Justice in reality: overcoming moral relativism in Luc Boltanski’s pragmatic sociology of critique

Abstract: This Introduction contains a brief summary of the key themes, issues, and controversies covered in each of the following chapters.

Abstract: User-led approaches are increasingly common in the field of social services and call for significant change in social service culture and practices. This research1 aims to study the implementation ...

Abstract: Design is increasingly recognized as a competitive advantage for companies, but we know relatively little of the activities and perceptions of designers in different organizational contexts...

Abstract: Preface 1 The Structure of Critical Theories 2 Critical Sociology and Pragmatic Sociology of Critique 3 The Power of Institutions 4 The Necessity of Critique 5 Political Regimes of Domination 6 Emancipation in the Pragmatic Sense

Abstract: The paper offers a modelling of the sense of justice as it is displayed in ordinary situated disputes. While this model accounts for a plurality of legitimate forms of evaluation which are used in the process of critique and justification, it escapes a relativism of values by demonstrating that all these forms satisfy a set of common requirements. The reasonable character of the everyday sense of justice is also anchored in a reality test involving the engagement of objects which qualify for a certain form of evaluation. The paper discusses this model in relation to competing theories of justice, and models of social action and interaction.

Abstract: * Introduction * Part I: Four Kinds of Impasse *1. Modernity and its Promises: Habermas and Bidet *1.1 Between sociological suspicion and the rule of law: * Jurgen Habermas *1.2 With and against Marx and Rawls: Jacques Bidet *2. Between Relativism and Universalism: French * Critical Sociology *2.1 Capitalism and its critiques: Boltanski and Chiapello *2.2 The dialectic of universal and particular: Pierre Bourdieu *3. Touching the Void: Badiou and i ek *3.1 The exception is the norm *3.2 Miracles do happen: the ontology of Alain Badiou *3.3 Unreal: Slavoj i ek and the proletariat *4. The Generosity of Being: Antonio Negri *4.1 All is grace *4.2 Negri's Grundrisse: revolutionary subjectivity versus * Marxist 'objectivism' *4.3 The refusal of transcendence * Part II: Three Dimensions of Progress *5. A Critical Realist Ontology *5.1 The story so far *5.2 Dimensions of realism *6. Structure and Contradiction *6.1 Realism about structures *6.2 The primacy of contradiction *6.3 A dialectic of nature? *7. Justice and Universality *7.1 From fact to value *7.2 Equality and well-being *7.3 Why equality matters *8. Conclusion