Showing papers in "European Journal of Social Theory in 2001"
TL;DR: In this paper, an account of the co-construction of categorical identity and personal identity among human beings is presented, where people recognize themselves within a socially sanctioned categorical scheme, and hence institutional and personal reflexivity occur as a joint movement that, at the same time, can be seen as an exercise in social control.
Abstract: This paper is an account of the co-construction of categorical identity and personal identity among human beings. As people recognize themselves within a socially sanctioned categorical scheme, they reproduce that scheme, and hence institutional and personal reflexivity occur as a joint movement that, at the same time, can be seen as an exercise in social control. The inspirations for this account are lan Hacking's view about the distinctiveness of social kinds from natural kinds, and Dan Sperber's idea about cultural communication as a form of social epidemiology.
846 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the analysis of most legitimate conventions of coordination results in a new approach to the firm as a compromising device between several modes of coordination which engage different repertoires of evaluation.
Abstract: This article introduces a framework which aims at capturing the complexity of economic organizations. The analysis of most legitimate conventions of coordination results in a new approach to the firm as a compromising device between several modes of coordination which engage different repertoires of evaluation. This contribution to the Economie des conventions offers an analytical tool to operate comparative research on firms, intermediate regulatory committees or public policies
303 citations
TL;DR: The concept of social capital has become more important in understanding contemporary economic development in the era of globalization as mentioned in this paper, however, this concept requires a theoretical framework that can be defined and analyzed.
Abstract: The concept of social capital has become more important in understanding contemporary economic development in the era of globalization. This concept, however, requires a theoretical framework that ...
295 citations
TL;DR: The inner affinity of money and religion has been a central issue of the 'classical' theories of money, in particular of Georg Simmel and Karl Marx as mentioned in this paper, and the conceptualizations of money in current economic sociology and mainstream economic theory are deficient, and that a more promising approach can be developed by referring to those classical authors, whose thinking was not yet dominated by the institutionalized academic division of labour between sociology and economics of today.
Abstract: The inner affinity of money and religion has been a central issue of the 'classical' theories of money, in particular of Georg Simmel and Karl Marx. The paper argues that the conceptualizations of money in current economic sociology and mainstream economic theory are deficient, and that a more promising approach can be developed by referring to those classical authors, whose thinking was not yet dominated by the institutionalized academic division of labour between sociology and economics of today. It is shown, how the concept of money as 'Vermogen' (Simmel) or as 'capital' (Marx) can be combined with current constructivist theories of economic 'myths' and 'visions', thus opening a new perspective for sociological analysis of entrepreneurship, innovation, economic growth and social change
115 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue against the view put forward by Margaret Archer that there is an irreconcilable divide between realist social theory and structuration theory and argue for the systematic articulation of the two theories at both the ontological and the methodological levels.
Abstract: This article argues against the view put forward by Margaret Archer that there is an irreconcilable divide between realist social theory and structuration theory. Instead, it argues for the systematic articulation of the two theories at both the ontological and the methodological levels. Each has developed a range of insightful and commensurable conceptualizations either missing or underdeveloped in the other. Archer's contention that structuration theory rejects the notion of `analytical dualism' central to the realist approach is shown to be mistaken; Giddens's rejection of `dualism' refers to a different conceptualization of the term. Similarly, Archer's critique of structuration's notion of a `duality' involving structure and agency is rejected by showing that Archer's own morphogenetic approach itself relies upon such a notion. A final section distinguishes between six key problematics of social analysis. It is clear that, for a large number of possible questions within the majority of these problema...
111 citations
TL;DR: The authors analyzed the literature on the disintegration of socialist Yugoslavia and classified it into seven groups of arguments, and developed a critical analysis of these approaches, and classified them into three groups:
Abstract: This article analyzes the literature on the disintegration of socialist Yugoslavia, and classified it into seven groups of arguments. The author develops a critical analysis of these approaches.
74 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that Dilthey's writings on hermeneutics amount to a highly sophisticated defence of the role of psychological feeling in understanding that should still be of interest to contemporary social theorists.
Abstract: Wilhelm Dilthey's late nineteenth-century doctrine of `re-experiencing' the thoughts and feelings of the actors whose lives the social scientist seeks to understand has been criticized by several commentators as entailing a `naive empathy view of understanding' in which social scientists are said to transport themselves into other cultural contexts in a wholly uncritical, unreflective manner. This article challenges such criticisms by arguing that Dilthey's writings on hermeneutics amount to a highly sophisticated defence of the role of psychological feeling in understanding that should still be of interest to contemporary social theorists. Beginning with a review of the reception of Dilthey's work by Max Weber and the Neo-Kantians, the article goes on to enumerate a number of significant parallels between Dilthey's insights and more recent approaches in social and cultural theory.
