Showing papers in "European Journal of Social Theory in 2000"
TL;DR: There is a current effort to borrow the concept of trauma from medicine and psychiatry and to introduce it into sociological theory as discussed by the authors, and the notion of cultural trauma as applicabl...
Abstract: There is a current effort to borrow the concept of trauma from medicine and psychiatry and to introduce it into sociological theory. The author explicates the notion of cultural trauma as applicabl...
273 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authority of scientific experts reaches beyond the boundar of the boundary of science, by relying on a powerful collective narrative through which political, legal and social decision-making is guided in the name of science.
Abstract: Relying on a powerful collective narrative through which political, legal and social decision-making is guided in the name of science, the authority of scientific experts reaches beyond the boundar...
82 citations
TL;DR: The authors assesses the novelty of NSMs, or better, of any social and political movement in contemporary Western societies, in the light of their capacity to develop systems of relationships which cut across established social cleavages.
Abstract: This paper assesses the novelty of NSMs - or better, of any social and political movement in contemporary Western societies - in the light of their capacity to develop systems of relationships which cut across established social and political cleavages. It illustrates first the relational bases of Rokkan's concept of cleavage, and its contribution to the understanding of social movements; it then shows how Simmel's concept of the intersection of social circles and his distinction between concentric and crosscutting circles may be fruitfully applied to the analysis of political cleavages and their changing forms. In the conclusions, the elements of an approach to the study of the newness of social movements, based on the integration of Rokkan's and Simmel's principles, are introduced.
59 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors give an answer from the point of view of the transcendental pragmatic foundation of discourse ethics to the title question, which was raised by the Unesco conferences entitled ''Universal Ethics' in Paris (27 March 1997) and Naples (December 1997).
Abstract: In this article the author tries to give an answer - from the point of view of the transcendental pragmatic foundation of discourse ethics - to the title question, which was raised by the Unesco conferences entitled `Universal Ethics' in Paris (27 March 1997) and Naples (December 1997). The article should be understood as a supplement to the empiristic-comparative responses of S. Bok and H. Kung, and especially to the communitarian approach of M. Walzer, proposed at the first conference. Unlike traditional rationalism, this approach does not try to deduce concrete moral norms from axiomatic first principles; it begins with transcendental reflection on the undeniable moral presuppositions of argumentative discourse (which is not circumventable in philosophy). The approach first deduces from these presuppositions only the ideal procedures for the moral discourses through which all concrete moral problems ought to be solved, if possible. The second step provides a strategic-counter-strategic supplementation ...
54 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a defence of the national welfare state as the guarantor of complex freedom is presented, derived from the theoretical contributions of Marshall, Polanyi and Myrdal.
Abstract: Current social and political theory is sceptical of the future of welfare states in the face of global markets. Their moral claims, too, have been challenged by the neo-liberal association of market capitalism and individual freedom and by an implicit acceptance of that critique - of the welfare state as bureaucratic - by left-wing commentators. This article offers a defence of the national welfare state as the guarantor of `complex freedom'. This defence is derived from the theoretical contributions of Marshall, Polanyi and Myrdal and offers a reconsideration of the debate immediately after the second world war over the welfare state and its relevance today. Marshall's concept of social rights has become a familiar part of our own debate, but it is argued that Polanyi provides the rigorous critique of market relationships which is missing, and Myrdal locates gender issues as central to the understanding of welfare state development and women's rights as integral to social rights.
44 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the emphasis on the social role of information technologies in advanced society amounts to a modern version of ''technological determinism'' and that cultural and social processes rather than technological regimes continue to be more important for the evolution of society.
Abstract: This essay advances two sets of critical observations about Manuel Castells's suggestion and detailed elaboration of the idea that modern society from the 1980s onwards constitutes a network society and that the unity in the diversity of global restructuring has to be seen in the massive deployment of information and communication technologies in all spheres of modern social life. The criticism attends to the possibility that the emphasis on the social role of information technologies in advanced society amounts to a modern version of `technological determinism'. A discussion of the so-called productivity paradox shows that cultural and social processes rather than technological regimes continue to be more important for the evolution of society.
39 citations
TL;DR: Under the impact of ''postcolonial' critique, it is increasingly assumed in radical social theory that traditional disciplines like sociology remain palpably Eurocentric as mentioned in this paper. But, this important cha...
Abstract: Under the impact of `postcolonial' critique, it is increasingly assumed in radical social theory that traditional disciplines like sociology remain palpably Eurocentric. However, this important cha...
32 citations
32 citations
TL;DR: The authors examine the relations between positioning and belonging in terms of the potential for critique of existing social conditions and argue that the possibility for social conditions to be otherwise is then open to scrutiny.
Abstract: The principal aim of this article is to examine the relations between positioning and belonging in terms of the potential for critique of existing social conditions. The underlying purpose is to inform social scientific engagement with social life in order to illuminate the potential for social transformation via reflexivity. These discussions will be informed by the division of reflexivity into two dimensions: endogenous and referential. It is argued that this enables the social scientist to highlight the pre-reflexive world and render it problematic and demonstrates how the objectivity of the social world is both a presupposition and ongoing achievement of everyday interactions. To that extent, the possibility for social conditions to be otherwise is then open to scrutiny.
