Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism

What makes us modern? This is a classic question in philosophy as well as in political science. However it is often raised without including science and technology in its definition. The argument of this book is that we are modern as long as we split our political process in two - between politics proper, and science and technology. This division allows the formidable expansion of the Western empires. However it has become more and more difficult to maintain this distance between science and politics. Hence the postmodern predicament - the feeling that the modern stance is no longer acceptable but that there is no alternative. The solution, advances one of France's leading sociologists of science, is to realize that we have never been modern to begin with. The comparative anthropology this text provides reintroduces science to the fabric of daily life and aims to make us compatible both with our past and with other cultures wrongly called pre-modern.

We Have Never Been Modern

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Talking Science: Language, Learning, and Values

Discourse Analysis as Theory and Method is a systematic introduction to discourse analysis as a body of theories and methods for social research. It brings together three central approaches, Laclau and Mouffe's discourse theory, critical discourse analysis and discursive psychology, in order to establish a dialogue between different forms of discourse analysis often kept apart by disciplinary boundaries. The book introduces the three approaches in a clear and easily comprehensible manner, explaining the distinctive philosophical premises and theoretical perspectives of each approach as well as the methodological guidelines and tools they provide for empirical discourse analysis. The authors also demonstrate the possibilities for combining different discourse analytical and non-discourse analytical approaches in empirical study. Finally, they contextualize discourse analysis within the social constructionist debate about critical social research, rejecting the view that a critical stance is incompatible with social constructionist premises and arguing that critique must be an inherent part of social research.

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Discourse Analysis as Theory and Method

http://ivl.cns.iu.edu/km/pres/2009-zoss-links/2009-zoss-links-research-design/references/borgattifoster.pdf

The Network Paradigm in Organizational Research: A Review and Typology

New Criticalgathers Roland Barthes's essays on classic texts of French literature, works by La Rochefoucauld, Chateaubriand, Proust, Flaubert, Fromentin, and Lori. Like an artist sketching, Barthes in these essays is working out the more fascinating details of his larger theories. In the innocuously names "Proust and Names" and "Flaubert and Sentences," Barthes explores the relation of the author towriting that begins his transition to hislater thought. In his studies of La Rochefoucauld's maxims and the illustrative plates of the Encyclopedia, Barthes reveals new vistas on common cultural artifacts, while "Where to Begin?" offers a glimpse into his own analytical processes. The concluding essays on Fromentin and Loti show the breadth of Barthes's inquiry. As a whole, the essaysdemonstrate both the acuity and freshness of Barthes's critical mind and thegracefulness of his own use of language. "

New Critical Essays

S/z : バルザック「サラジーヌ」の構造分析

Jusqu'au Debut du XIXe Siecle, il n'y a pas eu, a proprement parler, d'Histoire du Costume, mais seulement des etudes d'archeologie antique ou des recensions d'habits par qualite. A l'origine, l'Histoire du Costume a ete un fait essentiellement romantique, soit qu'il s'agit de fournir aux artistes, peintres d'epoque ou hommes de theâtre, les elements figuratifs de la « couleur locale » necessaire a leurs œuvres, soit que l'historien s'efforcât d'etablir une equivalence entre la forme vestimentaire et 1' « esprit general » d'un temps ou d'un lieu (Volksgeist, Zeitgeist, spirit of the time, caractere moral, ambiance, style, etc.). Les travaux proprement scientifiques sur le costume sont apparus vers 1860 ; ce sont des travaux d'erudits, d'archivistes comme Quicherat, Demay ou Enlart, d'ordinaire medievistes ; leur propos principal est de traiter le costume comme une addition de pieces, et la piece vestimentaire elle-meme comme une sorte d'evenement historique, dont il convient avant tout de dater l'apparition et de donner l'origine circonstancielle.

Roland Barthes

Papers

New Critical Essays

S/z : バルザック「サラジーヌ」の構造分析

Histoire et sociologie du Vêtement: Quelques observations méthodologiques

Das semiologische Abenteuer

Barthes: selected writings