Arendt, role theory and the ethical evaluation of action

2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kieran Bonner
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Role Theory ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
The Social ◽  
Reflexive Sociology

In what way can social action be simultaneously inquired into and ethically evaluated by social theory? This paper explores the responsibility sociology has with regard to the political and ethical implications of its knowledge production and does so through a case study examination of the sociological concept of role. It compares and evaluates the different orientations that ground the concept of role and Arendt’s concept of action, which is then expanded to address the critique of the social sciences by theorists like Arendt and Foucault. The paper engages a particular tradition of reflexive sociology in the context of the danger of banal evil (Eichmann) and in the context of modern structures of domination that makes that danger more prevalent. Arguing that a theoretical non-empirical reflexivity is called for, and drawing on the phenomenological reflexivity of Berger and the constitutive reflexivity of Blum and McHugh, the paper seeks to demonstrate the need for a reflexive awareness of the actor’s responsibility for action and the theorist’s responsibility for formulating action that can make conceptual space for reasoned evaluation oriented by and to principle.

Stretching Situated Knowledge

2020 ◽  
pp. 87-105
Author(s):  
Milja Kurki
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Critical Social Theory ◽  
Situated Knowledge ◽  
Ir Theory ◽  
The Social ◽  
Standpoint Epistemology ◽  
Critical Social

This chapter, first of three to develop relational cosmology in conversation with critical social theory and IR theory, argues that at the heart of relational cosmology lies a commitment to situated knowledge. This perspective on knowledge production is similar in some regards to standpoint epistemology but also diverges from it in key respects. The chapter argues that IR scholarship can benefit from close engagement with relational cosmology suggestions as to how our knowledge is limited and how we might need to ‘deal with it’, especially in the social sciences, where there is a tendency to glorify the role of the human in knowing the human.

scholarly journals Shaping the Grammar of Security.

AmeriQuests ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Lynn De Silva
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Political Identity ◽  
Critical Hermeneutics ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Core ◽  
Language Discourse ◽  
The Social

In Australia, practices of preemptive deterrence construct the political identity of asylum seekers as the ‘illegal other’, and as a threat to national security and to national identity. At the core of the state's illegality regimes lies the endorsement of exclusionary norms through the grammar of security. Who is responsible for the endorsement of these norms and how do they (re)produce illegality regimes? How are securitization moves legitimized and sustained through illegality regimes? How may they be resisted? A case study of Sweden illustrates how the securitization discourses mobilizing illegality regimes may be resisted through norm circles in the political sphere that endorse norms of egalitarianism, justice and equality. This paper focuses on the ‘critical realism’ associated with the works of Dave Elder-Vass and Roy Bhaskar. Elder-Vass draws on the philosophy of Roy Bhaskar to examine the ontology of language, discourse, culture and knowledge and their contribute to the construction of social reality, thus synthesizing aspects of realism and constructionism. Roy Bhaskar’s philosophy of the social sciences has aimed to crystallize a transcendental realist framework incorporating a form of critical naturalism and also critical hermeneutics.

Sociology’s encounter with the decolonial: The problematique of indigenous vs that of coloniality, extraversion and colonial modernity

2020 ◽  
pp. 001139212093114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sujata Patel
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Sociological Theory ◽  
The Political ◽  
Colonial Modernity ◽  
Politics Of Difference ◽  
Everyday Practices ◽  
The Social ◽  
Everyday Knowledge

How did the process of decolonization reframe the social sciences? This article maps the interventions made by theorists of and from the ex-colonial countries in reconceptualizing sociology both as practice and as an episteme. It argues that there are geographically varied and intellectually diverse decolonial approaches being formulated using sociological theory to critique the universals propounded by the traditions of western sociology/social sciences; that these diverse knowledges are connected through colonial and global circuits and that these create knowledge geographies; that collectively these diverse intellectual positions argue that sociology/social sciences are constituted in and within the politics of ‘difference’ organized within colonial, nationalist and global geopolitics; that this ‘difference’ is being reproduced in everyday knowledge practices and is being structured through the political economy of knowledge; and that the destabilization of this power structure and democratization of this knowledge is possible only when there is a fulsome interrogation of this political economy, and its everyday practices of knowledge production within universities and research institutes. It argues that this critique needs to be buffered by the constitution of alternate networks of circulation of this knowledge.

scholarly journals Political Narratives and "Abraham Obama"

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Molly Andrews
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Barack Obama ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political World ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Narratives ◽  
Highly Effective ◽  
Central Case ◽  
Epistemological Framework

Political narratives examine the ways in which stories, or narratives, are used to investigate the political world. Historically, stories have not been regarded as legitimate sources of data for such explorations. In recent years, however, this has changed, as “the narrative turn” hit the social sciences; still, while disciplines such as psychology, sociology, and anthropology were more amenable to this alteration—representing, as it does, not only different methodologies, but also a different epistemological framework—many political scientists continue to resist the idea that political narratives can offer a very particular, and almost unique, perspective on how individuals and groups construct the political world and are constructed by it. One of the most dramatic uses of highly effective political narratives, which blurs the boundaries between the personal and public, is that of Barack Obama, which is used as a central case study in this article.