29 citations
TL;DR: In this article, Castells's claim that the information age announces major changes in stratification and, accordingly, in social and political mobilization is examined in terms of its conceptual and historical accuracy, and questions are raised about the notion of meritocracy embedded in his depiction of informational labour.
Abstract: This article focuses on Manuel Castells's claim that the information age announces major changes in stratification and, accordingly, in social and political mobilization. His assertion that informational labour displaces generic labour in informational capitalism is examined in terms of its conceptual and historical accuracy, and questions are raised about the notion of meritocracy embedded in his depiction of informational labour. The idea that the network society is characterized by `a faceless collective capitalist' is also called into question by evidence of the persistence of a propertied class. Finally, Castells's analysis of the emergence and significance of identitybased mobilizations is examined.
27 citations
TL;DR: A review explores the present fashion for aesthetics in contemporary sociology and evaluates the claims that society is undergoing a deep-seated process of aestheticization, and that sociology is a discipline that is prone to aestheticization.
Abstract: This review explores the present fashion for aesthetics in contemporary sociology. It evaluates the claims that society is undergoing a deep-seated process of aestheticization, and that sociology i...
TL;DR: In this paper, Castells's three-volume work, The Information Age, is placed within a broad tradition of classical social theory that has sought to come to terms with the emergence of new forms of social, e...
Abstract: Situating Manuel Castells's three-volume work, The Information Age, within a broad tradition of classical social theory that has sought to come to terms with the emergence of new forms of social, e...
TL;DR: The institution of crimes against humanity at Nuremberg in 1945 was an event which marked the birth of cosmopolitan law as a social reality as discussed by the authors. But cosmopolitan laws have existed as an abstract idea at leas...
Abstract: The institution of crimes against humanity at Nuremberg in 1945 was an event which marked the birth of cosmopolitan law as a social reality. Cosmopolitan law has existed as an abstract idea at leas...
TL;DR: This article explored the relationship between veiled, Islamist, women and modernity in Turkey where the woman question is indeed exemplary of the tension-ridden relations between modernity and Islam and argued that it is wrong to read Islamism as an actual questioning of modernity.
Abstract: This article aims to explore the relationship between veiled, Islamist, women and modernity in Turkey where the woman question is indeed exemplary of the tension-ridden relations between modernity and Islam. By examining the veiled women's rejection of modernity I argue that it is wrong to read Islamism as an actual questioning of modernity. Traditional Islam is not the key element in understanding the veiled women's identity; rather, at the core of the issue is the reproduction of identity under conditions of modernity. First, I look at the Islamic understanding of women; second, I consider the relation of Kemalism to women, so as to understand oppositions between modernity and Islam on the woman question. Finally, the veiled women's rejection of modernity is analysed by means of taking its self-contradictions into the centre of the argument.
TL;DR: This article argued that the antinomy of formal and substantive rationality plays a central role in historical processes of social change, and that social actors deliberate on contradictions among strategic, moral, and ethical standards of validity, and they struggle to resolve these contradictions through collective action.
Abstract: Critics of Jurgen Habermas's theory of communicative action argue that he has failed to recognize the extent to which moral argumentation is grounded in particular historical contexts, cultural traditions, collective identities, or social lifeworlds. Although he has engaged in a series of strategies aimed at acknowledging the role of particularistic considerations without abandoning his primary commitment to ethical universalism, Habermas has not succeeded in meeting all of the objections of his critics. This paper treats the contradiction between formal and substantive rationality, which lies at the heart of the debate, as an empirical phenomenon within the social world. It argues that the antinomy of formal and substantive rationality plays a central role in historical processes of social change. Through critical argumentation, social actors deliberate on contradictions among strategic, moral, and ethical standards of validity, and they struggle to resolve these contradictions through collective action ...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider whether there exists today a movement of similar strength to the synthetic 'new theoretical movement' of the mid-1980s, and they argue that one main trend in sociological theory today is the notion of creativity and efforts to understand it conceptually.
Abstract: This article considers whether there exists today a movement of similar strength to the synthetic 'new theoretical movement' of the mid-1980s. The author argues that one main trend in sociological theory today is the notion of creativity and efforts to understand it conceptually. The contemporary growth of contingency, it is claimed, is closely related to this creative perspective. After examining Parsons's notion of 'double contingency', the article suggests that neither rationality nor normativity alone is able to dampen recognition of the vicissitudes attached to both personal destinies and social evolution. The author analyses the axis of structure and action, theories of history and evolution, together with the relationship between modernity and reflexivity, in order to substantiate the claim that creativity constitutes a trend today. This trend is then related to another, the cognitive approach, and the author proposes some ideas to bring them closer. Finally, a hypothesis to explain the current str...
