Theory The Newsletter of the Research Committee on Sociological Theory International Sociological Association Spring/Summer 2011

CURRENT BOARD TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chairs Ronald N. Jacobs Craig Browne and Paul Jones: Editors’ In- Giuseppe Sciortino troduction …………………………...... 1

Secretary/Treasurer Mid-Term Conference Call for Papers: Cul- Agnes Ku tures and Civilizations in the Modern- Division of Social Science, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. World……………………………………...2 Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong Email: [email protected] Donald N. Levine: In Memoriam: Shmuel Board Members Noah (S. N.) Eisenstadt 1923-2010 Jeffrey Alexander ………………………………………….....3 Gianpaolo Baiocchi Patrick Baert Mabel Berezin Fuyuki Kurasawa Barbara A. Misztal: Sociology of Vulnerabi- Philip Smith lity and Critical Stance Frédéric Vandenberghe Gilles Verpraet ...... 5 Seung Kuk Kim Kiyomitsu Yui

Raluca Soreanu: Outlaw Emotions Associate Board Members Working-Through a Psychoanalytic José Maurício Domingues Sociology of the Mind...... 9 Brad West Ken Thompson Eduardo de la Fuente Marcel Fournier Gilles Verpraet: How to Shape Society? The Sang-Jin Hang Elisa P. Reis Social Explanandum in Latour and Desco- Edmond Wright la...... 10 Consuelo Corradi Alexander Filipov Homa Zanjanizadeh Filipe Carreira da Silva Call for Nominations: Margaret Archer Best Junior Theorist Paper in Sociological Theory

Editors of Theory …………………………………………...12 Craig Browne E-mail: [email protected] Paul Jones E-mail: [email protected] Department of Sociology and Social Po- licy A26, The University of Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia Editors’ Introduction

Sociological theory evolves in various ways: returning to the same problems, disclosing

new areas of inquiry, placing perspectives in new contexts, developing programmes and

unending projects, feeling completely per- plexed, being open to dialogue. You will find all of these ways of sociological theori-

sing and more in this issue of Theory.

1 We open with RC16’s co-chairs’ Call for and we welcome suggestions regarding fu- Papers for the next Interim Conference of ture issues. the Research Committee. Here we only want Craig Browne & Paul Jones to note, as is also mentioned in the call for papers, how enjoyable were RC16’s previ- ous interim conference meetings in Busan in 2008 and before that in Rio de Janeiro in 2004. We look forward to seeing you in Call for Papers: RC 16 Mid-term Con- Trento, Italy in 2012. ference – Cultures and Civilizations in the Although the death of S N Eisenstadt is an Contemporary World enormous loss to the sociological theory The RC16 mid-term conference will be held community, we are proud to be able to bela- in Trento, Italy, June 28-29, 2012. Those of tedly publish the obituary that we solicited us who attended the 2008 mid-term con- from our colleague Donald Levine. We ference in Pusan, South Korea will remem- believe that all of us working in the field of ber the lavish hospitality and the stimulating sociological theory, sociology and the social intellectual debate we enjoyed. Indeed, we sciences more generally can draw are daunted by the prospect of following the considerable inspiration and sustenance standard set by at that conference, which from Eisenstadt’s lifetime of dedication and was co-sponsored by the Korean Sociologi- achievement. cal Association and co-organized with Pro- It would be difficult to dispute the claim that fessor Seung Kuk Kim. Eisenstadt’s work has given us enormous The mid-term conference of RC16 provides insight into the human condition in its diver- the most diverse and cosmopolitan forum sity. The piece that follows by Barbara Mis- for all sociologists interested in theoretical ztal addresses one of the main features of debate and conceptual work. Designed to the human condition: vulnerability. We are foster critical debate among sociologists of sure that the piece will lead readers to turn various countries and persuasions, it is the to Barbara Misztal’s recently published optimal venue to discuss recent theoretical book: The Challenges of Vulnerability, research, beyond and across theoretical which deals, of course, with a topic of schools. We also work hard to provide a considerable contemporary importance. The forum that is friendly both to long-time next piece, by Raluca Soreanu, sits well members of RC16 and to newcomers. with Misztal’s, as it reconsiders the sociolo- gy of emotions and how emotions have been The mid-term conference, titled Cultures theorised. ‘Outlaw Emotions: Working- and Civilizations in the Contemporary Through a Psychoanalytic Sociology of the World, is open to all contributions to socio- Mind’ was originally presented at the last logical theory, broadly construed. In recent International Sociological Association conferences we have had exciting papers World Congress and Soreanu challenges and discussions about topics such as globa- certain common assumptions that lead to the lization and transnationalism, multiple mo- obscuring of outlaw emotions. She argues dernities, cultural difference and the cultural for a more inter-relational understanding, turn, civil society and the public sphere, something that Gilles Verpraet explores in a media and the creative industries, aesthetics, different way and in different terms in his performance, identity, intersubjectivity, cul- investigation of the question: How to Shape tural trauma, and postcolonialism, as well as Society: the social explanandum in Latour a variety of other interventions into debates and Descola. about classical and contemporary social theory. We look forward to continuing these Finally, we would like to reiterate once conversations, and beginning new ones. again our desire to publish contributions from members of the research committee If you would like to attend the mid- term meeting, please submit the title and

2 abstract of your proposed paper through the We look forward to seeing all of you in conference website: Trento. http://www2.unitn.it/events/isa2012abstract/ reg.aspx Yours sincerely, You can also email your proposed paper title Peppino Sciortino and Ron Jacobs and abstract to co-chairs, RC 16 [email protected].

