Sociology 201

Contemporary Social Theory

Spring, 2014

Short Assignment #1, Due on January 30, by 4:30PM

In the reserve article by Edward Tiryakian entitled "Dialectics of Modernity: Re-enchantment and Dedifferentiation as Counterprocesses", the author outlines a Weberian conceptual framework which he argues is central to understanding the dialectic of social life in modern industrial societies. After reading the article:

1. Provide a brief outline of Tiryakian's framework with a particular focus on elaborating what he means by the concepts "disenchantment, "re-enchantment" and "dedifferentiation."

2. Elaborate how you would use his concepts to interpret some element of modern social life.

Please post your responses as inline documents to the Assignment folder on Sakai by...