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Contents
1 tHe soCioLoGiCAL iMAGinAtion 2 The Functionalist Perspective on Socially Assistive

With emphasis on Globalization and Glocalization Robots 29
Manifest and Latent Functions of SARs 29
Manifest and Latent Dysfunctions of SARs 30
Conflict Perspective 30
The Conflict Perspective on Socially Assistive
Robots 31
Symbolic Interaction Perspective 31
Self-Awareness 32
Shared Symbols 32
Negotiated Order 33
The Symbolic-Interactionist Perspective on Socially
Assistive Robots 33
The Sociological Imagination 4 Critique of Three Sociological Theories 34
Troubles and Issues 5 The Methods of Social Research 35
The Industrial Revolution and Emergence Establishing a Research Question/Reviewing the
of Sociology 8 Literature 35
Auguste Comte (1798–1857) 10 Choosing a Research Design 38
Karl Marx (1818–1883) 11 Specifying Variables and Operational Definitions 38
Émile Durkheim (1858–1917) 12 Hypotheses 40
Max Weber (1864–1920) 14 Collecting and Analyzing the Data 41
W.E.B. DuBois (1868–1963) 15 Drawing Conclusions 42
Jane Addams (1860–1935) 17
Summary of Core Concepts 43
The Importance of a Global Perspective 18
Sociological Imagination Human Brains, Robotic Limbs 26
Why Study Sociology? 19
No Borders, No Boundaries Distribution of Industrial
Summary of Core Concepts 20 Robots by Region and Leading Countries 27
No Borders, No Boundaries The Globalization No Borders, No Boundaries Five Countries with Greatest
and Glocalization of Oreo Cookies 4 Number and Percentage of People Age 65 and Over 32
Sociological Imagination Seeing the Connection between
Global and Local 6
Sociological Imagination Mobile Phone Banking in India 18
Sociological Imagination Careers in Sociology 20
2 soCioLoGiCAL PersPeCtives And

MetHods oF reseArCH 24
With emphasis on socially Assistive robots
Functionalist Perspective 26
Manifest and Latent Functions 28
Manifest and Latent Dysfunctions 29
vii
viii Contents
3 CuLture 46 Cognitive Development 80

Agents of Socialization 81
With emphasis on transcultural encounters
Primary Groups as Agents of Socialization 81
and exchanges
Mass and Social Media 83
Socialization Across the Life Cycle 84
Stages 1 through 3 (Infancy, Toddler, Preschool) 84
Stage 4 (Ages 6 to 12) 84
Stage 5 (Adolescence) 84
Stage 6 (Young Adulthood) 85
Stage 7 (Middle Age) 85
Stage 8 (Old Age) 85
Resocialization 86
Defining and Describing Cultures 48 Voluntary versus Imposed Resocialization 86
Components of Culture 49 Summary of Core Concepts 87

Beliefs 49 No Borders, No Boundaries Countries with Ongoing
Values 49 Insurgencies, Civil War, and Other Violent Conflicts 68
Norms 50
Symbols 51 Sociological Imagination In-Group and Out-Group
Dynamics 69
The Role of Geographical and Historical Forces 52
Sociological Imagination The Looking-Glass Self Applied
Culture as a Tool for the Problems of Living 54 to Israeli Soldiers 80
The Transmission of Culture 56
The Role of Language 56
The Importance of Individual Experiences 57
Transcultural Diffusion 57
Ethnocentrism 60
Cultural Relativism 61
Subcultures 61
No Borders, No Boundaries Countries Where the Song
“Gangnam Style” Topped Music Charts 48
Sociological Imagination Transcultural Relationships 53 5 soCiAL struCture And soCiAL
No Borders, No Boundaries The Korean Wave 59 interACtion 90
No Borders, No Boundaries U.S. Military Presence
With emphasis on transnational relationships
in 140 Countries 63
in a digital Age
Social Structure 91
Status 93
Role 94
4 soCiALizAtion 66 Groups 95
With emphasis on in-Groups and out-Groups Institutions 96
Socialization 73 Social Networks 98
The Importance of Social Contact 74 The Importance of Weak Ties 99

Cases of Less Extreme Isolation 74 The Dramaturgical Model of Social Interaction 100
Children of the Holocaust 75 Managing Impressions 101
Individual and Collective Memory 75 Front and Back Stage 101
Managing Emotions at Work 102
Development of the Social Self 77 Emotion Work 102
Role-Taking 77 Emotional Labor in a Digital Age 104
The Importance of Symbols to Role-Taking 78
The Looking-Glass Self 79
contents ix

7 deviAnCe, ConForMity, And soCiAL
Sociological Imagination The Power of
Institutionalization 97
ControL 126
With emphasis on Mass surveillance
No Borders, No Boundaries Small World Theory 100
Deviance, Conformity, and Social Control 128

Deviance: The Violation of Norms 129
Censorship and Surveillance as Mechanisms
6 ForMAL orGAnizAtions 106 of Control 130
With emphasis on industrial Food The Disciplinary Society 131
Sanctions as Mechanisms of Social Control 132
The Functionalist Perspective 134
Labeling Theory 135
The Falsely Accused 136
The Status of Deviant 138
Obedience to Authority 138
The Constructionist Approach 140
Structural Strain Theory 143
Formal Organizations 108 Structural Strain and Responses
The Concept of Bureaucracy 109 to Surveillance 144
Formal and Informal Dimensions 110 Differential Association and Opportunities 146
Rationalization 110
The McDonaldization of Society 111
No Borders, No Boundaries Surveillance as a Global
The Drive for Profit 113
Business 128
Transnational and Global Corporations 115
No Borders, No Boundaries Ten Countries with the
Consequences of Instrumental-Rational
Highest Incarceration Rates in the World 133
Action 120
Trained Incapacity 120 Sociological Imagination Obedience to Authority 141
Statistical Records of Performance 121 Sociological Imagination The Pervasiveness
Oligarchy 121 of Surveillance 145
Expert Knowledge and Responsibility 122
Alienation 123

Sociological Imagination Profile of Fast Food Service
8 soCiAL inequALity 150
Workers 113 With emphasis on social Mobility
No Borders, No Boundaries Countries without Social Mobility in the United States 151
McDonald’s 114 Chance, Choice, and Context 153
Cultural Capital 155
No Borders, No Boundaries Transnational Corporations
Considered Leaders in Industrial Food System 116 Explaining Inequality 157
Functionalist View of Social Inequality 157
A Conflict View of Social Inequality 159
x Contents
A Symbolic-Interactionist View The Foreign-Born Population 179

of Social Inequality 160 U.S. Immigration Policy 180
What Factors Determine Social Class? 161 Brazilian Immigration Policy 182
Marx and Social Class 161 The Consequences of Racial and Ethnic
Weber and Social Class 162 Classification 182
Unearned “Failures” 163 Minority Groups 182
Economic Restructuring 164 Assimilation 184
Creative Destruction and Turbulent Absorption Assimilation 184
Unpredictability 164 Melting Pot Assimilation 186
Structural “Need” for Poverty-Wage Labor 165
Enforcing Inequality and Differences 186
Fueling Economic Growth through Debt 167
Racism 187
Summary of Core Concepts 168 Prejudice, Stereotyping, and Discrimination 188
Discrimination 189
Sociological Imagination The Three Dimensions of
Individual versus Institutionalized Discrimination 189
Cultural Capital 156
When Does Race Matter? 193
Sociological Imagination How Should Wealth Be
Patterns of Mixed Contact 194
Distributed in the United States? 160
Responses to Stigmatization 194
Sociological Imagination The Personal Experience of
Economic Restructuring 166 Summary of Core Concepts 195
No Borders, No Boundaries The Global Skin-Lightening
Market 172
Sociological Imagination Learning to See Race 175
Sociological Imagination Selective Forgetting and
Remembering 177
No Borders, No Boundaries Largest Immigrant Groups
to the United States 180
No Borders, No Boundaries Largest Immigrant Groups to
Brazil, 1550 to Present 181
9 rACe 170
10 Gender And sexuALities 198
With emphasis on social Construction
With emphasis on Gender ideals
Race 171
Racial Classification in the United States Distinguishing Sex and Gender 200
and Brazil 174 Sex as a Biological Concept 200
U.S. Racial Categories 174 Gender as a Social Construct 201
Brazilian Racial Categories 175 Gender Polarization 204
Ethnicity 176 Other Genders 205
Involuntary Ethnicity 178 Sexuality 206
Dominant Group Ethnic Identity 178 Gender Expectations: Learned and Imposed 208
Chance, Context, and Choice 179 Socialization 208
Socialization of Samoan Boys 209
contents xi
Commercialization of Gender Ideals 210 Summary of Core Concepts 245

Structural Constraints 211
No Borders, No Boundaries Infosys Global Presence 224
Gender Inequality 212 No Borders, No Boundaries World Map of the British
The Global-Scale Subordination of Women 214
Empire and Commonwealth 228
Sexism 215 Sociological Imagination Can GDP Measure Economic
The Feminist Response 216
Success? 235
Intersectionality 218
Sociological Imagination Mohandas Gandhi 239
No Borders, No Boundaries Countries in Which Estée
Lauder Offices Are Located 200
Sociological Imagination Historic Events That Opened
12 FAMiLy 248
Opportunities for Women 217 With emphasis on the Aging societies
Defining Family 250
Kinship 251
11 eConoMiCs And PoLitiCs 222 Membership 251
Legal Recognition 252
With emphasis on india and its it Professionals
Functionalist View of Family Life 252
The Economy 224
Conflict View of Family Life 253
Types of Societies 224 Social Inequality 253
Hunting-and-Gathering Societies 225 Reproductive Work 254
Pastoral and Horticultural Societies 226 Maintain and Foster Social Divisions 254
Agrarian Societies 226
Industrial Societies 227 Family Structures and Composition 255
Postindustrial Societies 229 Childbearing Experiences 255
Japan: Family Life in an Aging Society 256
Major Economic Systems 230 Afghanistan’s Family Structure 258
Capitalism 230 Family Life in the United States 259
Socialism 231
World System Theory 232 Triggers of Change 261
Fundamental Shifts in the Economy 261
Two Economies Compared 234 Decline in Parental Authority 263
GDP of India and United States 235 The State of the Economy 264
Union Membership 236 Dramatic Increases in Life Expectancy 264
Relative Importance of Agriculture, Manufacturing, The Economic Status of Children 265
and Service Sectors 236
Unemployment 237 Caregiving 266
Outsourcing 237 Feminist Theory Applied to Caregiving 267
Power and Authority 238 Summary of Core Concepts 269

