David Knottnerus

co-editor of Bureaucratic Culture and Escalating World Problems: Advancing the Sociological Imagination and co-author of American Golf and the Development of Civility: Rituals of Etiquette in the World of Golf

November 4, 2015

J. David Knottnerus is Professor of Sociology at Oklahoma State University. He earned an undergraduate degree in sociology from Beloit College and a M.A. and PhD in sociology from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. Knottnerus has published extensively in the areas of social theory, social psychology, group processes, social structure and inequality, and ritual dynamics. Most of his efforts in recent years have focused on the development of structural ritualization theory and research. This perspective focuses on the role ritual plays in social life. He is currently the coeditor - with Bernard Phillips - of the series Advancing the Sociological Imagination with Paradigm Publishers. His most recent books are, co-edited with Bernard Phillips, Bureaucratic Culture and Escalating World Problems: Advancing the Sociological Imagination (Paradigm Publishers), co-authored with Monica K. Varner, American Golf and the Development of Civility: Rituals of Etiquette in the World of Golf (LAP Lambert Academic Publishing), Ritual as a Missing Link: Sociology, Structural Ritualization Theory and Research (Paradigm Publishers), co-authored with Jason S.Ulsperger, Elder Care Catastrophe: Rituals of Abuse in Nursing Homes – and What You Can Do About It (Paradigm Publishers), and, coedited with Sing C. Chew, Structure, Culture and History: Recent Issues in Social Theory (Rowman & Littlefield). 

On this fiftieth anniversary of the publication of C. Wright Mill's classic work The Sociological Imagination, the 'bureaucratic ethos' that he described has continued to grow. The 11 authors of this book carry further and systematically develop Mill's broad vision of the scientific method as they analyze escalating bureaucratic barriers that prevent us from solving our many pressing social, environmental, and economic problems.

This investigation examines the origins of American golf between 1894 and 1920 and the way various rituals of civility were expressed in this newly emerging recreational pursuit. By employing formal content analysis of numerous texts, historical sources, and qualitative forms of evidence, and Structural Ritualization Theory to analyze this historical phenomenon, the research demonstrates that social characteristics of etiquette found in European noble pastimes were also present in the American game of golf. These qualities which dictated a civilized code of conduct and etiquette that included self-constraint, courteousness, proper decorum, compliance, and honorable behavior, distinguished the upper class from the lower classes and designated the game of golf for the upper class while discouraging the lower classes from participating in the pastime. The manifestation of civilized themes in the Americanized version of golf that arose in this time period was clearly marked by an internal class tension generated by the demands of civility, democratic imagery and rhetoric, and social exclusion and elitism.

URL: https://library.okstate.edu/news/celebratingbooks/2011-honorees/david-knottnerus

Last Updated: 14 January 2022