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

Abstract: The main purpose of this paper is to provide a review of Rodrigo Cordero’s Crisis and critique: On the fragile foundations of social life (2017). To this end, the analysis examines Cordero’s book at several levels. The first part makes some general observations on its principal strengths. The second part gives a brief overview of its thematic structure. The third part elucidates its key arguments. The fourth part sheds light on its most significant limitations. The paper concludes by identifying major challenges to which, in light of the methodical evaluation of Cordero’s study, we need to face up in order to do justice to the tension-laden role that the relationship between crisis and critique can, and should, play in contemporary social theory.

Abstract: This paper examines and applies the widely influential work of Boltanski and Thevenot in order to investigate and understand the political issues or disputes within sport. We provide a critical elaboration of Boltanski and Thevenot’s theory of the six ‘orders of worth’ or ‘worlds’ of justification that are drawn upon by social actors within these disputes. We examine how social actors may draw upon multiple justifications (or worlds) in order to advance their positions or interests; how power differences arise between these worlds; and, how weak worlds of justification may extend their influence within specific issues. To elaborate our analysis, we discuss the public issue of Olympic bidding and hosting, and how key social actors or stakeholders (such as local and national governments, event sponsors, and sport bodies) draw on different worlds of justification, particularly in advocating the staging of these events. This issue indicates that the six worlds are organized hierarchically into three ‘...

Abstract: The concept of legitimacy—i.e., being regarded as “lawful, admissible, and justified” (Edwards in NGO rights and responsibilities: a new deal for global governance, The Foreign Policy Center, London, 2000)—is pivotal within civil society research. Recently, the concept has applied to wider notions concerning the civil sphere and civic action. The introductory article of this special issue aims to provide an overview of conceptualizations of legitimacy within civil society research and to point at new avenues for future research. We depart from Suddaby et al.’s (Acad Manag Ann 11(1):451–478, 2017) configurations of legitimacy within management literature: as property, perception, and process. While these configurations are also reflected in civil society literature, with legitimacy as property being prominent, they do not capture the full scope of civil society literature on legitimacy, given its multidisciplinary nature, its inclusion of multiple levels of analysis, and the presence of complementary conceptualizations of legitimacy. We posit that the legitimacy-as-relations-in-processes perspective is valuable for advancing research in civil society organizations.

Abstract: Habermas coined the term post-secularism to reflect a time period in which religions are given a more central part in social and political life. Even if there is more openness to religion, many rel...

Abstract: While participatory processes in urban development are meant to increase citizen influence, decades of experimentation have led to mixed results. In this article we answer two inter-related questions: (1) How are “citizens' interests” defined in agreements that manage urban redevelopment projects? (2) When—under what conditions—are citizens able to alter the trajectory of urban development? By analyzing cases through the concept of “pragmatic registers”, we show how residents, developers and civil servants can bend citizen participation—and its material arrangements from workshops and public meetings to contracts and policy documents—to serve their own purposes. The organizational and legal tools used in urban planning, we argue, privilege entrepreneurial citizens who are active, flexible and possess negotiating know-how. Participatory processes (re)produce moral categories, with entrepreneurial residents seen as the “good” residents who henceforth become the focus of urban policy. These categories, however, can be challenged by other residents who mobilize support from politicians, the media and courts. This in turn sparks new debates about who truly represents the neighborhood, creating new boundaries between residents.