Forms of Government 240 No Borders, No Boundaries Percentage of Population
Democracy 240 Age 65 and Older 250
Totalitarianism 241 Sociological Imagination Who Needs Care? 267
Authoritarianism 241
Theocracy 241
Power-Sharing
Models 242
The Power Elite 242
Pluralist Models 243
Imperialism and Related
Concepts 244
Is the United States
an Imperialistic
Power? 244
xii Contents
13 eduCAtion 272 The Functionalist Perspective 307

Society as the Object of Worship 307
With emphasis on social reproduction
The Conflict Perspective 308
in a Knowledge economy
The Interplay between Economics and Religion 310
Perspectives on Education 275 Secularization and Fundamentalism 311
Functionalist Perspective 276 The Complexity of Fundamentalism 311
The Conflict Perspective 277 Islamic Activism 312
Symbolic Interaction Perspective 278
Social Reproduction 280 Summary of Core Concepts 314
Racial Inequalities: Then and Now 282 No Borders, No Boundaries “An Intensely Religious
Mechanisms of Social Reproduction 284 World” 298
Tracking 284 No Borders, No Boundaries Major Religions of the
Self-Fulfilling Prophecies 285 World 303
Peer Groups 286
Sociological Imagination Civil Religion in Times of
The College Experience 288 War 306
Who Goes to College? 288
Sociological Imagination Personal Images of Jesus 308
Rewards and Costs Associated with Higher
Education 288 No Borders, No Boundaries The Arab Spring 313
Paying for Higher Education 288
Student Debt after College 289
The Rise of the Credential Society 290
The Experience of College 291

No Borders, No Boundaries Which Countries Produce
the Best Readers? 274
Sociological Imagination Lessons Conveyed Through
Hidden Curriculum 279
No Borders, No Boundaries Study Abroad
Destinations 292
15 PoPuLAtion And HeALtH CAre 316
With emphasis on the u.s. Health Care system
Demographic Pressures on Health Care
Systems 317
Births 317
Deaths 319
Migration 319
Patterns of Health and Disease 321
The Demographic Transition 324
Explaining Extreme Health Inequalities 328
14 reLiGion 296 Modernization Theory 328
With emphasis on religion as a transnational Dependency Theory 329
Force The U.S. System of Health Care 331
Essential Characteristics of Religion 298 Social Construction of Disease and Illness 334
Beliefs about the Sacred 298 The Case of HIV/AIDS 334
Sacramental, Prophetic, and Mystical Religions 299 Impairment versus Disability 336
Rituals 301 Medicalization 337
Community of Worshippers 301 Summary of Core Concepts 340
Civil Religion 305 No Borders, No Boundaries Top Six Countries
“Exporting” Registered Nurses to the United States 318
No Borders, No Boundaries Physician Brain Drain 320
contents xiii
Sociological Imagination Population Pyramids as How Are Changing Conceptions of Deviance

Indicators of Health Care Needs and Pressures 322 Complicating Greenland Inuit Efforts to
Accommodate Increased Tourism? (Chapter 7) 359
No Borders, No Boundaries Independence from Colonial
How Is the Changing Climate Affecting Access to
Power 330
Valued Resources in Greenland and Elsewhere?
(Chapter 8) 359
What Is the Racial and Ethnic Composition of
Greenland? In What Way, If Any, Does Changing
Climate Benefit Some Racial/Ethnic Categories and
Disadvantage Others? (Chapter 9) 360
What Is the Sex Composition of Greenland?
How Might It Be Affected by the Changing Climate?
(Chapter 10) 360
As Temperatures Warm, Making Greenland and Its
Resources More Accessible, How Is This Change
Affecting the Country’s Relationships with Foreign
Powers? (Chapter 11) 360
16 soCiAL CHAnGe 342 How Might the Changing Climate Affect Greenland’s
With emphasis on Changing environment Fertility Rate? (Chapter 12) 361
What Are Formal and Informal Ways People Come to
Social Change 343 Learn about Greenland and Its Changing Climate?
What Has Changed? 345 (Chapter 13) 362
Industrialization 345 How Is Religion Affecting Response to the Changing
Globalization 346 Climate in Greenland? (Chapter 14) 362
Rationalization 346 How Does Changing Climate Directly or Indirectly
The McDonaldization of Society 346 Affect the Size of Greenland’s Population?
Urbanization 348 (Chapter 15) 363
The Information Explosion 348
What Factors Trigger Change? 349
No Borders, No Boundaries Human Dependency
Innovations 349
on Fossil Fuels 344
Revolutionary Ideas 351
Conflict 352 Sociological Imagination What Is a Hydrocarbon
The Pursuit of Profit 352 Society? 347
Social Movements 353 Sociological Imagination Cultural Change in the
What Are the Consequences of Change? 355 Arctic 357
How Are People of Greenland Experiencing Climate
Change? (Chapter 1) 355
How Do Sociologists Frame a Discussion about
the Effects of Changing Climate on Greenland?
(Chapter 2) 356
How Is the Culture of Greenland’s Inuit and of Other
Arctic Peoples Changing Because of Climate
Change? (Chapter 3) 357
How Does Varying Experience with the
Effects of Climate Change Influence In-Group
and Out-Group Dynamics? (Chapter 4) 357
What Social Forces Push and Pull Greenlanders into Key Concepts 366
Transnational Relationships with People Who Live
in Other Countries? (Chapter 5) 358 References 377
Because of Climate Change, What New Formal Index 399
Organizations Have Emerged in Greenland?
(Chapter 6) 359
xiv Contents
B ox e s
Sociological Imagination Five Countries with Greatest Number and Percentage of People
Age 65 and Over 32
Seeing the Connection between Global and Local 6
Countries Where the Song “Gangnam Style” Topped Music
Mobile Phone Banking in India 18
Charts 48
Careers in Sociology 20
The Korean Wave 59
Human Brains, Robotic Limbs 26
U.S. Military Presence in 140 Countries 63
Transcultural Relationships 53
Countries with Ongoing Insurgencies, Civil War, and Other
In-Group and Out-Group Dynamics 69 Violent Conflicts 68
The Looking-Glass Self Applied to Israeli Soldiers 80 Small World Theory 100
The Power of Institutionalization 97 Countries without McDonald’s 114
Profile of Fast Food Service Workers 113 Transnational Corporations Considered Leaders in Industrial
Obedience to Authority 141 Food System 116
The Pervasiveness of Surveillance 145 Surveillance as a Global Business 128
The Three Dimensions of Cultural Capital 156 Ten Countries with the Highest Incarceration Rates in the
How Should Wealth Be Distributed in the United States? 160 World 133
The Personal Experience of Economic Restructuring 166 The Global Skin-Lightening Market 172
Learning to See Race 175 Largest Immigrant Groups to the United States 180
Selective Forgetting and Remembering 177 Largest Immigrant Groups to Brazil, 1550 to Present 181
Historic Events That Opened Opportunities for Women 217 Countries in Which Estée Lauder Offices Are Located 200
Can GDP Measure Economic Success? 235 Infosys Global Presence 224
Mohandas Gandhi 239 World Map of the British Empire and Commonwealth 228
Who Needs Care? 267 Percentage of Population Age 65 and Older 250
Lessons Conveyed Through Hidden Hidden Curriculum 279 Which Countries Produce the Best Readers? 274
Civil Religion in Times of War 306 Study Abroad Destinations 292
Personal Images of Jesus 308 “An Intensely Religious World” 298
Population Pyramids as Indicators of Health Care Needs Major Religions of the World 303
and Pressures 322 The Arab Spring 313
What is a Hydrocarbon Society? 347 Top Six Countries “Exporting” Registered Nurses
Cultural Change in the Arctic 357 to the United States 318
Physician Brain Drain 320
No Borders, No Boundaries Independence from Colonial Power 330
The Globalization and Glocalization of Oreo Cookies 4 Human Dependency on Fossil Fuels 344
Distribution of Industrial Robots by Region and Leading
Countries 27
PreFACe
In preparation to revise Sociology: A Global Perspective, I and out-groups passed on from one generation to the
reviewed the literature of globalization with the goal of next? How is loyalty to one group and hatred of another
assessing my textbook’s effectiveness at presenting soci- internalized? Of course, the answers to these questions
ology from a global perspective. I have always presented lie with socialization concepts. In a similar vein, the eco-
globalization as an ever-accelerating force pulling people, nomics and politics chapter (Chapter 11) is now retitled
groups, organizations, communities, and countries into “Economics and Politics: With Emphasis on India and
a web of transnational relationships. Likewise, I have Its IT Professionals.” That emphasis speaks to India’s role
always tried to convey that globalization is a social force in the global economy as a place that manages to deliver
that is experienced locally. And I have tried to be clear key players in the creation of digital technologies that are
that globalization—whether it be the globalization of driving globalization today.
a product like Oreo cookies or of a major religion like
Christianity—has roots in a local place from which it is New: Five chapters now give emphasis to technolo-
launched and then transplanted (with varying degrees gies driving globalization. There is no question that
of success) in countless number of other local settings technologies facilitate exchanges and collaborations
across the planet. among people who live in different countries. In fact,
In past editions, I sought to illustrate globalization digital and other technologies are key forces expand-
in its many forms by pairing each chapter topic with a ing and intensifying globalization’s reach. The five
specific country; for example, “Chapter 4—Socialization: chapters that give greatest emphasis to technology-
With Emphasis on Israel, West Bank, and Gaza” and driven forces are:
“Chapter 11—Economics with Emphasis on India.” People Chapter 2: Sociological Perspectives and Methods of
who are familiar with past editions of my book know that Research: With Emphasis on Social Robotics
the chapters were never really about a particular country
per se. Rather, that country was used as a vehicle to con- Chapter 5: Social Structure and Social Interaction: With
vey some dynamic underlying globalization. Because Emphasis on Transnational Relationships in a Digital Age
globalization is now more far reaching than when I first
conceived this textbook, I have chosen for this edition to Chapter 6: Formal Organization: With Emphasis on
pair each chapter with a key dynamic underlying globaliza- Industrial Food
tion. Those dynamics include transnational relationships,
Chapter 7: Deviance, Conformity, and Social Control:
mass surveillance, in-group/out-group relationships, and
With Emphasis on Mass Surveillance
the industrial food system.
To be more specific, Chapter 4 is now titled “Socializa- Chapter 11: Economic and Politics: With Emphasis on
tion: With Emphasis on In-Groups and Out-Groups.” In India and Its IT Professionals
previous editions, the emphasis was placed on Israel, West
Bank, and Gaza. This revised emphasis better reflects New: Eleven chapters give emphasis to other dynamics
the chapter’s original intent of using the 100-year-long underlying globalization. Chapter 1 now gives empha-
conflict between Palestinians and Israelis as a vehicle sis to the twin and inseparable forces of globalization and
for illustrating a global-wide dynamic that is fueled by glocalization. Other chapters emphasize transcultural
socialization. The sides in this and other such conflicts encounters and exchanges (culture), in-group and out-
are known largely through ethnic, racial, or national group dynamics (socialization), social mobility in the
labels (for example, Palestinians versus Israelis, or Indi- context of a global economy (social inequality), race as a
ans versus Pakistanis). Such differences by themselves are social construction (race), gender ideals in global market-
never the cause of civil wars and other conflicts. Rather, ing (gender), aging societies (family), social reproduction
the cause lies with efforts to control valued resources for (education), religion as a social force (religion), U.S. health
“us” and not “them.” So for a chapter on socialization, in global context (population and health care), and the
the key questions are: How is conflict between in-groups changing environment (social change).
xv
xvi Preface
New photo feature: “Taking Action” photos with cap-

