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Seeing the Light
The Social Logic of Personal Discovery
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Thomas DeGloma
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2014
About this book
The chorus of the Christian hymn “Amazing Grace” reads, “I once was lost, but now am found, / Was blind but now I see.” Composed by a minister who formerly worked as a slave trader, the song expresses his experience of divine intervention that ultimately caused him to see the error of his ways. This theme of personal awakening is a feature of countless stories throughout history, where the “lost” and the “blind” are saved from darkness and despair by suddenly seeing the light.
In Seeing the Light, Thomas DeGloma explores such accounts of personal awakening, in stories that range from the discovery of a religious truth to remembering a childhood trauma to embracing a new sexual orientation. He reveals a common social pattern: When people discover a life-changing truth, they typically ally with a new community. Individuals then use these autobiographical stories to shape their stances on highly controversial issues such as childhood abuse, war and patriotism, political ideology, human sexuality, and religion. Thus, while such stories are seemingly very personal, they also have a distinctly social nature. Tracing a wide variety of narratives through nearly three thousand years of history, Seeing the Light uncovers the common threads of such stories and reveals the crucial, little-recognized social logic of personal discovery.
In Seeing the Light, Thomas DeGloma explores such accounts of personal awakening, in stories that range from the discovery of a religious truth to remembering a childhood trauma to embracing a new sexual orientation. He reveals a common social pattern: When people discover a life-changing truth, they typically ally with a new community. Individuals then use these autobiographical stories to shape their stances on highly controversial issues such as childhood abuse, war and patriotism, political ideology, human sexuality, and religion. Thus, while such stories are seemingly very personal, they also have a distinctly social nature. Tracing a wide variety of narratives through nearly three thousand years of history, Seeing the Light uncovers the common threads of such stories and reveals the crucial, little-recognized social logic of personal discovery.
Author / Editor information
Thomas DeGloma is assistant professor of sociology at Hunter College, City University of New York.
Reviews
“This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. Eschewing simplistic approaches, DeGloma brings a full arsenal of tools from cultural sociology, ritual theory, moral philosophy, and semiotics to develop a rich account of awakening narratives. For anyone interested in autobiographical accounts and the roles they play in social life, Seeing the Light is the book to read.”
— Robert Wuthnow, Princeton University“Seeing the Light is a fascinating study of a class of public stories that Thomas DeGloma calls awakening narratives—autobiographical accounts of religious conversion, political transformation, identity alteration, and the like. While some of these types have been studied in isolation, DeGloma shows how such stories, recounting a fundamental change of mind and heart and at first glance seemingly unrelated, not only share a common narrative structure but play formally similar roles in society. Lucidly written, tightly-organized, and richly illustrated, Seeing the Light is a remarkable achievement.”
— Joseph E. Davis, University of Virginia“Individual epiphanies that awaken the self to a new world seem unique and ineffable. Yet DeGloma shows us how our narratives of awakening are patterned and generic as we recount them in autobiographical communities. Seeing the Light sheds its own masterful light on autobiography and autobiographical narrative. Anyone interested in the dynamic nature of the relation of self and society should read this book.”
— Robin Wagner-Pacifici, The New School for Social Research"Stories of personal transformation are all around us. Seeing the Light excavates the timeless logic of their deep meaning structures. At the same time DeGloma shows them to be socially grounded in specific communities of interpretation, solidarity and contention. As such this important book suggests new and much needed paths for connecting cultural sociology to the study of the self."
— Philip Smith, Yale University"More and more people want to know about stories and narratives. In this elegant book, Thomas DeGloma inspects one major and widespread genre: the awareness story. Drawing on a rich vein of writing, he inspects its foundations, forms and formulas suggesting its deep logic and defining characteristics. All future scholars of the diverse array of awareness stories will have to take this book as a benchmark."
— Ken Plummer, University of Essex“Seeing the Light is well written and makes a compelling case for sociologists with a wide range of interests to pay attention to awakening narratives and autobiographical work more generally. For scholars already working in the areas of narrative identity and narrative analysis, the book contributes a careful analysis of awakening narratives and the awakening story formula as particular (and particularly important) types of narratives. More broadly, the particular types of awakening narratives and autobiographical communities discussed throughout the book provide relevant insights for the study of religion, trauma and mental health, sexuality, political ideology, social movements, and more.”
— American Journal of SociologyTopics
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
November 26, 2014
eBook ISBN:
9780226175911
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
256
Other:
11 halftones, 4 line drawings, 1 table
eBook ISBN:
9780226175911
Keywords for this book
personal discovery; sociology; social thought; divine intervention; awakening; religious truth; religion; faith; change; childhood trauma; sexual orientation; gender and sexuality; life-changing; community; child abuse; war; patriotism; political ideology; humanity; autonomy; self-actualization; autobiography; cultural studies; divided; plato; freud
Audience(s) for this book
Professional and scholarly;
