A01=Neil J. Smelser
Author_Neil J. Smelser
behavioral studies
Category=JHB
Category=QRAC
comparative studies
engaging
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
human behavior
human condition
human experiences
human tendencies
intense period of life
life changes
life journeys
life lessons
nonfiction
odyssey
personal growth
personal transformation
physical journeys
psychological journeys
quest for meaning
regeneration
religion and spirituality
scientists
self help
social relationships
spiritual
spiritual journeys
Product details
- ISBN 9780520258976
- Weight: 454g
- Dimensions: 140 x 210mm
- Publication Date: 05 Mar 2009
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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This bold and innovative book traces the phenomenon of the 'odyssey' experience as it shapes, informs, and defines our lives. Drawing on an astonishing range of examples, Neil J. Smelser focuses on how such experiences enhance our lives and provide us with meaning and dignity. The odyssey experience, as Smelser advances it, is generic, widespread, and recurring. It is a finite period of disengagement from the routines of life and immersion into a simpler, transitory, often collective, usually intense period of involvement that culminates in some kind of regeneration. By examining a variety of topics as part of a larger, overarching phenomenon, Smelser transforms their study from the particular to the comparative. "The Odyssey Experience" thus reaches beyond a simple description of where and how transformations occur in daily life to offer a profound explanation for why they are there.
Neil J. Smelser is University Professor of Sociology Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of numerous books, including The Social Edges of Psychoanalysis, Problematics of Sociology, and Social Paralysis and Social Change, all from UC Press.