tions that highlight creative and thoughtful responses
Mindtap™: the Personal Learning
to existing social arrangements. The sociological per- experience
spective encourages critical analysis of society. Although this
approach may help students develop critical thinking skills, it MindTap for Ferrante, Sociology: A Global Perspective, 9th
may not cultivate the skills needed to respond in constructive ed., from Cengage Learning represents a new approach
ways. These photos feature some constructive responses that to a highly personalized, online learning platform. A
challenge the status quo. For example, Chapter 6 includes a fully online learning solution, MindTap combines all of
photograph of a “Genetically Modified” label placed on food a student’s learning tools—readings, multimedia, activi-
product. The accompanying caption explains that the grass- ties, and assessments—into a singular Learning Path that
roots “Label It” campaign encourages citizens to self-label guides students through the introduction to sociology
products that are likely to contain genetically engineered course. Instructors personalize the experience by cus-
ingredients. Currently there are no laws in place requiring tomizing the presentation of these learning tools to their
corporations do inform consumers that a product contains students, even seamlessly introducing their own content
genetically modified ingredients. The “Label It” campaign into the Learning Path via “apps” that integrate into the
believes consumers have a right to know. Thus, if corpora- MindTap platform. Learn more at www.cengage.com
tions won’t label the products, the consumer will. /mindtap.
MindTap for Ferrante, Sociology: A Global Perspective,
New: “No Borders, No Boundaries” maps depict the 9th ed., features Aplia assignments, which help students
two forces of globalization and glocalization. On the learn to use their sociological imagination through com-
one hand, the maps illustrate the extent to which some- pelling content and thought-provoking questions. Students
thing has been globalized—that something might be complete interactive activities that encourage them to
the extent to which Oreo cookies or a religion such as think critically in order to practice and apply course con-
Islam been globalized. On the other hand, the maps also cepts. These valuable critical thinking skills help students
illustrate the places that are now considered part of that become thoughtful and engaged members of society. Aplia
globalization. The “No Borders, No Boundaries” map in for Sociology: A Global Perspective is also available as a stand-
Chapter 1, for example, highlights the largest and fastest alone product. Log in to CengageBrain.com to access Aplia
growing markets for Oreo cookies, a once local product for Sociology: A Global Perspective.
that can now be found in 100 countries. While these mar- MindTap for Ferrante, Sociology: A Global Perspective,
kets have embraced the cookies, many markets have altered 9th ed., is easy to use and saves instructors time by allow-
the cream filling flavors to fit local tastes. ing them to:
New “Sociological Imagination” boxes have been
● Seamlessly delivery appropriate content and technol-
revised and updated to allow students to place the indi-
ogy assets from a number of providers to students, as
vidual life within a larger social and global context. The
they need them.
“Sociological Imagination” boxes alert readers to consider
● Break course content down into movable objects to
how time and place shape the human biography. People’s
promote personalization, encourage interactivity, and
lives are a product of three interrelated factors: chance
ensure student engagement.
(things over which they have no control), choice (decisions
● Customize the course—from tools to text—and make
they make), and context (the larger social environment in
adjustments “on the fly,” making it possible to inter-
which they live their lives and that shape their perceived
twine breaking news into their lessons and incorporate
choices and the actual choices available). One example:
today’s teachable moments.
Today, the “choices” open to people who have lost limbs are
● Bring interactivity into learning through the integra-
much different than even a decade ago. Innovations in robot-
tion of multimedia assets (apps from Cengage Learning
ics have reached the point where humans can now use their
and other providers), numerous in-context exercises,
brain waves to move robotic limbs. Eventually, robotic limbs
and supplements; student engagement will increase,
will be capable of sending sensory feedback to the human
leading to better student outcomes.
brain. These developments change the context in which peo-
● Track students’ use, activities, and comprehension in
ple who have lost the use of limbs in accidents or who were
real time, which provides opportunities for early inter-
born without limbs (chance) now live their lives.
vention to influence progress and outcomes. Grades are
Streamlined content: In an effort to focus students’ atten- visible and archived so students and instructors always
tion on sociological processes (rather than specific countries), have access to current standings in the class.
I have scaled back interesting but, ultimately extraneous ● Assess knowledge throughout each section: after read-
details, as well as the number of charts and graphs, making ings, in activities, homework, and quizzes.
the text significantly shorter than previous editions. ● Automatically grade all homework and quizzes.
Preface xvii
Ancillary Materials from BBC Motion Gallery. Ask your Cengage Learning rep-
resentative for a list of contents.
Sociology: A Global Perspective is accompanied by a wide
array of supplements prepared to create the best possible
learning environment for both instructors and students, Acknowledgments
inside and outside the classroom.
The ninth edition builds on the efforts of those who
helped me with this and the previous eight editions. Three
instructor resources people stand out as particularly influential over the life
of this book: Sheryl Fullerton (the editor who signed this
book in 1988), Serina Beauparlant (the editor who saw
Online Test Bank. Written by Joan Ferrante, this the first and second editions through to completion), and
enhanced and updated test bank consists of 90 to 100 Chris Caldeira (the editor on the seventh edition, and
multiple-choice questions per chapter, all with answers, now a graduate student in the PhD sociology program at
page references, and question type (knowledge, com- the University of California-Davis who has served as the
prehension, or applied). The test bank also includes 4 to content consultant the past four years), Chris collaborated
5 critical thinking questions per chapter. with me to develop the revision plan for this ninth edi-
tion that is by any measure transformative in vision. She
PowerPoint Slides. Helping you make your lectures
has also contributed more than 100 photographs to this
more engaging while effectively reaching your visually ori-
edition. Chris introduced me to Emerald Nguyen, also a
ented students, these handy Microsoft® PowerPoint® slides
graduate student at UC Davis, who spent several hours con-
outline the chapters of the main text in a classroom-ready
sulting about transnational relationships. My conversation
presentation. The PowerPoint® slides are updated to reflect
with Emerald was very helpful to my writings related to
the content and organization of the new edition of the
Chapter 5 on social structure and social interaction.
text. Available for download on the password-protected
Another person who influenced my understanding of
instructor book companion website, the presentations can
culture over the life of the book and this edition is Bo-Kyung
also be obtained by e-mailing your local Cengage Learn-
Kirby. For this edition we had a number of important
ing representative.
conversations about Korean popular culture (K-pop) and
Cengage Learning Testing Powered by Cognero®. its global influence. Bo teaches Korean language classes
Cengage Learning Testing Powered by Cognero is a flexible, at NKU and the most common reason students give for
online system that allows you to author, edit, and manage enrolling is the desire to connect with Korean popular
test bank content from multiple Cengage Learning solu- culture which includes music and video games.
tions, and create multiple test versions in an instant. You For this and other editions, I have tried to include pho-
can deliver tests from your LMS, your classroom, or wher- tos that help bring sociological concepts to life. In this
ever you want—no special installs or downloads needed. regard, a number of colleagues and students have con-
tributed and taken photos especially for this edition. I am
Online Instructor’s Resource Manual. The instruc- grateful to all, and I have placed in parentheses the num-
tor’s manual offers instructors detailed chapter outlines, ber of photos each has contributed: Prince Brown (2), Chris
Teaching Tips that correspond with specific sections of the Brown (1), Chris Caldeira (104), Josh Ellingson (1), Katie
book, and background notes on each chapter’s country of Englert (1), Keith Farley (1), Missy Gish (34), Barbara
emphasis. Written by Joan Ferrante and Kristie Vise, the Houghton (2), Boni Li (4), Melissa Melugin (1), Mohammed
fully updated and revised manual will help you teach the Omar (2), Ella Rehman (1), Tony Rotundo (9), Terra
global perspective with confidence. Schulz (1), Lisa Southwick (9), Ester Tsang (1), Urbain
CourseReader. This customized online reader offers Ureel (3),Robert K. Wallace (5), and Tom Zaniello (1).
easy-to-use and affordable access to primary and second- Thanks also goes out to Katie Caputo for creating an image
ary sources, readings, and audio and video selections for of two birds–one “singing” and the other “weeping” depend-
your courses. CourseReader for Sociology helps you to stay ing on the cultural framework upon which one is drawing.
organized and facilitates convenient access to course mate- Of course, any revision plan depends on thoughtful,
rial, no matter where you are. constructive, and thorough reviewer critiques. In this
regard, I wish to extend my deepest appreciation to those
The Sociology Video Library Vol. I–IV: These DVDs who have reviewed this revision:
drive home the relevance of course topics through short,
Brian Aldrich, Winona State University
provocative clips of current and historical events. Perfect
for enriching lectures and engaging students in discussion, Yvonne Barry, John Tyler Community College
many of the segments on this volume have been gathered Wendy Dishman, Santa Monica College
xviii Preface
Loyd Ganey, Cochise College stress associated with meeting deadlines that very few
Lloyd Klein, York College people possess.
I must also thank Kristie Vise, my colleague at NKU,
Gerald Kloby, County College of Morris
who has collaborated with me for many editions now.
When only one name—the author’s—graces the cover of On this edition, she worked on the instructor’s manual.
this textbook, it is difficult to count just how many people Her daughter, Tyler Vise, a student at NKU, assisted me
were involved with its production. It is even more difficult with creating the index and Kristie’s mother, Jan Caputo,
to acknowledge each person’s contribution in the way he assisted me in the proofreading stages. It was clear to me
or she deserves. Some names appear in the most unassum- that Tyler inherited, or acquired through observation or
ing manner on the copyright page, belying the significant concerted cultivation her mother’s work ethic and atten-
role they played in shaping the book. Obviously the edition to detail. And it is also clear to me that Kristie’s has
tor on this edition—Seth Dobrin—and the developmen- been influenced in this same way by her mother.
tal editor—Erik Fortier—are key and valuable colleagues I wish to express my deepest appreciation to my mother,
who I work with in a very direct way. Perhaps the least Annalee Taylor Ferrante—who keeps my files, alerts me to
recognized of those named on the copyright pages are pro- news and other media reports that inform my thinking
duction editors. For this edition, I was fortunate to work and that help me in updating the text. My mother, who
with Cheri Palmer and Jill Traut, who take care of an over- is 84 years old, cooks full-course dinners for my husband
whelming number of details associated with the book, and me several times a week. The care with which she pre-
including coordinating the work of the copyeditor, photo pares food and the exquisite results have no parallel. This
researcher, designer, proofreader, author, and others into a is no easy feat in a world dominated by heavily processed
textbook ready to go to press. Both handled this pressure and prepackaged foods and ingredients.
in ways that seemed effortless. But then such a style is a As always, I also express my love for and gratitude to
sign of true professionals—making something very few my husband, colleague, and friend Robert K. Wallace
people can do seem effortless. who is without a doubt my greatest supporter. In clos-
Apart from the support I received from Cengage Learn- ing, I acknowledge, as I have done in all editions of this
ing on this updated and past editions, I also received ongo- and other books, the tremendous influence of Horatio C.
ing support and interest from many sociology faculty at my Wood IV, MD, on my academic career and philosophy of
university who have either read or used this textbook at education. Dr. Wood died on May 28, 2009. His death only
one time or another: Prince Brown, Jr. (emeritus professor), served to intensify the warmth and gratitude I continue to
Kris Hehn, Boni Li, J. Robert Lilly (who was my undergrad- feel for him. In reflecting on the important mentoring role
uate professor), Jamie McCauley, and Kristie Vise. Kristie Dr. Wood has played in my life, I cannot help but wonder
is now the co-author of the instructor’s resource manual. why there seem to be few, if any, explicit statements about
I am grateful that she has accepted this role. the deep emotions felt for those who have the greatest influ-
For the past four editions, I have had the privilege of ence on our work. The answer I suppose lies with difficulty
working with Missy Gish. Missy works behind the scenes in finding the words that do justice to the person and con-
taking photos for the book, updating tables and charts, vey such emotions. The emotions I felt for Dr. Wood were
checking references, and preparing chapters for produc- an important component of what was, by any measure, a
tion. On the surface, Missy’s job description may seem constructive relationship. These emotions allowed me to
simple, but I must emphasize that these tasks require an gauge his specialness, and they have given purpose, excite-
alertness, attention to detail, and ability to handle the ment, and direction to my learning, writing, and teaching.
Sociology
A Global Perspective
THE SOCIOLOGICAL
IMAGINATION
1
With Emphasis on Globalization
and Glocalization
Chris Caldeira
Study the photograph opening this chapter. Do you recognize any of the products in this floating con-
venience store? You might guess from the packaging that Oreo cookies are among the products on
board. The photo is interesting sociologically because it illustrates two important forces shaping our
daily lives: globalization and glocalization. It illustrates globalization because Oreo cookies, once a lo-
cal product sold only in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1912, are now sold throughout the United States and
in 100 countries. At the same time, the photo illustrates glocalization because we see the transplanta-
tion of a cookie once only found in Hoboken into a new local context, Halong Bay, Vietnam. While the
spread of Oreo cookies worldwide over the past century is an example of globalization, the process
by which the product is transplanted to countless local settings around the world is an example of
glocalization. Emphasis should be placed on the word transplanted because just as the body adapts to
an organ transplant, the people in local settings accept, modify, adapt to, and resist foreign items.
Why Focus On GlObalizatiOn and GlOcalizatiOn?

