Reviews for The categorial structure of the world

The average rating for The categorial structure of the world based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-09-18 00:00:00 Debra J. Desaulniers The value of Chidester's work is in its detailed analysis of the People's Temple's state of "otherness". Chidester demonstrates the relationship between Jones and his audience and while Jones' sermons were public performances, his audience was active in their encouragement of him. Jones interest in socialism and equality developed at an early age. The "otherness" of People's Temple was described with imagery of defilement. Chidester refers to Herberg's "tri-faith interreligious" landscape of American religion as involved in the construction of the insider/outsider relationship of the People's Temple with "traditional" American religiosity. American media and public discourse attempted to distance themselves as Christians and Americans from the People's Temple. The black community also distanced itself from this mostly black group. Chidester describes three levels of spatial orientation as the basic frame of reference within which the PT located itself. These spaces unified the group against the oppressive opposition they perceived. The displacement of even one member was regarded as a critical threat due to the tightly drawn boundaries of the community. They rejected the world and the world rejected them. Americans said they weren't american and socialists said they weren't socialist.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-05-17 00:00:00 Andryuhin Andryuhin An interesting analysis of Peoples Temple and Jonestown, this book really tries to understand the viewpoint of the members of this group. Probably one of the most interesting analyses, to me, in this book is the amount of difficulty officials went through to get the bodies buried. The various ways in which citizens of Guyana and the U.S. treated the corpses as something other than human, something strange and foreign. I had never thought about how funerals relate to humanity. I'd certainly heard of non-burial being disrespectful, but the fact that no country or state wanted to be the final resting place for the 900+ bodies from Jonestown due to their connection with a cult and what was considered a repulsive means of death, was in some ways disrespectful to the dead in itself. The denouncement of any dealings with the group from people who HAD indeed dealt with the group further heightened the level of dehumanization of the Jonestown dead. These particular portions of the book were absolutely fascinating to me.