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

The Spirit of Luc Boltanski: Chapter Outline, in The Spirit of Luc Boltanski: Essays on the ‘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.

New Technologies Supporting the Shift to User-Led Approaches in Social Services: A Study of the Implementation of Baromètre

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 ...

Meaningful Moments at Work : Frames Evoked by In-House and Consultancy Designers

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...

Mysteries and Conspiracies: Detective Stories, Spy Novels and the Making of Modern Societies

Abstract: * Acknowledgements * Foreword *1. REALITY / versus / Reality *2. The Inquiries of a London Detective *3. The Inquiries of a Paris Policeman *4. Identifying Secret Agents *5. The Endless Inquiries of Paranoids *6. Policing Sociological Inquiry * Epilogue * References * Endnotes

On Justification Work: How Compromising Enables Public Managers to Deal with Conflicting Values

Abstract: ____ In the public administration literature, a variety of responses to value confl icts have been described, such as trade-off s, decoupling values, and incrementalism. Yet little attention has been paid to the possibility of constructive compromises that enable public managers to deal with confl icting values simultaneously rather than separately. Th e authors use Luc Boltanski and Laurent Th evenot’s theory of justifi cation to extend current conceptualizations of management of confl icting values. On the basis of a qualitative study of daily practices of Dutch health care managers (executives and middle managers), they show how compromises are constructed and justifi ed to signifi cant others. Because compromises are fragile and open to criticism, managers have to perform continuous “justifi cation work” that entails not only the use of rhetoric but also the adaption of behavior and material objects. By inscribing compromises into objects and behavior, managers are able to solidify compromises, thereby creating temporary stability in times of public sector change.

The Left After May 1968 and the Longing for Total Revolution

Abstract: In various European countries, the relation between `the left' and `the right' presents itself today in paradoxical form: the attenuation of the differences at the level of policy making is accompanied by the persistence, if not even strengthening, of the polarisation in terms of verbal position taking and of partisan self-description. To understand this situation, one needs to return to that which constitutes the ideological core of the opposition between left and right. The left remains marked, though not necessarily in an explicit fashion, by the heritage of the quest for `total revolution'. Such quest presupposes a radical critique of the world in the form in which it presents itself, namely as an obstacle to the full realisation of humanity. In this sense, the left is intrinsically connected to critique, and left and right stand opposed to each other in the same way that critique is opposed to celebration. From the second half of the 19th century onwards, the critique of the left was elaborated in pa...

Luc Boltanski and His Critics: An Afterword, in The Spirit of Luc Boltanski: Essays on the ‘Pragmatic Sociology of Critique’

Abstract: This chapter provides a detailed Afterword, which is intended to give the reader a thorough overview of the principal issues examined in "The Spirit of Luc Boltanski: Essays on the ‘Pragmatic Sociology of Critique’ (London: Anthem Press, 2014)".