The bulk of our day-to-day living occurs in a physical space—a process by which a locality embraces, adapts to, or resists a product,
fishbowl—that can include our home, school, workplace, car, gym, an idea, or a way of behaving that have come to them in the cross-
place of worship, and other local spaces. Though we may have national flow. Glocalization is also the process by which something
traveled abroad and have relationships with people in distant unique to a locality such as a song like “Gangnam Style” or a Kentucky
places, the physical spaces in which we act are what we directly bourbon is launched on a path toward globalization.
experience. Yet much of what goes on in our daily lives is linked to Globalization and glocalization are intertwined because global-
global forces. The concepts of globalization and glocalization draw ization always involves a series of countless glocalizations. Simply
our attention to the intersection of the local and the global. consider that the woman rowing the floating convenience store
Globalization is the ever-increasing flow of goods, services, money, is part of just one of the countless localities to which the Oreo
people, technology, information, and other cultural items across na- cookie has made its way (see “No Borders, No Boundaries: The
tional borders. Emphasis should be placed on the words ever-increasing Globalization and Glocalization of Oreo Cookies”). As we will see,
because as these flows become more dense and fast moving, people sociology offers a conceptual framework to think about how the
have access to larger portions “of the total global cultural inventory” twin social forces of globalization and glocalization shape mean-
and to others across the globe (Hannerz 2006). Glocalization is the ings, identities, social relationships, and human activities.
d d j d d
Core ConCept 1 Sociology is the scientific study of product such as Oreo cookies, a revolutionary figure such
human activity in society. More specifically, it is the as Gandhi, a television show such as Sesame Street, a social
study of the social forces that influence or pressure movement such as LGBTQ, and processes like globalization
people to behave, respond, or think in certain ways.
Human activities include anything people do with, for,

and to others. It also includes any behaviors or thoughts globalization The ever-increasing flow of goods, services,
influenced by others. The human activities that sociologists money, people, technology, information, and other cultural items
study are age-old and too many to name but they include across national borders.
people searching for work, securing food, adorning the glocalization The process by which a locality embraces, adapts
body, competing for some desired outcome (a scholarship, to, or resists a product, an idea, a way of behaving that has come
love, victory), celebrating, consuming, and so on. Social to them in the cross-national flow. It is also when something
forces include anything humans create that influences or unique to locality is launched on a path toward globalization.
pressures people to behave, respond, or think in certain sociology The scientific study of human activity in society.
ways. Social forces can include technologies such as smart- social forces Anything humans create or take notice of that
phones; shared ideals such as freedom of speech; established influences or pressures people to interact, behave, respond, or
practices such as the eight-hour workday, a manufactured think in certain ways.
no Borders, no Boundaries The Globalization
and Glocalization of Oreo Cookies
The case of Oreo cookies shows how expanding market the countries that count among the largest markets. The map
share creates a global economy. The first Oreo cookie was also shows the countries that are counted among the fastest
sold in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1912. One hundred years growing. Oreo cookies have a Facebook page with 32 million
later, the product is sold in 100 countries. This map shows “followers” in more than 200 countries (Kraft Foods 2012).
Oreo cookie with

green tea–flavored
cream filling
Three different
chocolate cream
fillings in the
same Oreo Strawberry,
blueberry cream
filling, orange
cream filling
Strawberry and
vanilla, banana and
dulce de leche
© Cengage Learning 2015

cream filling
Fastest-growing markets
Largest markets
Fastest-growing and largest markets
Figure 1.1 Countries with Largest- and Fastest-Growing Markets for Oreo Cookies
Source of data: Kraft Foods (2012).
and glocalization. This textbook gives special attention to A biography consists of all the day-to-day activities from
the twin social forces of globalization and glocalization birth to death that make up a person’s life. From a socio-
because together they shape virtually every aspect of our logical point of view, people’s biographies are shaped in
daily lives. In fact, as we will learn later in this chapter, from large part by remote and impersonal social forces. Social
the time sociology as a field of study was founded until the forces are considered remote and impersonal when people
present, the forces of globalization and glocalization have impacted by them had no hand in creating them. As a case
always captured the imagination of sociologists. in point, think about the technology that is likely to matter
most to you—your smartphone. That technology matters
The Sociological Imagination because it has revolutionized, on a global scale, the way
we communicate and share information. The smartphone
has had a dramatic impact on behavior and relationships
Core ConCept 2 The sociological imagination is
with others because, among other things, it allows peo-
a quality of mind that allows people to grasp how
ple to instantly engage with others, access information,
remote and impersonal social forces shape their life
and attend to needs from afar (to start a car for a family
story or biography.
member who lost his keys, to check on pets or people, to
bank, shop, and much more). Although virtually everyone
sociological imagination A quality of mind that allows people who uses smartphones had no direct involvement in their
to see how remote and impersonal social forces shape their life invention and development, they become a part of the
story or biography. smartphone revolution every time they use it. The point
biography All the day-to-day activities from birth to death that is that as people respond to social forces in their lives,
make up a person’s life. they become part of that force. People can embrace social
4
The Sociological Imagination 5
forces, challenge them or be swept along or bypassed by

them (see “Sociological Imagination: Seeing the Connec-
tion between Global and Local”).
troubles and issues

