of mediation of meanings developed by the association: interviews reveal that is in the mediation of the associative mission the key of the relationship faith-job.

The research problems of this dissertation were: 1) A description of the perceived value of music in light of political undercurrents in Boston prior to and during the years under investigation, and 2) the profile of the constituency of the Boston School Committee and Committee on Music in 1837 and 1845. Questions addressed the effect of religious and moral concerns of the day on the decision by the School Committee in 1837 to try music in the curriculum, and the possible effect of religious politics on Lowell Mason's dismissal from the schools in 1845. In the minds of mid-nineteenth century Bostonians, religious and moral values were intrinsic to the very nature of music. Key members on the School Committee portrayed music as being spiritual yet nonsectarian in its influence. Therefore, the findings suggest that music was believed to provide common ground between opposing and diverse religious sects. Reasons given for Mason's dismissal by John Sargent, a member of the Committee on Music, showed parallels to H. W. Day's accusations in the press a year earlier that Mason had managed his position in a sectarian manner. Sargent's background supports the theory that religious politics were at work in Mason's dismissal. Although members of the School Committee of 1845 were religious, only isolated cases support the proposition that any of them would have opposed Mason strictly on the basis of religious issues. Evidence suggests that their passivity to the action by the Committee on Music was probably due to concurrent public criticism of attempts at school reform within the Committee. While under such scrutiny, Committee members' inaction regarding Mason's dismissal may have reflected a desire not to jeopardize their own positions as a political body.

The thesis is a case study of the Charity Czech Republic, a non-profit organization founded by the Catholic Church. In the first part, the author of the study analyses the mechanisms of transfering the religious values into the activities of non-profit organizations, based on these values, and the situation within NGO market in Anglo-Saxon world where these organizations are very active. In the second part the activities and functioning of the Charity Czech Republic are analysed. In the research part the ideas of the directors of local charities from several areas of the Czech Republic are gathered. In her conclusion the author compares the results of the research with the analysis of accessible documents and tries to answer the question whether or not the Charity Czech Republic is a regular member of the Czech civil society and suggests some steps to improve its functioning.

Made available in DSpace on 2010-04-20T20:51:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 3 155027.pdf.jpg: 15681 bytes, checksum: 3cf0e668e33996c65b7fc9d55a5ab7dc (MD5) 155027.pdf: 646348 bytes, checksum: e1c355afbc77a088fa9dae7d5ee94744 (MD5) 155027.pdf.txt: 302545 bytes, checksum: ddf89a9d1b7422eb4592d34ca48cf66b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-02-16T00:00:00Z / O tema sentido do trabalho é algo que vem sendo estudado por vários autores, internacionais e nacionais. Essa atenção a ele dedicada decorre das importantes transformações que têm ocorrido no mundo do trabalho, onde novas formas de organização surgem, atreladas a modificações em sua natureza. Diante disso, entender o sentido que trabalhadores contemporâneos atribuem ao seu trabalho é algo relevante, mormente se considerado que estes trabalhadores desenvolvem suas atividades produtivas em empresas que apresentam alguns aspectos peculiares dentro do contexto capitalista. Trata-se de empresas que buscam uma alternativa ao modelo administrativo vigente na maioria das organizações, que propõem um estilo de agir econômico com as características da gratuidade, da abertura ao outro e da solidariedade, apesar de atuarem, principalmente, em setores econômicos com fins lucrativos. São elas conhecidas como empresas participantes da proposta de economia de comunhão, a qual visa ao oferecimento de uma resposta ao drama da extrema pobreza das populações, que estão privadas dos direitos humanos mais fundamentais, e constitui-se, ainda, em um esforço de integração entre a gestão de empresas e os princípios contidos em uma base religiosa para transformar o modelo econômico dominante. Não se confunde a proposta da economia de comunhão, portanto, com um simples caso de filantropia ou de participação nos lucros. Assim, esta pesquisa busca investigar qual o sentido que funcionários e proprietários de empresas de economia de comunhão atribuem ao trabalho que realizam. Para desvendar esta questão, foram analisadas, a partir da metodologia de análise de conteúdo, entrevistas com 36 funcionários, 2 diretores e 2 proprietários de 2 empresas, totalizando 40 entrevistas. Realizou-se um estudo de dois casos e a coleta dos dados da pesquisa ocorreu com entrevistas semi-estruturadas. A análise das entrevistas permite dizer que o trabalho é tido como algo fundamental na vida dos entrevistados e que é dotado de muito sentido, conclusão que corrobora com outras pesquisas, as quais também identificaram resultados semelhantes. Contudo, no que tange às empresas de economia de comunhão, foi possível observar que favorecem, em relação ao sentido deste trabalho, aspectos que circundam fatores direcionados a questões pessoais, tais como a valorização da pessoa dentro do ambiente de trabalho, a autonomia concedida para a realização das tarefas e, principalmente, ao relacionamento interpessoal desenvolvido dentro da organização. Portanto, verifica-se que as empresas de economia de comunhão contribuem para o relacionamento e a valorização das pessoas no meio empresarial. / The topic, meaning of work, has been studied by several Brazilian and international authors because of the important transformations that have been occurring inside the labor world where new forms of organizations emerge and they are subjected to the changes in its nature. In the light of this, it is relevant to understand the meaning which the contemporary workers give to their work, mostly if it is considered that those workers develop their productive activity inside companies which present some peculiar aspects in a capitalistic context. In other words, these companies seek an alternative to the current administrative model found in the majority of them, which offers an economic working style with the characteristics of gratuitousness, the open-mindedness in relation to others, the fellowship, despite the fact of working mostly in profitable sectors of the economy. Such companies are known as participant companies of the communion economy proposal.This proposal intends to offer an answer to the extreme poverty drama of the population that is deprived of the most essential human rights. It consists in a struggle of the integration between the companies administration and the principles underlain on a religious basis in order to change the dominant economic model. Therefore, this should not be understood as a simple case of philanthropy or profit sharing. Such being the case this research seeks to investigate what is the meaning given by the employees and the owners of the communion economy companies for the work they do. In order to reveal which are these meanings, it has been analysed based on Methodology of Content Analysis, and it had been done interviews with 36 employees, 2 executives e the owners of each company, in a total amount of 40 interviews. It had been accomplished a study of two cases and the research data collection was done with semi-organized interviews. The analysis of the interviews allows to say that the work is considered a fundamental part for the lives of the interviewees and it has a great meaning for them, similarly with the results of other researches. Nevertheless, it was possible to observe in relation to the communion economy companies that they help this meaning of work with aspects that are found in personal matters, such as: the appreciation of the person inside the work environment, the granted autonomy to accomplish the tasks and mainly, the interpersonal relationship developed inside the enterprise. Therefore, it is seen that the communion economy companies contribute to the relationship and the appreciation of the people inside them.