70 citations
TL;DR: The sociological debate about globalization has often neglected the place of religion in a global age as discussed by the authors, which is problematic given the creative role of the world religions in the shaping of globalization.
Abstract: The sociological debate about globalization has often neglected the place of religion in a global age. This absence is problematic, given the creative role of the world religions in the shaping of ...
58 citations
TL;DR: In the globalizing world, wars are the continuation of politics by other means as discussed by the authors, and they acquire a new character of either 'globalizing' or 'globalization-induced' wars.
Abstract: As in Clausewitz's time, wars are the continuation of politics by other means - though in the globalizing world they acquire a new character of either `globalizing' or `globalization-induced' wars. The first are aimed at the abolition of state sovereignty or neutralizing its resistance potential, and shun territorial conquest and administrative responsibilities; the second are aimed at the establishment of viable local totalities in the void left by the collapse of past structures, and strive to reassert the lost meaning of space. The shift in aims changes the character of both categories of wars.
54 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the artistic structures of the Renaissance are used to identify the limits of representation in modern science and the degree to which the degree is particularly high in the case of mainstream economics.
Abstract: My starting point in this paper is the artistic structures of the Renaissance. Resorting to what I call an epistemology of blindness, I set out to identify the limits of representation in modern science. This epistemology applies to different sciences in different degrees. I argue that the degree is particularly high in the case of mainstream economics. At the end of the paper I indicate some possible ways of advancing from an epistemology of blindness toward an epistemology of seeing.
51 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that an apparent indifference to these questions in social theory reflects a deeper tension between modernity's millennial expectations of moral progress and the escalating history of violence, exploitation and suffering in the modern world.
Abstract: Once the preserve of philosophy and theology, what Weber called `the problem of theodicy' - the problem of reconciling normative ideals with the reality in which we live - recurs in the social sciences in the secular form of `sociodicy'. Within a functionalist framework, sociodicies have offered legitimizing rationalizations of social adversities, inequalities and injustice, but seldom address the existential meaning and ethical implications of human affliction and suffering in social life. We suggest that an apparent indifference to these questions in social theory reflects a deeper tension between modernity's millennial expectations of moral progress and the escalating history of violence, exploitation and suffering in the modern world. The task of sociodicy, we argue, should be reconstructed as a critique of the decivilizing implications of this tension, not just to document the consequences of suffering on people's lives, but in order to reassess the experience of modernity at the end of one of the mo...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors distinguish between economic theory (either formally rational or materially rational), material economic thought and popular economic representations, and examine how economic knowledge affects economic behaviour; and finally, they consider the cultural dimension of economic knowledge when 'calculative agencies' help actors to implement formal economic theory.
Abstract: Economic knowledge is an important element of modern society and an important topic for sociologists interested in the reflexive dimensions of social life. However, economic knowledge cannot be reduced to economic theory; following a Weberian approach, this article distinguishes between economic theory (either formally rational or materially rational), material economic thought and popular economic representations. The article then examines how economic knowledge affects economic behaviour; and finally, it considers the cultural dimension of economic knowledge when 'calculative agencies' help actors to implement formal economic theory
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors reconstruct the main motivations of Jurgen Habermas's ongoing attempt to outline a theory of the public sphere adequate to the conditions of the present and suggest that the later writings are only partially successful in their attempt to redress some of the main conceptual difficulties that emerge in this early account.
Abstract: Given powerful globalizing processes under way, the topic of how to conceptualize the modern public sphere is becoming increasingly urgent. Amidst the array of alternatives, the efforts of Jurgen Habermas to attempt to balance out the two main conceptual requirements of this idea, a universalistic construction of the principle of shared interests and a sensitivity to the fact of modern pluralism, might seem a particularly promising option. In order to reconstruct the main motivations of, and to determine a set of criteria of assessment for, Habermas's ongoing attempt to outline a theory of the public sphere adequate to the conditions of the present, the article turns first to a discussion of the seminal formulations of The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. I suggest that the later writings are only partially successful in their attempt to redress some of the main conceptual difficulties that emerge in this early account.
TL;DR: The problem of violence for social theory is not only a normative question which can be answered in political-ethical terms, but it is also a cognitive question relating to the definition of violence.
