Spirit Possession among the Shakers of Pleasant Hill

A Link between Effervescence and Social Ideals

in Durkheimian Studies
Author:
Lisa C. Kistler Researcher, University of Kentucky, USA

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https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7984-2328
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3167/ds.2023.270105
Keywords:
collective effervescence; embodiment; moral authority; Shakers; social action
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Abstract

As a conceptual tool, effervescence offers a nuanced and complex explanation of forces for social change. Yet, it can be challenging to identify subject matter that spans the full implications of effervescence from embodied feeling to changes in social action over time. This study joins theories of effervescence with a unique set of primary historical records from a nineteenth-century religious utopian community in the United States to investigate whether effervescence might have a role in the creation, maintenance or decay of social ideals. As an explanation for social action, findings suggest that effervescence points to a link between embodied feeling, social ideals and institutional control – aspects of effervescence that offer avenues for future theoretical and empirical research.

Contributor Notes

Lisa Kistler is a PhD candidate in Sociology at the University of Kentucky. She holds a Master of Science in Environment and Development from the University of Edinburgh and a Bachelor of Arts in Geography from Middlebury College. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7984-2328

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Durkheimian Studies

Études Durkheimiennes

Cover Durkheimian Studies
Article Category:
Research Article
Page Count:
27
Keywords:
collective effervescence; embodiment; moral authority; Shakers; social action
Print Publication Date:
01 Dec 2023
Online Publication Date:
01 Dec 2023
Copyright:
© Durkheim Press 2023

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