Text in Afrikaans / Preaching is the proclamation of God's Word. This proclamation has an aim - the listeners of the Word. There was a dynamic change in the study field of the homilectics in the sense of a shifting from an one-sided kerugmatic approach to a dialogical approach. According to this approach the preacher no longer preaches without studying the recipients of the message. This model puts the emphasis on the preacher trying his utmost to get to know the contexts of his listeners. In the case of this thesis the contexts of the youth have been studied through the empirical research. During 1991 Prof. J.A. van den Ven and Prof H.J.C. Pieterse expected that there would be new problems awaiting the church in the new dispensation. They believed that, with the change in state and politics, the religious and moral values of the youth would be under pressure. Because, from now on, our children would be in the centre of values regarding ethnically and culturally integrated schools, they decided to launch a scientific study to determine whether their expectations were justified or not. In October 1991 they became partners in a project called: "Moral and Religious Values of the Youth of South Africa". The empirical study is a longitudinal study with a first data collection in 1995/1996, a second in 2000 and a third in 2005. The first collection of data was incorporated into this thesis. When preaching to the youth it is of utmost importance to take listeners (the youth) as strating point in the exegetical work, without neglecting the Biblical text. Practically speaking it is then necessary to pay attention to the following topics: (1) For the understanding and formulating of the message of the Scripture, modern critical hermeneutics are of the greatest importance. (2) A new practical theory for preaching to the youth is essential. In such a theory the following are important: generational differentiation, visual presentations, musical identification and relationship based preaching. (3) The dialogical communication theory is also of great importance and has dialogue before, during and after the preaching in mind. (4) The researcher proposes that the communication theory of Habermas should be dealt with as a means to help dispose of any generational conflict. / Practical Theology / D. Th. (Practical Theology)

The focus of this case study inquiry was to explore the influence of school proprietors on the roles and responsibilities of the School Boards (SBs) in church-owned secondary schools in Maseru. The samples consisted of SBs chairpersons, school principals, parents’ representatives, and teachers’ representatives in the SBs and educational secretaries from three church-owned secondary schools. Interviews were used to collect data. The findings of this study revealed that the perceived roles of proprietors were to develop the learners holistically including religious values and morals. The SBs managed human resources, physical infrastructure, and school funds, and policy implementation. The relationship between proprietors and SBs was both positive and negative. The proprietors influenced SBs through promoting religious values and morals and by ensuring achievement of their academic goals. The proprietors’ sense of ownership and the desire for maintaining quality education motivated them to monitor the functions of SBs’ in their schools. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Education Management)

Text in Afrikaans / Preaching is the proclamation of God's Word. This proclamation has an aim - the listeners of the Word. There was a dynamic change in the study field of the homilectics in the sense of a shifting from an one-sided kerugmatic approach to a dialogical approach. According to this approach the preacher no longer preaches without studying the recipients of the message. This model puts the emphasis on the preacher trying his utmost to get to know the contexts of his listeners. In the case of this thesis the contexts of the youth have been studied through the empirical research. During 1991 Prof. J.A. van den Ven and Prof H.J.C. Pieterse expected that there would be new problems awaiting the church in the new dispensation. They believed that, with the change in state and politics, the religious and moral values of the youth would be under pressure. Because, from now on, our children would be in the centre of values regarding ethnically and culturally integrated schools, they decided to launch a scientific study to determine whether their expectations were justified or not. In October 1991 they became partners in a project called: "Moral and Religious Values of the Youth of South Africa". The empirical study is a longitudinal study with a first data collection in 1995/1996, a second in 2000 and a third in 2005. The first collection of data was incorporated into this thesis. When preaching to the youth it is of utmost importance to take listeners (the youth) as strating point in the exegetical work, without neglecting the Biblical text. Practically speaking it is then necessary to pay attention to the following topics: (1) For the understanding and formulating of the message of the Scripture, modern critical hermeneutics are of the greatest importance. (2) A new practical theory for preaching to the youth is essential. In such a theory the following are important: generational differentiation, visual presentations, musical identification and relationship based preaching. (3) The dialogical communication theory is also of great importance and has dialogue before, during and after the preaching in mind. (4) The researcher proposes that the communication theory of Habermas should be dealt with as a means to help dispose of any generational conflict. / Practical Theology / D. Th. (Practical Theology)