Travail d’articulation et organisations-frontières dans la recherche urbaine française

2006 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabien Milanovic
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Social Activities ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Urban Research ◽  
The Social ◽  
Etude De Cas ◽  
Sciences Sociales ◽  
Organizational Problems

English The multiplication of locations and the differentiation of social actors encountered in contemporary sciences raise organizational problems. Basing itself on a case study in the social sciences, viz. French urban research, this article offers an analysis of the institutional articulation process that enables both the activities of knowledge production to be linked to other social activities and the researchers to interact with other classes of social actors. The article thus suggests a setting in perspective of the contemporary modes of knowledge production, taking into account their diversity as well as their political stakes. French La multiplication des sites et la différenciation des acteurs que l'on rencontre dans les sciences contemporaines posent des proble`mes en termes d'organisation. En s'appuyant sur une étude de cas en sciences sociales, la recherche urbaine française, cet article propose une analyse du travail institutionnel d'articulation qui a pour objet de permettre à la fois aux activités de production de connaissances scientifiques d'être connectées à d'autres activités sociales et aux chercheurs d'interagir avec d'autres types d'acteurs. C'est ainsi à une mise en perspective des actuels modes de production des savoirs qu'invite ce texte, qui fasse cas de leur pluralité et de leurs enjeux politiques.

The Social Scientist as Political Activist: The Ethical Dilemmas

Worldview ◽  
1975 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 45-49
Author(s):  
Bruce M. Russett
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Ethical Dilemmas ◽  
Social Scientist ◽  
Industrial Society ◽  
The Political ◽  
Moral Obligations ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Activist ◽  
The Government

What are the political, social, and moral obligations of a social scientist? How sure, for example, must a peace researcher be before advocating a particular policy? When does he or she pass over the line from the faithful searcher after truth to the possibly erring committed citizen? Questions worth exploring.The government official is at one extreme on a continuum running from social theory to social action. The official's responsibility is to act, and in a modern industrial society the acts of a senior official can have enormous impact on the lives, the liberties, and the happiness off citizens. The official knows this and the citizens know it.

Toward a critical theory of globalization

2004 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Bohman
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Critical Theory ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Practical Knowledge ◽  
Social Scientist ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Social ◽  
Practical Synthesis ◽  
Social Distribution

One of the central ideas of both Critical Theory social theory and of pragmatist theories of knowledge is that epistemic and normative claims are embedded in some practical context. This “practical turn” of epistemology is especially relevant to the social sciences, whose main practical contribution, according to pragmatism, is to supply methods for identifying and solving problems. The problem of realizing the democratic ideal under modern social conditions is not only an instance of pragmatist inspired social science, pragmatists would also argue that it is the political context for practical inquiry today, now all the more pressing with the political problems of globalization. Despite weaknesses in the pragmatist idea of social science as the reflexive practical knowledge of praxis, a pragmatic interpretation of critical social inquiry is the best way to develop such practical knowledge in a distinctly critical or democratic manner. That is, the accent shifts from the epistemic superiority of the social scientist as expert to something based on the wider social distribution of relevant practical knowledge; the missing term for such a practical synthesis is what I call “multiperspectival theory.” As an example of this sort of practical inquiry, I discuss democratic experiments involving “minipublics” and argue that they can help us think about democracy in new, transnational contexts.

On engagement and distance in social analysis: a reply to my critics

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Friedrich Kratochwil
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Social Analysis ◽  
Cognitive Capacities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Moral Dimensions

Abstract The problem of ‘distance and engagement’ highlights the Weberian paradox that objectivity in the social sciences cannot be based on demonstrative proof; it has to take into account values as the constituents of our ‘interests’. Values should be explicit even if this ‘perspectivity’ cannot satisfy the criteria of necessity and universality. Allegedly, my skeptical approach to ‘social theory’ leaves researchers with insufficient ‘hope’, but one also learns from understanding that something is impossible or conceptually flawed. Moreover, deeper issues of analyzing social action, with existential and moral dimensions, should be considered. These involve our cognitive capacities, experiences, and emotions.

“We Speak the Truth!”

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 53-80
Author(s):  
Sari Hanafi
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Social Science ◽  
The Political ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
The Social ◽  
Academic Qualifications

This study investigates the preachers and their Friday sermons in Lebanon, raising the following questions: What are the profiles of preachers in Lebanon and their academic qualifications? What are the topics evoked in their sermons? In instances where they diagnosis and analyze the political and the social, what kind of arguments are used to persuade their audiences? What kind of contact do they have with the social sciences? It draws on forty-two semi-structured interviews with preachers and content analysis of 210 preachers’ Friday sermons, all conducted between 2012 and 2015 among Sunni and Shia mosques. Drawing from Max Weber’s typology, the analysis of Friday sermons shows that most of the preachers represent both the saint and the traditional, but rarely the scholar. While they are dealing extensively with political and social phenomena, rarely do they have knowledge of social science

Christ Existing as Community

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Mawson
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Christian Ethics ◽  
Dietrich Bonhoeffer ◽  
Human Community ◽  
The Social ◽  
Theological Study ◽  
Sanctorum Communio ◽  
The Church

How can theologians recognize the church as a historical and human community, while still holding that it has been established by Christ and is a work of the Spirit? How can a theological account of the church draw insights and concepts from the social sciences, without Christian commitments and claims about the church being undermined or displaced? In 1927, the 21-year-old Dietrich Bonhoeffer defended his licentiate dissertation, Sanctorum Communio: A Theological Study of the Sociology of the Church. This remains his most neglected and misunderstood work. Christ Existing as Community thus retrieves and analyses Bonhoeffer’s engagement with social theory and attempt at ecclesiology. Against standard readings and criticisms of this work, Mawson demonstrates that it contains a rich and nuanced approach to the church, one which displays many of Bonhoeffer’s key influences—especially Luther, Hegel, Troeltsch, and Barth—while being distinctive in its own right. In particular, Mawson argues that Sanctorum Communio’s theology is built around a complex dialectic of creation, sin, and reconciliation. On this basis, he contends that Bonhoeffer’s dissertation has ongoing significance for work in theology and Christian ethics.

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