Abstract
In volume 1 of his four-part series on The Sources of Social Power, A History of Power from the Beginning to A.D. 1760 (Cambridge, 1986), sociologist Michael Mann identifies four sources for social power, the first of which is ideology. He writes,
Ideological power derives from three interrelated arguments in the sociological tradition: First we cannot understand (and so act upon) the world merely by direct sense perception. We require concepts and categories of meaning imposed upon sense perceptions. The social organization of ultimate knowledge and meaning is necessary to social life…. Thus collective and distributive power can be wielded by those who monopolize a claim to meaning. Second, norms, shared understandings of how people who should act morally in their relations with each other, are necessary for sustained social cooperation…. Shared normative understandings are required for stable, efficient social cooperation, and that ideological movements like religions are often the bearers of these. An ideological movement that increases the mutual trust and collective morale of a group may enhance their collective powers and be rewarded with more zealous adherence. To monopolize norms is thus a route to power. The third source of ideological power is aesthetic/ritual practices. These are not reducible to rational science. As Block (1974) has expressed it, in dealing with the power of religious myth, “You cannot argue with a song” [22–23].
Ideology thus plays a key role in the acquisition and application of social power.
Names of leading figures within a tradition mediate ideology for social power. The present issue of BTB relates how biblical figures mediate the social power of ideology:
Playing out a contrarian reading of Psalm 126:5, “Those who sow in tears shall reap with joy,”
In light of Isaac's traumatic past, especially at the hands of Abraham, that he imitates many of the actions of his father shows a remarkable strength of character: attempting to trick a local ruler, specifically reopening wells that his father first dug, and concluding land-based treaties…. He lives the longest among the patriarchs…. He lives the ideal biblical age and half as more as well.
The name of Isaac signals endurance in the face of ordeals.
the slave materials of the Pentateuch with Genesis 47 is not so much the morality of the institution of slavery itself as it is the spirit behind the distribution of material resources…. When read in the broader context of passages dealing with slavery, the practices of Joseph are not culpable on the basis of his employment of debt-slavery, but seem less than ideal in the area of resource distribution.
Thus normativity remains.
In “Ezekiel as Misogynist,”