RT Article
T1 Status After Death. Understanding Posthumous Social Influence Through a Case Study on the Christian-Orthodox Tradition
JF Journal for the study of religions and ideologies
VO 15
IS 45
SP 257
OP 282
A1 Matei, Ștefania
A1 Preda, Marian 1963-
LA English
PB CEEOL
YR 2016
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1562431986
AB In this paper we propose a conceptualization of ‘posthumous social status’ as a performative reality accomplished through collective actions that are materially and symbolically legitimated. We question the classical definitions of social status that lead to oversocialized theoretical models, and we argue for the necessity to reconsider the relation between social status and social roles in order to gain insight into the reality of a social presence after death. On this account, we claim that the prestige attached to one's position in society is a social phenomenon produced through autopoietic systems of social influence rather than a pre-existent and stable feature embedded in hierarchical structures and actions. Therefore, we clarify the link between social status and systems of influence through a case study in which we discuss how the Christian-Orthodox tradition is socially organized as a powerful realm of doing posthumous social status.
K1 autopoietic social systems
K1 Performativity
K1 posthumous prestige
K1 posthumous social status
K1 social immortality
K1 Social influence
K1 Social status
K1 systems of influence