Andrews University Digital Commons @ Andrews University Dissertations Graduate Research 2005 Wendell Berry's Sociological Imagination: Agrarian Values and Good Leadership in a Postmodern Culture Paul Alan Kaak Andrews University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/dissertations Part of the Agriculture Commons, and the Leadership Studies Commons Recommended Citation Kaak, Paul Alan, "Wendell Berry's Sociological Imagination: Agrarian Values and Good Leadership in a Postmodern Culture" (2005). Dissertations. 478. https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/dissertations/478 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Research at Digital Commons @ Andrews University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Andrews University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your interest in the Andrews University Digital Library of Dissertations and Theses. Please honor the copyright of this document by not duplicating or distributing additional copies in any form without the author’s express written permission. Thanks for your cooperation. Andrews University School of Education WENDELL BERRY’S SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION: AGRARIAN VALUES AND GOOD LEADERSHIP IN A POSTMODERN CULTURE A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy by Paul Alan Kaak July 2005 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 3182009 Copyright 2005 by Kaak, Paul Alan All rights reserved. INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. ® UMI UMI Microform 3182009 Copyright 2005 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ©Copyright by Paul Alan Kaak 2005 All Rights Reserved Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. WENDELL BERRY’S SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION: AGRARIAN VALUES AND GOOD LEADERSHIP IN A POSTMODERN CULTURE A dissertation presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy by Paul Alan Kaak APPROVAL BY THE COMMITTEE ChairTErich Wt Baumgartner Dean, School of Education James Jeffery Member: Shirley Freed Member: Lionel Matthews temal: Bruce Moyer Date approved Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT WENDELL BERRY’S SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION: AGRARIAN VALUES AND GOOD LEADERSHIP IN A POSTMODERN CULTURE by Paul Alan Kaak Chair: Erich W. Baumgartner Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT OF GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH Dissertation Andrews University School of Education Title: WENDELL BERRY’S SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION: AGRARIAN VALUES AND GOOD LEADERSHIP IN A POSTMODERN CULTURE Name of researcher: Paul Alan Kaak Name and degree of faculty chair: Erich W. Baumgartner, PhD. Date completed: July 2005 Problem The question guiding my dissertation research was: In what ways do the writings of Wendell Berry, reflecting his sociological imagination, address and advance leadership theory with specific regard for the issue of agrarian values? Method I used the writings of Wendell Berry as a modified case study for my inductive, theoretical, exploratory research in a qualitative vein. As I reviewed his writings, I identified his moral ideology and extracted his value-set. Along the way, I observed Berry’s use of a method promoted by C. Wright Mills in his book The Sociological Imagination (1959). Since sociological imagination finds its use within the value Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. conflicts of social life, Berry’s insights are instructive for those in business leadership. Such leaders face frequent value conflicts that have, for example, relational, economic, and moral implications. Furthermore, I have taken validation from the sociology of literature. Though not found in standard textbooks, the legitimacy of this approach is intact. I kept it in mind while studying Berry’s writings. I also placed his work against the literature on leadership and business in order to challenge assumptions found there. Finally, my exploration took me into multi-disciplinary terrain. This required a method that combined intuitive reading with good record keeping in order to identify, consider, and confirm cross-disciplinary connections. Conclusions I synthesized a series of descriptive phrases for good leaders—those more committed to being virtuous than to being profitable. The good leader “gets it right,” demonstrates “foresight,” and sees society through the grid of the sociological imagination. The good leader understands a good economy is shaped primarily by the ideas of health and stewardship, not profit and exploitation. The good leader rethinks his/her values with a concern for a sustainable world. The good leader manages with care and honesty by walking farther into the places, communities, and sources of both nutrition and materials. The good leader equips workers to see the social milieu for what it is, empowers them for independent and interdependent work, and eagerly guides them in the way of moral virtue. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. I dedicate this project to my good wife Kieva, who believed in “Berry’s values” before we knew who Wendell Berry was, who inspired and challenged me to choose this project when I casually mentioned it amidst my 103 other ideas, who longs to see our family develop a loving and healthy home economy (and who—with Wendell Berry—has energized me about that possibility!), and whose loving support (in ways both obvious and mysterious) has warmed my heart, strengthened my character, and clarified my resolve to be a good man, husband, dad . and a good leader. 111 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES.................................................................................................................viii LIST OF FIGURES.................................................................................................................ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS........................................................................................................x 1. INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................1 Foreword ...........................................................................................................................1 Background and Literature Review ............................................................................... 2 Values .........................................................................................................................3 Sociological Imagination.......................................................................................... 5 Wendell Berry ............................................................................................................ 7 Good Leadership ........................................................................................................9 The Problem Statement ..................................................................................................11 Purpose of the Study ...................................................................................................... 13 Research Question ......................................................................................................... 15 Significance/Importance ................................................................................................15 Methodology...................................................................................................................16 Summary......................................................................................................................... 18 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 19 2. TAKING IT BIG WHILE THINKING LITTLE..............................................................20 What Are Values? .......................................................................................................... 22 Values and Worldview ............................................................................................ 24 A Definition for Values .......................................................................................... 27 History and Value-shifts ........................................................................................