TL;DR: The authors place proximal relationships in the explanatory context of a gift economy, a concept with a long history in anthropology and which has lately been the focus of interest of a significant group of social thinkers.
Abstract: In today's societies relationships between near relatives and friends appear to be somewhat paradoxical. Some accounts present them as the social ideal, exalting the solidarity and altruism represented by proximal relationships. By contrast, others point to the social dangers in such relationships when they are conducted in the public sphere. In order to grasp the coexistence of these opposite views, this article attempts to place proximal relationships in the explanatory context of a gift economy, a concept with a long history in anthropology and which has lately been the focus of interest of a significant group of social thinkers
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose an analysis of the ontology of Jurgen Habermas' Wahrheit und Rechtfertigung, Philosophische Aufsatze.
Abstract: Cet article propose une analyse de l'ouvrage de Jurgen Habermas Wahrheit und Rechtfertigung, Philosophische Aufsatze. La these centrale en est que la verite echappe au champ d'action de la justification argumentative. L'A. montre que cette affirmation, qui pourrait paraitre surprenante si elle etait formulee par d'autres ontologistes, constitue une etape supplementaire dans l'approche pragmatique de l'argumentation par J. Habermas, approche qu'il place au coeur de la rationalite
TL;DR: In this article, the authors reflect on the situated nature of biographical writings about women and discuss the different 'constructions' of Alva Myrdal presented in these family narratives, showing the extent to which judgements about the contribution of women continue to be framed by conceptions of the duality of their place in the public and private domains.
Abstract: As social scientist, welfare state reformer and diplomat, Alva Myrdal made an important contribution to changing conceptions of modern womanhood. With her husband Gunnar, she drew up blueprints for a woman-friendly welfare state that continue to be of relevance to contemporary debates about women's dual roles in the public and private spheres. She was herself a working wife and mother of three children with a home publicly hailed for its efficient modernity. In retrospect, her domestic performance as wife and mother, as well as her public writings on women and family welfare policy, have been subject to critical re-evaluation, a debate to which biographical material presented by each of her three children contributed. This article reflects on the situated nature of biographical writings about women and discusses the different 'constructions' of Alva Myrdal presented in these family narratives. From within Alva Myrdal's own feminist perspective, the author attempts to show the extent to which judgements about the contribution of women continue to be framed by conceptions of the duality of their place in the public and private domains
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TL;DR: The importance of Derrida's work for a theory of the social is discussed in this paper, where it is argued that both his earlier and his later works are important in this respect, albeit at a high level of abstraction.
Abstract: This article focuses on an analysis and evaluation of the importance Derrida's work may have for a theory of the social. It is argued that both his earlier and his later works are important in this respect, albeit at a high level of abstraction. In his early work the social is seen as an open `field of meaning' while in later work differentations within this field, such as the level of the `phantasmatic', are introduced. This is a direction of theorization that has to be developed, although the way the `openness' of this field is to be conceived needs to be re-elaborated. However, Derrida's account in recent work of the structure of ethical/political action, based on `emancipatory promises', is not satisfactory and runs the danger of regressing to subjectivism. Instead, the existence of structural determinations - of a `history' - within the subject has to be theorized without reducing the subject to a form of self-presence. This history, alongside the contextuality of the moment of action, delineates the...
TL;DR: Although seemingly a purely negative position without any implications, scepticism is more often seen to lead to two entirely different prescriptive political and moral conclusions, either liberal or illiberal as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Although seemingly a purely negative position without any implications, scepticism is more often seen to lead to two entirely different prescriptive political and moral conclusions, either liberal or illiberal. This article explains how such opposing conclusions derive from insufficient attention to: the instability of scepticism, its tendency to collapse into varieties of unquestioned belief; its underdetermined character, since it is always expressed as a variable mixture of doubt and beliefs, which are often neither acknowledged nor recognized; and insufficient clarity about the motivational power of social or political theory generally.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: A Theory of Modernity as mentioned in this paper traces the evolution of Heller's ideas in regard to logics, dynamic and social arrangement of modernity, and explains how these fit into her own development towards the standpoint she describes as postmodern resignation and her notions of the double bind and pendulum of modernities.
Abstract: Agnes Heller was one of the first critical theorists to turn her attention to a contemporary theory of modernity. Yet her many writings on this topic remained fragments until the publication of her A Theory of Modernity (1999). This article focuses on the structural elements of this account. It traces the evolution of Heller's ideas in regard to logics, dynamic and social arrangement of modernity. It explains how these fit into her own development towards the standpoint she describes as postmodern resignation and her notions of the 'double bind' and 'pendulum of modernity'. It argues that while Heller has modified her conception of the multiple logics of modernity to keep faith with a critical brief and an open-ended vision, some theoretical tensions remain. In particular, it explores the idea of modernity as a 'steamroller' in conjunction with the question of its survival. It also questions whether Heller's emphatic normative vision of cultural modernity can easily be reconciled with the empirical trends of globalization that promise an increasing diversity of modernities