Core ConCept 3 The sociological imagination cul-
tivates the ability to distinguish between troubles
and issues. The causes of troubles lie with individual
shortcomings. The causes of issues can be traced to
larger social forces that transcend any individual’s
Chris Caldeira
effort and ability.
C. Wright Mills (1959) defines troubles as personal needs,

problems, or difficulties brought on by individual short-
comings related to motivation, attitude, ability, character,
or judgment. The resolution of a trouble, if it can indeed be
resolved, lies in changing the individual in some way. To find
relief for a trouble, we properly look to person’s character,
skills, and immediate opportunities (that is, we think, “She
is lazy,” “He has a bad attitude,” “He didn’t try very hard in
school,” or “She had the opportunity but didn’t take it”).
By comparison, an issue is a matter that can be explained
only by factors outside an individual’s control and immedi-
ate environment. Mills states that when only one man or
woman is unemployed in a city of 100,000, that situation is
Chris Caldeira
his or her personal trouble. But when 24 million men and

women are unemployed or underemployed in a nation with
a workforce of 156 million, that situation is an issue. Clearly,
we cannot hope to solve this kind of employment crisis by From a profit-making point of view, the 1.6 million drivers who haul
focusing on the character flaws of 24 million individuals. large loads and the 1.3 million who drive delivery trucks just in the
According to Mills, an accurate description of an issue such United States alone (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2013) represent
“costs” of delivering a product from one destination to another. As
as widespread unemployment requires us to think beyond
driverless technology is perfected, we can anticipate that the jobs
personal shortcomings of the unemployed and to consider of truck drivers will eventually disappear. Obviously, this job loss is
the underlying larger social forces that created it. not the result of personal failure or shortcomings. From a socio-
With regard to unemployment, we must remember that logical point of view, the profit-making model that drives capitalist
corporate success is measured by ever-increasing profit mar- economies to reduce labor costs must be addressed.
gins. Profits increase when labor costs are lowered, which
can be achieved through laying off employees, downsiz- about “what is going on in the world and what may be hap-
ing the workforce, transferring jobs from higher-wage to pening within themselves” (p. 5). The payoff for those who
lower-wage areas of the world, and otherwise finding ways possess a sociological imagination is that they can better
to reduce time and wages needed to produce a product or understand their own experiences and fate by locating
deliver a service. themselves in a larger historical, cultural, and social con-
In The Sociological Imagination, C. Wright Mills (1959) text, that they become aware of the many individuals who
asks, “Is it any wonder that ordinary people feel they share their situations, and that they can plan a constructive
cannot cope with the larger worlds with which they are response to larger social forces impacting their lives.
so suddenly confronted?” (pp. 4–5). Is it any wonder that
people often feel trapped by the larger social forces that
affect them? As Mills pointed out, we live in a world in
which information dominates our attention and over-
whelms our capacity to make sense of all we hear, see,
and read every day. Consequently, we may be exhausted troubles Personal needs, problems, or difficulties brought on by
by the struggle to learn from that information available to individual shortcomings related to motivation, attitude, ability,
us about the forces that shape our daily lives. According to character, or judgment.
Mills, people need the sociological imagination, “a quality issue A matter that can be explained only by factors outside an
of mind that will help them to use information” to think individual’s control and immediate environment.
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and nothing shall remain but the base and dreadful memory to
torture awakening conscience with the pangs of an unquenchable
remorse.[221]
A fresh perplexity as to the goodness and justice of God is here
raised by Timon, who cannot see that it is in harmony with these
divine qualities that the sins of the fathers should, as Euripides
complained, be visited upon the children.[222] The punishment of the
innocent is no compensation for the escape of the guilty. God, in this
case, would be like Agathocles, the tyrant of Syracuse, who ravaged
Corcyra because the Homeric Corcyreans had given a welcome to
Odysseus, and retorted the blinding of the mythical Cyclops upon the
Ithacensians when they complained that his soldiers had looted their
sheepfolds. “Where, indeed,” asks Timon, “is the reason and justice
of this?”[223] Plutarch can only reply that, if the descendants of
Hercules and Pindar are held in honour on account of the deeds of
their progenitors, there is nothing illogical in the descendants of a
wicked stock being punished. But he knows that he is on difficult
ground, and repeats the Academic caution against too much
dogmatism in these intricate matters. He falls back upon natural
causes here, as if seeking to exonerate the Deity from direct
responsibility for a striking injustice. An hereditary tendency to
physical disease is possible, and may be transmitted from ancestors
who lived far back in antiquity. Why should we marvel more at a
cause operating through a long interval of time, than through a long
interval of space? If Pericles died, and Thucydides fell sick, of a
plague that originated in Arabia, why is it strange that the Delphians
and Sybarites should be punished for the offences of their
ancestors?[224] Moreover, a city is a continuous entity with an
abiding personality; just as child, and boy, and man are not different
persons, but are unified by the consciousness of identity;—nay, less
marked changes take place in a city than in an individual. A man
would know Athens again after thirty years of absence, but a far
shorter period serves to obliterate the likenesses of our personal
acquaintance. A city rejoices in the glory and splendour of its ancient
days; it must also bear the burden of its ancient ignominies. And if a
city has this enduring personality which makes it a responsible agent
throughout its existence, the members of the same family are much
more intimately connected. There would, therefore, have been less
injustice inflicted had the posterity of Dionysius been punished by the
Syracusans than was perpetrated by their ejection of his dead body
from their territories. For the soul of Dionysius had left his body, but
the sons of wicked fathers are often dominated by a good deal of
their parents’ spirit.[225]
We are conscious of some artificial straining of the argument in
this place, and shortly perceive that the mention of the soul of
Dionysius is intended to prepare the way for a discussion on the
immortality of the soul. Plutarch cannot believe that the gods would
show so much protective care for man—would give so many oracles,
enjoin so many sacrifices and honours for the dead—if they knew
that the souls of the dead perished straightway, leaving the body like
a wreath of mist or smoke, as the Epicureans believed.[226] He
shrinks from the thought that the Deity would take so much account
of us, if our souls were as brief in their bloom as the forced and
delicate plants that women grow in their fragile flower-pots, their
short-lived Gardens of Adonis. He is convinced that the belief in the
after-existence of the soul stands or falls with the belief in the
Providence of God.[227] If there is a Providence, there is existence
after death; and if there is existence after death, then there is
stronger reason for supposing that every soul receives its due
reward or punishment for its life on Earth. But here Plutarch, after
just touching one of the cardinal principles of Christian teaching, the
dogma of Heaven and Hell, starts away from the consequence which
almost seems inevitable, and which Christianity accepted to the full
—the belief that our life here should be modelled in relation to the
joys and penalties that await us in the other world. He clearly
believed that their ethical effect upon life is small.[228] The rewards
and punishments of the soul hereafter are nothing to us here.
Perhaps we do not believe them, and in any case we cannot be
certain that they will come. This is the position at which Plutarch
arrives in the course of rational argument, and he at once returns to
the sphere of our present life to find surer sanctions for goodness.
Such punishments as are inflicted in this world on the descendants
of an evil race are conspicuous to all that come hereafter, and deter
many from wickedness. Besides, God does not punish
indiscriminately. He has a watchful care even over the children of
those who have been notorious for evildoing, and instead of delaying
the punishment in their case, early checks their hereditary
disposition to vice by appropriate restraints born of His intimate
knowledge of the character and inclination of the human heart. But if,
in spite of this, a man persists in the sinful courses of his ancestors,
it is right that he should inherit their punishment as he has inherited
their crimes.
The dialogue concludes with a myth of the type of Er the
Armenian, in which, after the manner of Plato, Plutarch embodies
views on the state of the soul after death, for which no place could
be found in the rational argumentation of mere prose. Thespesius of
Soli, an abandoned profligate, has an accident which plunges him
into unconsciousness for three days. In this period his soul visits the
interstellar spaces, where the souls of the dead are borne along in
various motion; some wailing and terror-struck; others joyous and
delighted; some like the full moon for brightness; others with faint
blemishes or black spots like snakes. Here, in the highest place, was
Adrastea, the daughter of Zeus and Ananke, from whom no criminal
could hope ever to escape. Three kinds of justice are her
instruments. Poena is swift to punish, chastising those whose sin
can be expiated while they are still on earth. Those whose
wickedness demands severer penalties are reserved for Justice in
the afterworld. The third class of sinners, the irretrievably bad, are
cast by Justice into the hands of Erinnys, “the third and most terrible
of the servants of Adrastea,” who pursues them as they wander
hither and thither in reckless flight, and finally thrusts them all with
pitiless severity into a place of unspeakable darkness.[229] In these
acts of immortal justice the soul is bared utterly, and her sins and
crimes are relentlessly exposed. All this is explained to Thespesius
by a kinsman who recognizes him. He is then shown various
wonders of the afterworld: the place of Oblivion, a deep chasm by
which Dionysus and Semele had ascended into heaven, above
which the souls hovered in rapture and mirth, caused by the
fragrance of the odours which were breathed by a soft and gentle air
that issued from the “pleasing verdure of various herbs and plants”
which adorned the sides of this wonderful chasm. He sees the light
of the Tripod of the Delphic oracle, or would have seen it had he not
been dazzled with the excess of its brightness; and hears the voice
of the Pythia uttering various oracles. Then follow Dantesque scenes
of the punishments allotted to various kinds of wickedness, among
which it is interesting to note that hypocrisy is tortured with greater
severity than open vice. A lake of boiling gold, a lake of frozen lead,
a lake of iron, with attendant Dæmons to perform the usual
functions, are allotted to the punishment of avarice.[230] But the most
terrible fate is that of those whose punishment never ends, who are
constantly retaken into the hands of Justice; and these, it is
important to note, in the light of the argument which preceded the
story, are those whose posterity have been punished for their
transgressions. We can see how little Plutarch is satisfied with his
own reasonings on this point; they are, as Wyttenbach says, acutius
quam verius dicta: the punishment of the children for the sins of the
fathers clearly leaves the advantage, so far as concerns this world,
on the side of the transgressors. Plutarch, with his firmly pious belief
in the justice and goodness of God, feels driven to assert that the
balance must be redressed somewhere, and he invokes the aid of
Myth to carry him, in this case, whither Reason refuses to go; and
taking the myth as a whole, and in relation to the tract in which it is
embodied, we cannot doubt that its object is to enforce that doctrine
of rewards and punishments in the Hereafter, from which Plutarch,
as we have seen, shrinks when an occasion arises for pressing it
from the standpoint of Reason. The punishments which Thespesius
has witnessed in his visit to the Afterworld have the effect of turning
him into a righteous man in this world, and Plutarch clearly hopes
that the story will likewise convince those who are not convinced by
his reasons. We may gather, however, that inclined as he was to
believe that the providence of God extended into the Afterworld, his
attitude, as fixed by reason and probability, is summed up in the
words already referred to—“Such rewards or punishments as the
soul receives for the actions of its previous career are nothing to us
who are yet alive, being disregarded or disbelieved.”[231] But
whatever may be the condition of the soul after death, and its
relation to the Deity in that condition, Plutarch has made it quite
certain that he believes in the goodness of God as safeguarding the
interests of humanity in this world. It is clear in every part of this
interesting dialogue that the God whom Plutarch believes in is a
personal deity, a deity full of tender care for mankind, supreme,
indeed, by virtue of his omnipotence and justice, but supreme also
by virtue of his infinite patience and mercy.[232]
CHAPTER VI.
Plutarch’s Dæmonology—Dæmonology as a means of reconciliation between the
traditional Polytheism and philosophic Monotheism—Dæmonlore in Greek
philosophers and in the popular faith—Growth of a natural tendency to identify
the gods of the polytheistic tradition with the Dæmons—Emphasis thus given
to the philosophic conception of the Deity—Dæmons responsible for all the
crude and cruel superstitions attaching to the popular gods—Function of the
Dæmons as mediators between God and man.
How, then, does Plutarch reconcile this lofty conception of a Deity

