Domination

In the first chapter of Rastafari, Edmonds talks mostly about Weber's Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, which I read this winter because I was in freshman studies.  It was interesting to look at Edmonds interpretations of the book because as we learned from Augustine earlier, there are multiple meanings for everything and we cannot judge without looking at all the interpretations.

The first chapter is divided up into three section for the most part, but I was most intrigued by the part on domination.  I thought that Edmonds and Weber's interpretation of this was quite nice.  One of the reasons why we obey a leader is because we are accustomed to it, or there is some sort of self-interest in it for the followers.  For example, I don't think that people would pay social security taxes if they were not going to receive the same support when they retire.  I think that this can also be brought to a religious scale.  Many followers of Christianity would probably think again about their religious beliefs if they did not believe that god will help them in times of trouble.  Those supplication Psalms would not exist if there was no thought of God aiding those in need.  The other form of domination threatens non-compliance with punishment.  One example of this is during torture or war.  If the captive does not give important information then there are sometimes hurtful consequences.  This is seen less commonly but still present today.

What I think is the most important stem from these dominance ideas is the necessary questioning of authority that usually does not happen.   Religious hierarchies have a known past of corruption and some of that still happens today.  It is the followers responsibility to resist dominance until they are sure that the higher powers are legitimate.  The corruption aspect is how religion and politics are so common.  People are easily manipulated and do not see when they are being taken advantage of.  This is a main problem with society today.