Ritual as a Missing Link

J. David Knottnerus is Professor of Sociology at Oklahoma State University. He earned an undergraduate degree in sociology from Beloit College and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in sociology from Southern Illinois University–Carbondale. Knottnerus has published in the areas of social theory, social psychology, group processes, social structure and inequality, and collective behavior/social movements. Most of his efforts in recent years have focused on the development of structural ritualization theory and research. He is currently the coeditor—with Bernard Phillips—of the series Advancing the Sociological Imagination, with Paradigm Publishers. His most recent books are, coedited with Bernard Phillips, Bureaucratic Culture and Escalating World Problems: Advancing the Sociological Imagination (Paradigm Publishers) and, coedited with Sing C. Chew, Structure, Culture, and History: Recent Issues in Social Theory (Rowman & Littlefield). His new book, with Jason S. Ulsperger, Elder Care Catastrophe: Rituals of Abuse in Nursing Homes—And What You Can Do About It, is forthcoming with Paradigm Publishers. Excerpts from his work are on the website www.sociological-imagination.org. His email address is david.knottnerus@okstate.edu.

• Preface; Chapter 1 Understanding Rituals in Everyday Life; Chapter 2 Analysis of Ritual Dynamics; Chapter 3 Structural Reproduction in the World and Throughout History; Chapter 4 Strategic Ritualization and Power, J. David Knottnerus, Jean Van Delinder, Jennifer Edwards; Chapter 5 Disruption and Deritualization, Frédérique Van de Poel-Knottnerus, J. David Knottnerus; Chapter 6 Ritual as a Missing Link Within Sociology; Chapter 7 Social and Personal Life;