who is Unity, Eternity, and Supreme Intelligence, with the multitude of
individual deities which form so essential a part of the “hereditary
Faith” of Græco-Roman civilization, and which are universally
admitted as displaying qualities discrepant from even a far lower
notion of God than that which Plutarch actually maintained? Further,
since the Empire includes other nationalities than the Greeks, and
the Roman Pantheon is not the exclusive habitation of native-born
deities, how shall he find a place in his theological scheme for the
gods of other peoples, so that there may be that Catholic Unity in
faith which shall correspond to the one political dominion under
which the world dwells in so great a peace and concord?
The difficulty of reconciling Polytheism with philosophic
Monotheism was, of course, not new. In earlier days it had been
necessary for philosophers to secure their monotheistic speculations
from the charge of Atheism by finding in their systems a dignified
position for the popular gods. And even those philosophers who
sincerely believed in the existence of beings corresponding to the
popular conceptions felt the need of accounting, in some more or
less specious way, for the ill deeds that were traditionally attributed
to so many of them. The ancient doctrine of Dæmons, emanating
from some obscure source in Antiquity,[233] had been adopted by the
Pythagoreans in the latter sense,[234] while Plato, who believed in
none of these things, had, on one or two occasions, by the use of
philosophic “myth” replete with more than Socratic irony, described
these beings as playing a part between God and man which might
be tolerantly regarded as not greatly dissimilar from that popularly
assigned to the lesser deities of the Hellenic Olympus.[235] In the
“Statesman,” the creation-myth, to which the Stranger invites the
younger Socrates to give his entire attention, “like a child to a story,”
describes how the Deity himself tended men and was their protector,
while Dæmons had a share, after the manner of shepherds, in the
superintendence of animals according to genera and herds.[236]
Another story which Socrates, in the “Banquet,” says that he heard
from Diotima, that wonderful person who postponed the Athenian
plague for ten years, tells how Eros is a great Dæmon; how
Dæmons are intermediate between gods and mortals; how the race
of Dæmons interpret and transmit to the gods the prayers and
sacrifices of men, and interpret and transmit to men the answers and
commands of the gods.[237] For God, we are told, is not directly
associated with man; but it is through the mediation of the Dæmons,
who are many and various, that all communion and converse take
place between the human and the Divine.
But apart altogether from the philosophic use of Dæmonology,
there are evidences that the belief in Dæmons was held in some sort
of loose combination with the popular polytheistic faith. The Hesiodic
poems were a compendium of early Hellenic theology,[238] and
Hesiod, according to Plutarch himself, was the first to indicate with
clearness and distinctness the existence of four species of rational
beings—gods, dæmons, heroes, and men.[239] In the passage of
Hesiod referred to (Works and Days, 109 sqq.) two kinds of
Dæmons are described. The dwellers in the Golden Age are
transformed, after their sleep-like death on earth, into Terrestrial
Dæmons:—
“When earth’s dark breast had closed this race around,

Great Jove as demons raised them from the ground;
Earth-hovering spirits, they their charge began,
The ministers of good, and guards of man.
Mantled with mist of darkling air they glide,
And compass earth and pass on every side;
And mark, with earnest vigilance of eyes,
Where just deeds live, or crookèd wrongs arise.”[240]
They are virtuous, holy beings, endowed with immortality—“Jove’s

immortal guardians over mortal men.”[241] The races of the Silver
Age become Subterranean powers, blessed beings, but inferior in
honour to the former class, and distinctly described as mortal.[242]
Hesiod says nothing about Evil Dæmons, although the
disappearance of the Brazen Race furnished an opportunity for their
introduction into his scheme of supernatural beings. But once the
existence of beings inferior to the gods in the celestial hierarchy
obtained a recognition in popular tradition, however vague the
recognition might be, the conception would tend to gather strength
and definiteness from the necessity, first expressed by the
philosophers, but doubtless widely spread among the people, of
safeguarding the sanctity of the gods, while at the same time
recognizing the substantial validity of tradition. This tendency would
be also probably aided by the fact that in Homer, as Plutarch points
out, and in the dramatists and prose writers generally, as is well
known, the designations of “gods” and “dæmons” were mutually
interchanged.[243] Plutarch, at all events, who boldly uses the
Dæmons to perform such functions, and to bear the blame for such
actions, as were inappropriate to the divine character, is enabled to
make one of his dramatis personæ—Cleombrotus, the traveller, who
was specially devoted to the study of such matters—assert that “it
can be demonstrated by unexceptionable testimony from antiquity
that there do exist beings of a nature intermediate between that of
God and man, beings subject to mortal passions and liable to
inevitable changes, but whom we must, in accordance with the
established custom of our fathers, regard and invoke as Dæmons,
giving them all due reverence.”[244] It is natural, therefore, in the light
of these indications, to believe that, side by side with the popular
gods, there existed, in the popular imagination, subordinate beings
of two kinds, both described as Dæmons: the first class comprising
the good and benevolent Dæmons of Hesiod, the second including
Dæmons of an evil character and disposition, the belief in which had
developed naturally out of the Hesiodic conception, from the
necessity of fixing the responsibility of evil deeds on supernatural
beings different in nature from the purity and goodness of Deity.[245]
Such a classification of supernatural beings—gods, Dæmons, and
evil Dæmons—could not, of course, be rigidly maintained; the more
the good Dæmons were discriminated from their evil brethren, the
more they would tend to become identified with the gods of the
popular tradition, and the line of demarcation between the divine and
the dæmonic nature would be broken down,[246] Dæmons and gods
would be identified, and the splendour and purity of the Supreme
God of all would shine out more fully when contrasted with those
other gods, who, after all, were only Dæmons. Such, at least, is the
process which appears to be taking place in the numerous
contributions which Plutarch makes to the subject of Dæmonology.
He is evidently a sincere believer in the existence of Dæmons, not a
believer in the Platonic sense, and not a believer merely because he
wishes to come to terms with popular ideas. But the final result, so it
appears to us, is that the popular gods become identified with
Dæmons, and are prepared, even in Pagan times, to take that
position which was assigned to them with such whole-hearted
sincerity by the early Christian Fathers;[247] to become the fiends
and devils and sprites of another dispensation; to aid Saladin in
excluding the Crusaders from the Holy Land; to “drink beer instead
of nectar” as day labourers in German forests; or to shine with a
sinister splendour on the lives of monks and peasants in the rural
districts of France.[248]
Plutarch gives emphatic indications of his own attitude on the
subject by drawing attention to such expressions of the earlier
philosophers as pointed to the recognition of two opposite
descriptions of Dæmons—the virtuous and the vicious. In one place,
as we have seen, he admits that Homer does not distinguish
between the terms “Gods” and “Dæmons,” and in his historical
résumé of Dæmonology in the “Isis and Osiris,”[249] he is compelled
to make a parallel admission that the Homeric epithet derived from
Dæmons is indiscriminately applied to good and bad actions. He
makes this admission, however, the basis of a subtle conclusion to
the effect that Homer wished to imply that the Dæmons had a
confused and ill-defined character, involving the existence of both
good and bad specimens of the race. Nothing definitely
distinguishing between the two sorts of Dæmons is to be obtained
from Plato,[250] and Plutarch accordingly dwells with special
emphasis upon the views of Empedocles and Xenocrates, who
maintained, the one, that Dæmons who had been guilty of sins of
commission or omission were driven about between earth and sky
and sea and sun, until this purifying chastisement restored them to
their natural position in the dæmonic hierarchy;[251] the other, that
certain disgraceful and ill-omened sacrificial observances “are not
properly connected with the worship of the gods or of good
Dæmons,[252] but that there are surrounding us certain beings, great
and potent, but malignant too, and hateful, who rejoice in such
repulsive ceremonies, and are thereby restrained from the
perpetration of greater evils.” Democritus and Chrysippus are
elsewhere quoted as supporters of the same view.[253]
Plutarch, accordingly, faithful to his principle of making Philosophy
Mystagogue to Religion, has obtained from the philosophers a
conviction that there are two kinds of dæmonic beings, two sets of
supernatural characters with attributes inferior to those of the Divine
Nature, and yet superior to those displayed by the human family. It
has already been shown how naturally the good Dæmons would
tend to become identified with the gods: a passage has just been
quoted in which we can see this process of identification taking
place. But Plutarch furnishes still more emphatic testimony to the
necessity of such a consummation.
The group of philosophers gathered together at Delphi to discuss
the cessation of the oracles have fallen into an argument on the
nature of Dæmons, and certain considerations have been introduced
which indicate a liability to vice and death as inherent in their nature.
This conclusion shocks one of the speakers, but the pious
Cleombrotus wants to know in what respect Dæmons will differ from
gods if they are endowed with immortality and immunity from sin.[254]
It is most significant, however, that the famous and beautiful story
which Cleombrotus tells in support of his belief in the mortality of
Dæmons, the story of the death of “the great Pan,” is actually
concerned with an announcement of the death of one whom the
popular faith accepted as a deity.[255] Demetrius, who had just come
from Britain, near which were many scattered desert islands, some
of them named after Dæmons and heroes, gives an authentic
account of the death of a Dæmon in the island of Anglesea.[256]
Cleombrotus then shows how a belief in the nativity and mortality of
the Dæmons is not unknown in Greek philosophy, “for the Stoics,”
says he, “maintain this view, not only with regard to the Dæmons but
also with regard to the gods—holding one for the Eternal and
Immutable, while regarding the remainder to have been born, and to
be subject to death.”[257] The whole course of the argument, even
though the speakers are represented as unconscious of the fact,
leads to the identification of the popular deities with the Dæmons.
This strain of thought elsewhere loses the unconscious quality, and
becomes as definitely dogmatic as Plutarch’s Academic bent of mind
would allow. In the “Isis and Osiris,” for example, he argues for the
probability of the view which assigns the legends of these two deities
not to gods or men, but to Dæmons;[258] and proceeds still further to
breach the partition wall between the two natures by introducing into
his Dæmonology such legends as have raised Osiris and Isis, on
account of their virtue, from the rank of good Dæmons to that of the
gods,[259] and describes them as receiving everywhere the
combined honours of gods and Dæmons; and he appropriates the
argument to Greek religion by comparing this promotion to those of
Herakles and Dionysus; by identifying Isis with Proserpine, and
subsequently Osiris with Dionysus.[260]
But whatever may have been the views explicitly maintained by
Plutarch in this connexion, it is his constant practice to shift on to the
shoulders of the Dæmons the responsibility for all those legends,
ceremonies, and practices, which, however appropriate and
necessary parts of the national faith they may be, are yet
inconsistent with the qualities rightly attributable to Deity.[261] We
have already noticed his unwillingness to impugn the immutability of
the Creator by regarding His essence as capable of metamorphosis
into the phenomena of the created world.[262] “It is,” says Ammonius,
“the function of some other god to do and suffer these changes—or,
rather, of some Dæmon appointed to direct Nature in the processes
of generation and destruction.” This relationship of the Dæmons to
the supreme power as conceived by philosophy is more completely
stated in the short tract, “De Fato,”[263] where we are told that (1)
there is a first and supreme Providence which is the intelligence of
the First Deity, or, as one may regard it, His benevolent will towards
all creatures, in accordance with which all divine things universally
received the most admirable and perfect order; (2) the second
Providence is that of the second gods, who move through the sky, by
which human affairs are duly ordered, including those relating to the
permanence and preservation of the various species; (3) the third
Providence may properly be regarded as the superintendence of the
Dæmons who are situated near the earth, observing and directing
the actions of men. But, as we have already noted, this formal
distinction between (2) and (3) is not maintained in practice.
Cleombrotus, who knows more about these things than most people,
insists that it is not possible that the gods could have been pleased
with festivals and sacrifices, “at which there are banquets of raw
flesh and victims torn in pieces, as well as fastings and loud
lamentations, and often ‘foul language, mad shrieks, and tossing of
dishevelled hair,’” but that all such dread observances must have
had the object of pacifying the anger of the mischievous Dæmons.
[264] It was not to the gods that human sacrifices were welcome; it
was not Artemis who demanded the slaughter of Iphigenia;[265]

