FAMILY ACTIVITY II

Before I describe Family Activity II, let me call your attention to the previous blog post on Marx and Marxism, which you need to check out.

FAMILY ACTIVITY II: In light of the two xerox handouts I will distribute in class tomorrow (Tues., 4/5)("The Calvinist Manifesto" & "The Worship of Success"), in addition to the text's treatment of this aspect of Weber's work, I want each family to (jointly) compose a 1-2 page response to a couple basic questions: (1) how close or far away do you believe we are from realizing Weber's prediction? and (2) would you agree with Fukuyama (in "The Calvinist Manifesto") that religion, especially in America, has not faded in importance and that religion in general has served as an effective countervailing force in limiting the spread of the so-called "iron cage," OR would you say we are more like Schmookler describes (in "The Worship of Success")in which worshipping success is entirely secular, divested of any religious significance?

I will give you some class time on Thursday (4/7) and Tuesday (4/12) to confer with family members and compose a response. Then, a week from Thursday (4/14) I want a representative from each family to present your response to the class. I am not expecting these responses to be polished but they should at least be coherent. I am NOT going to ask you to submit your responses in writing. Immediately following these presentations, we will vote on what you believe was the best, most insightful response. I would suggest you encourage your family members to be in attendance so they can vote. However, let me remind you that if everyone just votes for their family, that my vote will be the tie breaker. I hope and trust that you can set aside family loyalty and vote for another family's response if you believe it is the best. We will do this by secret ballot.

All participating family members will earn 5 points for this exercise. The winning family will receive 2 bonus points.