Abstract: The problem of violence for social theory is not only a normative question which can be answered in political-ethical terms, but it is also a cognitive question relating to the definition of violence. This cognitive question is one of the main problems with the contemporary discourse of violence and it is this that makes the idea of a cosmopolitan public sphere particularly relevant since it is in public discourse that cognitive models are articulated. The real power of cosmopolitanism lies in communicative power, the problematizing, the reflexive transformation of cultural models and the raising of `voice'. Unless global civil society is based on a cosmopolitan political sphere there is the danger that it will be disembodied and helpless in the face of new forms of violence.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose an approach from the point of view of an ethics of history-related responsibility, which takes into account three normative levels based on ethical, legal and political considerations.
Abstract: In reconstructing and commenting upon the Kosovo conflict, the cognitive interest of practical philosophy does not evade a political judgment but is primarily led by the interest in answering the question of what normative yardsticks are available (to politicians and to the public) for coping with a situation where the international order of law fails to provide a legal solution to the problem of preserving peace and, at the same time, protecting human rights that are severely violated by a sovereign state. The paper proposes an answer from the point of view of an ethics of history-related responsibility, which takes into account three normative levels based on ethical, legal and political considerations. In this light the action of NATO must be judged.
TL;DR: Weber and Taylor as mentioned in this paper argue that rationalization is one of the most influential Kulturbedeutung of modernity, but they fail to grasp countermovements in modernity such as individuation, subjectivity and new life forms.
Abstract: The writings of Weber and Taylor have some strong affinities. Both start from the anthropological idea that man evaluates his position in the world and constitutes the social world by values. Their analyses of values aim at an understanding of those intersubjective meanings that have constituted western modernity. But, at the same time, their anthropological starting point leads to different interpretations of modernity. Historically, both argue that rationalization (as instrumental rationality) is one of the most influential Kulturbedeutung of modernity. Weber’s thesis of rationalization is, however, entangled in a paradox. Overemphasizing the rationalized elements of modernity, he fails scientifically to grasp certain countermovements in modernity, such as individuation, subjectivity and new life forms. Taylor, investigating the moral sources of expressivism, shows that these life forms are an inherent part of modernity. Yet his method of articulating the sources of modernity is insufficient to transform it towards a causal explanation of behaviour in everyday life.
TL;DR: In this article, the development of Cassirer's thought by following his intellectual progression from knowledge to culture, and from culture to praxis, is analyzed by analyzing the relationship between knowledge and culture.
Abstract: Investigating the neo-Kantian origins of structuralism and culturalism, this article analyses the development of Cassirer's thought by following his intellectual progression from knowledge to culture, and from culture to praxis. The article is in two parts. In the first part, the author presents an analysis of Cassirer's relational conception of knowledge. In the second part, the critique of knowledge is superseded by a critique of culture. The author analyses Cassirer's anthropological philosophy of symbolic forms and critically compares it to Simmel's vitalist theory of culture. The article ends with a plea for a practical sociology inspired by Cassirer's return to Kant's practical philosophy.
TL;DR: The implications of the Kosovo conflict for understanding the post-Cold War changes in NATO's strategic concept are discussed in this article, where a theoretical account of the move from war to police violence and the differences between the two concepts of violence are discussed.
Abstract: The author reflects on the implications of the Kosovo conflict for understanding the post-Cold War changes in NATO's strategic concept. He develops a theoretical account of the move from war to police violence and the differences between the two concepts of violence
TL;DR: In this article, the relative inability of social theory to shed light on the horrors of the late twentieth century is reconciled with the fact that both history and social science earlier devoted themselves to arriving at an understanding of war and violence in the modern world.