these were the deeds of “fierce and violent Dæmons,” who also
perpetrated those many rapes, and inflicted those pestilences and
famines which are anciently attributed to the gods. “All the rapes
here, and the wanderings there, that are celebrated in legends and
sacred hymns, all the hidings and flights and servitudes, do not
belong to the gods, but represent the chances and changes incident
to the careers of Dæmons.” It was not “holy Apollo” who was
banished from Heaven to serve Admetus;—but here the speech
comes to an end with a rapid change of subject, as if Cleombrotus
shrinks from the assertion that a Dæmon was the real hero of an
episode with which so many beautiful and famous legends of the
“hereditary Faith” were connected. When some of the most
celebrated national myths concerning the gods are assigned to
Dæmons, we are not far away from the identification of the former
with the latter, and the consequent degradation of the gods to the
lower rank. It is true that the various speakers on the subject do not,
in so many words, identify the Dæmons with the gods of the
Mythology.[266] They deprive the gods of many of their attributes,
and give them to the Dæmons; they deprive them of others, and give
them to the One Eternal Deity. It is difficult to see how the Gods
could maintain their existence under this twofold tendency of
deprivation, supported as they might be by formal classifications
which assigned them a superior place. Even the Father of Gods and
Men—the Zeus of Homer—turns his eyes “no very great way ahead
from Troy to Thrace and the nomads of the Danube, but the true
Zeus gazes upon beauteous and becoming transformations in many
worlds.”[267] To contrast the Zeus “of Homer” with the “true” Zeus is
to do little else than to place the former in that subordinate rank
proper not to the Divine, but to the Dæmonic character. Plutarch is
perfectly consistent in applying this method of interpretation to the
gods of other nations no less than to the gods of Greece. In the “Isis
and Osiris,” he inclines to the belief that these great Egyptian Deities
are themselves only Dæmons, although he refuses to dogmatize on
the point, and gives a series of more or less recognized explanations
of the Egyptian myth. He cannot refrain, however, from using so
appropriate an occasion of denouncing the absurdity of the Greeks
in imputing so many terrible actions and qualities to their gods—“For
the legends of Giants and Titans, handed down among the Greeks,
the monstrous deeds of Cronus, the battle between Pytho and
Apollo, the flight of Dionysus, the wanderings of Demeter, fall not
behind the stories told of Osiris and Typhon, and other legends that
one may hear recounted by mythologists without restraint.”[268]
Such, then, is the relation in which the Dæmons stand to the
Divine nature: they are made the scapegoat for everything obscene,
cruel, selfish, traditionally imputed to the gods; and the Supreme
Deity rises more conspicuously lofty for its freedom from everything
that can tend to drag it down to the baseness of human passions.
For Plutarch makes it very clear that it is the human element in these
mixed natures that originates their disorderly appetites. Although the
Dæmons “exceed mankind in strength and capacity, yet the divine
element in their composition is not pure and unalloyed, inasmuch as
it participates in the faculties of the soul and the sensations of the
body, is liable to pleasure and pain, and to such other conditions as
are involved in these vicissitudes of feeling, and bring disturbance
upon all in a greater or less degree.”[269] It is by virtue of this
participation in the “disturbing” elements of human nature that they
are fitted to play that part between God and man which Plutarch,
after Plato, calls the “interpretative” and the “communicative.”[270]
This enables the Dæmons to play a loftier part than that hitherto
assigned them; to respond, in fact, to that universal craving of
humanity for some mediator between their weakness and the eternal
splendour and perfection of the Highest. The whole question of
inspiration and revelation, both oracular and personal, is bound up
with the Dæmonic function, and to both these spheres of its
operation, the public and the private, Plutarch gives the fullest and
most earnest consideration. Previous, therefore, to discussing this
aspect of the Dæmonic character and influence, it will be necessary
to ascertain what were Plutarch’s views on the subject of inspiration
and prophecy, and what was his attitude to that question of
Divination which exercised so great a fascination on the mind of
antiquity.
CHAPTER VII.
Necessity for a Mediator between God and Man partly met by Oracular Inspiration
—General failure of Oracles in the age of Plutarch—Plutarch’s “Delphian
Essays”—The De Pythiæ Oraculis: nature of Inspiration: oracles not
verbally inspired—The De Defectu Oraculorum—Various explanations of
Inspiration—Plutarch inclines to accept that which assumes an original Divine
afflatus placed under the superintendence of Dæmons, whose activities are
subject to the operation of natural causes.
An age which attempts to reinvigorate its own ethical life by

