dichotomies

Examples of dichotomies in the following topics:

• The Sacred and the Profane

  • Emile Durkheim posited the sacred–profane dichotomy as central to all religion, but critics suggest this theory is too eurocentric.
  • The sacred–profane dichotomy is an idea posited by French sociologist Émile Durkheim, who considered it to be the central characteristic of religion: "religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden."
  • Durkheim explicitly stated that the sacred/profane dichotomy was not equivalent to good/evil.
  • Durkheim's claim of the universality of this dichotomy for all religions/cults has been criticized by scholars such as British anthropologist Jack Goody.

• Discussion questions and references

  • Burnett, "The Macromarketing/Micro marketing Dichotomy: A Taxonomical Model," Journal of Marketing, Summer. 1982 pp. 11-26.

• Series

  • An example is the famous series from Zeno's dichotomy and its mathematical representation:

• Sexual Orientation

  • Alfred Kinsey was among the first to conceptualize sexuality as a continuum, rather than a strict dichotomy of gay or straight.
  • Alfred Kinsey was among the first to conceptualize sexuality as a continuum, rather than a strict dichotomy of gay or straight.

• Services as Products

  • The dichotomy between physical goods and intangible services should not be given too much credence.

• Cognitive Biases as a Barrier to Decision Making

  • By categorizing individuals in terms of four dichotomies—thinking and feeling, extroversion and introversion, judging and perception, and sensing and intuition—the MBTI provides a map of the individual's orientation toward decision making.

• Motivation

  • Escape-seeking dichotomy model: Escapism and seeking are major factors influencing decision making.

• Lie a Little Lie - Or Not

  • Some business decisions present straightforward dichotomies like these.

• The Myers-Briggs Personality Types

  • The MBTI sorts psychological differences into four opposite pairs, or dichotomies, resulting in 16 possible psychological personality types.

• Describing Consciousness

  • The historical materialism of Karl Marx rejects the mind-body dichotomy, and holds that consciousness is engendered by the material contingencies of one's environment.