Abstract: How can the relative inability of social theory to shed light on the horrors of the late twentieth century be reconciled with the fact that both history and social science earlier devoted themselves to arriving at an understanding of war and violence in the modern world? An answer is provided in five steps. First, the disciplinary evolution of the social science disciplines tends to make them oblivious of important parts of their own heritage and opens up a chasm between the social and the historical sciences. Second, the contribution of military experiences to the formation of the policy orientation of modern social sciences renders them less rather than more capable of reflecting upon war as a societal and historical phenomenon. Third, rational choice theory and historical sociology are relatively unable to arrive at an understanding of the cultural constitution of modernity and share a naturalistic conception of war and violence. Fourth, at least five features of war in the late twentieth century transcend the experiences of modernity. Fifth, in order to grasp these features conceptually, social theory has to acknowledge different varieties of modernity seriously, to elaborate a historical phenomenology of the experiences of war and violence, and to arrive at an action-based explanation of wars in their societal and historical context
TL;DR: The notion of nature and nation are both rooted in the notion of birth, and both can be conceived anew if the underlying vision of natality is conceptualized, following Hannah Arendt, not as a set of inexorable biological processes, but as the fundamental human capacity for political action as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The concepts of nature and nation are both rooted in the notion of birth. Thus both can be conceived anew if the underlying vision of natality is conceptualized, following Hannah Arendt, not as a set of inexorable biological processes, but as the fundamental human capacity for political action. This reconceptualization of natality allows proposing an alternative to the prevalent commonsensical ethno-nationalist definitions of nation-hood, and also allows a view of the realm of nature itself as inherently political. Arendt's theory finds an interesting referential point in modern developments in biotechnology that threaten to undermine the `naturalness' of existing notions of ethnically conceived nations. Similarly, nature might be revealed to have a polis working at the very heart of what seemed to be a set of inexorable processes, independent from human beings.
TL;DR: This paper introduced the significance of the mythic tradition for modern theorizing, through a discussion of Schelling's study on the Deities of Samothrace, and argued that the Mythic tradition c...
Abstract: This article introduces the significance of the mythic tradition for modern theorizing, through a discussion of Schelling's study on the Deities of Samothrace. It argues that the mythic tradition c...
TL;DR: In this paper, the differences between fear and anxiety are explored with the help of Lacanian psychoanalytic definition of anxiety, and some examples of psychological breakdowns in wars are analyzed.
Abstract: Today's society is often referred to as the era of anxiety, since people increasingly experience uncertainties in their everyday lives. This article explores first the differences between fear and anxiety. Second, with the help of Lacanian psychoanalytic definition of anxiety, some examples of psychological breakdowns in wars are analyzed. And third, the attempts of contemporary military to create anxiety-free wars are confronted with similar trends in contemporary arts which try to decrease the viewer's sensitiveness to anxiety with regard to his/her perceptions of the body and of death
TL;DR: The involvement of European states in a war conducted on European territory at the end of the twentieth century has had significant repercussions in social theory, and in particular in the social theory of modernity as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The involvement of European states in a war conducted on European territory at the end of the twentieth century has had significant repercussions in social theory, and in particular in the social theory of modernity. On the one hand, it has reminded social theorists of the fact that war and violence have by and large been neglected in the theorizing of modernity - despite some previous attempts to correct the dominant image of largely peaceful processes of modernization and democratization. On the other hand, the war has provoked politico-intellectual interventions of a breadth not witnessed for a considerable period. Significantly, the positions on the NATO intervention into the conflicts in Yugoslavia cut across the apparently firmly established boundaries of intellectual debate.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: Santos as mentioned in this paper addresses representation in science by way of the lessons of painting (perspective), cartography (scale), photography (resolution) and other modes of representation.
Abstract: Representation is a strategic question. Santos addresses representation in science by way of the lessons of painting (perspective), cartography (scale), photography (resolution) and other modes. As in previous work (such as his treatment of the baroque) Santos follows a painter's point of view, combining crafts and art. A painterly perspective on representation and blindness in science and economics: this is interesting indeed. The observations on seeing and blindness, presence and absence remind me of those who have sought to supplement sociology of knowledge with sociology of ignorance. Seeing blindness has pitfalls of its own. 'Whatever we say today about the blindness of others will probably be seen in the future as evidence of our own blindness': no doubt. It is difficult to criticize representation without committing the same faults that one is criticizing. Which also applies to me in commenting on this paper. The findings Santos arrives at concerning the shortcomings of neoclassical economics are not as noteworthy as the way he arrives at them. His treatment suffers from problems of scale and perspective and at times comes across as too coarse-grained. For instance, what is 'mainstream economies'? Neoclassical economics, rational choice, new institutional economics, institutional analysis? As to 'modern science', what about new science such as quantum physics and chaos theory? That is, this critique of small-scale modelling in science itself uses smallscale models of economics and science to the extent that several insights are too general to be penetrating. This critique of representation comes with two other arguments a discussion of regulation and emancipation, and a plea for a new common sense, although there is no necessary connection between them. Regulation and emancipation are presented as the 'twin pillars of modernity', as capabilities and forms of knowledge. This is a sequel to Santos's Toward a New Common Sense (1995). This too opened with the idea that modernity is 'based on two pillars, the pillar of regulation and the pillar of emancipation'.