draughts of inspiration from springs hallowed by their duration from
an immemorial antiquity, will naturally regret that currents, which
once ran full, now flow no longer in their early strength, but have
dwindled to insignificant rills, or are dried up altogether in their
courses. And there is no source of religious inspiration so greatly
held in honour as that which comes from the communication of
mankind with the Divine Being.[271] Visions, dreams, incantations,
inspired writings, omens, and prophecies have been valued as
means of bringing man into communication with God, and as
furnishing an unerring way of indicating the Divine will to humanity.
But it would be difficult to mention any institution or practice having
this ostensible aim which has had such absolute sway over the
minds of those who came within reach of its influence, as the group
of oracles which were celebrated in the ancient Hellenic world. It is
no wonder, therefore, that in the age of Plutarch the present silence
of the oracles was a common topic of speculation, of anxious alarm
to the pious, of ribald sarcasm to the profane. Juvenal[272] satirically
describes the meaner methods which the cessation of the Oracle at
Delphi has imposed upon those who yet wish to peer through the
gloom that hides the future. Lucan laments the loss which his
degenerate time suffers from this cause: “non ullo secula dono
Nostra carent majore Deum, quam Delphica sedes Quod siluit;”[273]
and speculates as to the probable reason for the failure of the
ancient inspiration.[274] That Plutarch should have shown solicitude
on this aspect of the ancient faith is natural, and one cannot but be
grateful that the chances of time have preserved the exhaustive
tracts in which he and his friends are represented as discussing
various questions connected with the inspiration of the Delphic
Oracle, and the manner in which this inspiration was conveyed to
humanity. No extant work gives us so intelligible and natural an
explanation of the significance which oracular institutions possessed
for the ancient world, nor so close an insight into the workings of the
minds of educated men at one of the most important periods of
human history, in face of one of the most interesting and, perhaps,
most appalling of human problems. We have already made copious
quotations from the two tracts in question; we now propose to use
them mainly for the light which they cast on the question of oracular
inspiration. We refer to the tracts known as the “De Pythiæ Oraculis”
and the “De Defectu Oraculorum.” These two tracts (together with
the one entitled the “De Ε apud Delphos”)[275] purport to be reports
of conversations held by philosophical friends and acquaintances of
Plutarch at the shrine of Apollo at Delphi.
The dialogue, briefly called “On the Pythian Responses,” deals, as
the Greek title indicates, with the fact that the Pythia at Delphi no
longer uses verse as the instrument of her inspired utterances. It
takes the form of a conversation in the Delphic temple, between
Philinus, Diogenianus, Theon, Serapion, and Boethus—the first of
whom reports the conversation to his friend Basilocles, who has
grown quite weary of waiting while the rest of the party conduct
Diogenianus, a visitor, on a tour of inspection among the sacred
offerings in the Temple.[276] Philinus[277] tells how “after the Ciceroni
(οἱ περιηγηταὶ) had gone through their wonted programme,
disregarding our requests that they would cut short their formal
narratives and their explanations of most of the inscriptions,” the
conversation had turned by a series of natural gradations from the
interesting objects, that so strongly attracted the attention of visitors,
to the medium through which the oracles of the God had been
conveyed to humanity.[278] Diogenianus had noted that “the majority
of the oracular utterances were crowded with faults of inelegance
and incorrectness, both of composition and metre.” Serapion, to
whom previous reference has been made, and who is here
described as “the poet from Athens,” will not admit the correctness of
this impious indictment.[279] “You are of opinion, then,” said he, “that,
believing these verses to be the work of the god, we may assert that
they are inferior to those of Homer and Hesiod? Shall we not rather
regard them as being the best and most beautiful of all compositions,
and reconstitute, by the standard which they supply, our own taste
and judgment, so long corrupted by an evil tradition?” Boethus, “the
geometrician,” who has lately joined the Epicureans, uses a neat
form of the argumentum ad hominem in refutation of Serapion,
paying him a polished compliment at the same time.[280] “Your own
poems,” says he, “grave, indeed, and philosophic in matter, are, in
power and grace and finish, much more after the model of Homer
and Hesiod than of the Pythia;” and he gives concise expression to
the two opposing mental attitudes in which questions of this kind are
universally approached. “Some will maintain that the oracles are fine
poems because they are the god’s, others that they cannot be the
god’s because they are not fine poems.” Serapion emphatically re-
asserts the former of these two views, maintaining that “our eyes and
our ears are diseased. We have become accustomed, by long
indulgence in luxury and effeminacy, to regard sweetness as
identical with beauty.”[281] Theon[282] is the exponent of a
compromise not unknown in modern discussions on the “Inspiration
of the Scriptures”—“Since these verses are inferior to those of
Homer, it cannot be maintained that the god is their author. He
supplies the primary inspiration to the prophetess, who gives
expression thereto in accordance with her natural aptitude and
capacity. He only suggests the images, and makes the light of the
future shine in her soul.” The conversation then turns upon certain
events which had accompanied, or been preceded by, portents and
wonders happening to statues and other gifts consecrated in the
Temple. On this subject Philinus asserts his firm belief that “all the
sacred offerings at Delphi are specially moved by divine forethought
to the indication of futurity, and that no fragment of them is dead and
irresponsive, but all are filled with divine power.” Boethus, as a newly
converted Epicurean, makes a mock of this view, this “identification
of Apollo with brass and stone, as if chance were not quite
competent to account for such coincidences,” and he subsequently
enlarges his view as follows:—“What possible condition of temporal
affairs, my friend, cannot be assigned to natural causes? What
strange and unexpected event, occurring by sea or by land, to cities
or to individual men, could one predict without some chance of
hitting the mark?[283] Yet you would hardly call this prediction; it
would be merely assertion, or, rather, the dissemination at random,
into the abyss of infinity, of bare words without any guiding principle
leading them to a particular end, words which, as they wander about,
are sometimes met by chance events which correspond with them.”
And Boethus continues to insist that, though some predictions may
have by accident come true, the original assertions were not the less
false on that account. Serapion admits that this may be true about
vague predictions, but maintains that such detailed prophecies as
those he proceeds to quote from history do not owe their
accomplishment to chance.[284]
The attention of the disputants—if these calm and dignified
colloquies can be called disputes—is here again attracted to the
objects of artistic and historical interest surrounding them, among
which the guide takes occasion to point out the place where formerly
had reposed the iron spits dedicated by the courtezan Rhodopis
under the circumstances detailed by Herodotus.[285] Diogenianus
warmly protests against such offerings having ever been admitted
into the Temple, but Serapion draws his attention to the golden
statue of the more notorious Phryne, “that trophy of Greek
incontinence,”—as Crates had called it—and condemns the
inconsistency of these objections in people who see, without a
protest, the temple crowded with offerings made by the Greek cities
for victories in their internecine warfare. “It were fitting,” exclaims he,
“that kings and magistrates should consecrate to the god offerings of
justice, temperance, and magnanimity, and not tributes of a golden
and luxurious wealth, which the most evil livers often abound in.”[286]
The concluding portion of this somewhat discursive tract is
devoted to a speech by Theon on the question with which the title
only has so far dealt, the cessation of the oracle to use verse.
Theon, as we have seen, believes that the god inspires the thought,
and not the expression, of the Pythia, and his explanation of the
change of medium is purely natural, being based upon the general
tendency towards prose which early became evident in Greek
Literature and Philosophy. Besides, the matters on which the oracle
is now consulted are not such as to require the mystery and
magnificence of verse.[287] “In these cases it would be absurd to
employ the diction, metre, and imagery of poetry, when what is
required is a simple and concise reply. It would be like a vain Sophist
to turn an oracle finely for the sake of show. The Pythian priestess,
moreover, is noble and virtuous in her own character, and when she
mounts the tripod and approaches the god, she is more intent on
truth than appearance, more regardful of the god’s message than of
the praise or blame of men.”[288] “In old days,” continues Theon,
“were not wanting those who accused the oracles of uncertainty and
ambiguity, and there are now those who accuse them of excessive
simplicity. But the ways of such persons are childish and silly: for just
as children take more delight in looking at rainbows and aureoles
and comets than at the sun and moon, so do these desire enigmas
and allegories and metaphors to fill the heart of man with wonder
and mystery. In their ignorance of the true reason of the change (in
the oracle’s mode of expression), they depart, blaming the god
instead of charging the defect to the weakness of our human
intellect, which cannot comprehend the purposes of the Deity.”[289]
In this defence of the Deity Theon has apparently committed
himself to a view of the manner in which the process of inspiration
takes place. “The body employs many organs, while the soul
employs the body and its parts. The soul, in like manner, is God’s
instrument. Now the virtue of an instrument consists in imitating,
subject to its natural limitations, the power that makes use of it, and
in exhibiting the thought of that power in operation. This it cannot do
to the extent of reproducing the purity and perfection of the Divine
Creator, but its work is mixed with alien matter. The Moon
reproduces the splendour of the Sun, but in a dim and weak form.
These images are representations of the way in which the Pythia
reproduces for the service of mankind the thoughts of God.”[290] We
may be tempted, while reading this explanation, to assert that
Plutarch wishes to maintain that the inspiration of the Pythia by the
Deity is direct. But these illustrations are intended only to explain
why the Pythian verses are not divinely perfect. They come through
a human soul, which has the weakness of an instrument, and is
prevented by its limitations from expressing the purity and beauty of
the divine thought. The manner of this inspiration is more fully
discussed in the following dialogue, the “De Defectu Oraculorum.”
This tract is in the form of a letter addressed to Terentius Priscus,
and although the person speaking as “I” in the dialogue is alluded to
as “Lamprias”[291] by the other speakers, it is clearly Plutarch himself
who is modestly represented under this guise. After a warning,
characteristic of Plutarch both as regards its purport and the manner
in which it is conveyed (by means of a historical reminiscence), that
these questions are not to be tested “like a painting by the touch,”
the writer brings a party of philosophers together at Delphi “shortly
before the Pythian games held under Callistratus.” Two of these
philosophers are already known to us. Like the eagles or swans of
the ancient legend they had met at Delphi coming from opposite
quarters of the globe;[292] Demetrius, of Tarsus, returning home from
Britain, and Cleombrotus, of Lacedæmon, from prolonged
journeyings by land and sea, in Egypt and the East. Cleombrotus,
being possessed of a competence, employed his means and his
leisure in travel, for the purpose of accumulating evidence to form
the basis of that branch of philosophy whose end and aim, as he
expressed it, was Theology.[293] A preliminary discussion takes place
respecting the “everlasting lamp” which Cleombrotus had been
shown in the Temple of Ammon, a discussion involving abstract
consideration of Mathematics and Astronomy. In this conversation,
Plutarch’s three favourite characters, doubtlessly representing three
common types of the day, are again depicted in the pious belief of
Cleombrotus, the scepticism of Demetrius, and the judicial pose of
the Academic Ammonius. The mention of the Temple of Ammon
naturally leads Plutarch to raise the question of the present silence
of that famous oracle.[294] Demetrius diverts this particular topic into
a general inquiry respecting the comparative failure of oracles all the

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Components of Culture 49 Summary of Core Concepts 87

Socialization 73 Social Networks 98

The Importance of Social Contact 74 The Importance of Weak Ties 99

Summary of Core Concepts 104

Deviance, Conformity, and Social Control 128

Summary of Core Concepts 124

A Symbolic-Interactionist View The Foreign-Born Population 179

Commercialization of Gender Ideals 210 Summary of Core Concepts 245

Power and Authority 238 Summary of Core Concepts 269

13 eduCAtion 272 The Functionalist Perspective 307

Summary of Core Concepts 293

Sociological Imagination Population Pyramids as How Are Changing Conceptions of Deviance

New photo feature: “Taking Action” photos with cap-

Why Focus On GlObalizatiOn and GlOcalizatiOn?

Human activities include anything people do with, for,

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forces, challenge them or be swept along or bypassed by

troubles and issues

C. Wright Mills (1959) defines troubles as personal needs,

his or her personal trouble. But when 24 million men and

How, then, does Plutarch reconcile this lofty conception of a Deity

“When earth’s dark breast had closed this race around,

They are virtuous, holy beings, endowed with immortality—“Jove’s

was not Artemis who demanded the slaughter of Iphigenia;[265]

An age which attempts to reinvigorate its own ethical life by

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