Stausberg, M. Contemporary Theories of Religion. A Critical Companion, New York, Routledge, Nueva York, 2009, 309 pp. ISBN: 978-0415463478

Fil: Bogdan, Guillermina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación; Argentina.

Stausberg, M. Contemporary Theories of Religion. A Critical Companion, New York, Routledge, Nueva York, 2009, 309 pp. ISBN: 978-0415463478

Fil: Bogdan, Guillermina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación; Argentina.

Stausberg, M. Contemporary Theories of Religion. A Critical Companion, New York, Routledge, Nueva York, 2009, 309 pp. ISBN: 978-0415463478

Fil: Bogdan, Guillermina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación; Argentina.

Design of an Advanced Platform for Citizen Participation Committed to Ensuring Freedom of Speech

This paper presents a proposal for an advanced system of debate in an environment of digital democracy which overcomes the limitations of existing systems. We have been especially careful in applying security procedures in telematic systems, for they are to offer citizens the guarantees that society demands. New functional tools have been included to ensure user authentication and to permit anonymous participation where the system is unable to disclose or even to know the identity of system users. The platform prevents participation by non-entitled persons who do not belong to the authorized group from giving their opinion. Furthermore, this proposal allows for verifying the proper function of the system, free of tampering or fraud intended to alter the conclusions or outcomes of participation. All these tools guarantee important aspects of both a social and technical nature, most importantly: freedom of expression, equality and auditability.

Monetary Effervescence: A Sociological Theory of Religion Applied to Money

This project attempts to answer the question "What holds the construction of money together?" by asserting that it is money's religious nature which provides the moral compulsion for people to use, and continue to uphold, money as a socially constructed concept. This project is primarily descriptive and focuses on the religious nature of money by employing a sociological theory of religion in viewing money as a technical concept. This is an interdisciplinary work between religious studies, economics, and sociology and draws heavily from Emile Durkheim's 'The Elementary Forms of Religious Life' as well as work related to heterodox theories of money developed by Geoffrey Ingham, A. Mitchell Innes, and David Graeber. Two new concepts are developed: the idea of monetary sacrality and monetary effervescence, both of which serve to recharge the religious saliency of money. By developing the concept of monetary sacrality, this project shows how money acts to interpret our economic relations while also obfuscating complex power dynamics in society, making them seem naturally occurring and unchangeable. The project also shows how our contemporary fractional reserve banking system contributes to money's collective effervescence and serves to animate economic acting within a monetary network. The project concludes by outlining multiple implications for religious studies, economics, sociology, and central banking.