The deadline for all proposals is November 30, 2011. IN MEMORIAM: SHMUEL NOAH (S. This year, in the night of June 27th, we will N.) EISENSTADT (1923-2010) also congregate to celebrate the winner of Shmuel Eisenstadt’s oeuvre stands as the our Best Junior Theorist Paper in Sociologi- worthy successor to Max Weber’s compara- cal Theory Award tive historical sociology. Beyond his prodi- (http://www.isasociolgy.org/rc16_award_02. gious productivity – author of more than htm). fifty books; editor or co-editor of some two Be sure to arrive in time! dozen compilations; builder of a respected The mid-term conference will be hosted by Department; University dean; mover in in- the Dipartimento di Sociologia of the Uni- ternational associations; peripatetic lecturer; versità di Trento. The oldest and more pres- generous mentor; indefatigably cheering tigious sociology department in Italy, it has colleague – Eisenstadt transformed the ways been consistently ranked among the very in which we have come to think about ci- best in the country vilization, modernity, and societal change. (http://www.unitn.it/en/dsrs). The seeds of this achievement sprouted at The conference will take place right in the Hebrew University in the early 1940s. At 12 center of Trento, right in the middle of the Shmuel came to from his native Italian Alps. The well-preserved historical Warsaw, whence his widowed mother res- center of the city is one of the jewels of cued the family moving first to the United North Eastern Italy, with plenty of Medieval States then to Palestine in 1935. An intellec- and Renaissance buildings, castles and tually curious teenager, he devoured new churches worth a visit Penguin paperbacks and loved to discern (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trento). It is historical patterns. In 1940 he began univer- the ideal location for exploring the Alps in a sity studies, gaining a Master’s thesis in variety of ways British labor history. His primary mentor at (http://www.visittrentino.it/en/turismo-in- the University was , under trentino), either before or after the con- whom he received his doctorate in 1947 with a dissertation on the history of sociolo- ference. Cities such as Verona, Venice, and Bozen (in the German speaking South Ty- gical thought. Since the University at that rol) are easy to reach by train, and can easily time contained no department of sociology, be integrated into your travel plans as well. Buber offered Shmuel access to core texts of the discipline from his personal library a- The official conference website will be lau- long with private tutorials once a month. nched December 1st 2012, and will provide all the necessary information for joining the This tutelage grounded a deep interest in the conference, booking the hotel at the con- field and moved young Eisenstadt toward ference rates and, more generally, organi- two hallmarks of his intellectual career: o- zing the trip. Those who cannot wait may penness to dialogue, and engagement with use the following general website: the interface between particularism and uni- versalism. When he came to publish a trea- http://international.unitn.it/welcome- tise on his doctoral project, The Form of services/how-arrive. Sociology (1976), Eisenstadt couched it not

3 as a compendium of findings or doctrines Jewish Civilization (1992) with other histo- but as a narrative of dialogical interactions ric civilizations. involving vicissitudes of closures and ope- In an interview shortly before his passing, nings. Eisenstadt emphasized – in words that serve His relation to the discipline, moreover, in- to rebuke those who champion an inevitable volved a distinctive balance: between parti- Clash of Civilizations hypothesis – that all cularistic attachment and openness to other civilizations contain both particularistic and fields. For all his intellectual, administrative, universalistic strands. Such understanding and collegial involvement with the field of he associated with his teacher Buber. sociology, Eisenstadt felt no less at home in Thanks to the latter’s capacious intellectual many other disciplines–especially history, grasp – Shmuel liked to recall that early on political science, economics, and area stu- his mentor had assigned the Tao Te Ching, dies. He sought to help Israeli universities and helped him delve into the depths of the maintain joint departments of anthropology Weberian corpus – his growth as a scholar and sociology. Rather than adhere to rese- took an ever-expanding form. Postdoctoral arch programs that took directives from the work at the London School of Economics constraints of a discipline, he championed connected him with Morris Ginsberg, the concept of Problemstellung– Edward Shils, and the trove of British social problematique, he later styled it – in the anthropologists, all reinforcing a passion for conviction that engagement with a problem, comparative historical studies, which he not disciplinary guidelines, deserved prece- pursued with his own analytic bite and in- dence in determining the boundaries of in- sightful theorizing. tellectual inquiry. Eisenstadt’s formative monographs emb- That distinctive balance between engage- raced conceptual schemes that dominated ment with particular collectivities, on the the sociological world of the 1950s. The one hand, and analytic and contextual Absorption of Immigrants (1955) foregroun- breadth on the other, which was manifest in ded prevailing typologies of social roles, Eisenstadt’s attitudes toward disciplines, schemata of deviance, and the four-function appeared a fortiori in his relation to societal paradigm of . From Genera- collectivities. Shmuel came of age in the tion to Generation (1956) solved a long- Yishuv (Palestinian Jewry prior to the Sta- standing puzzle about the existence of status te), whereas during the year that be- groups based on age by invoking the parti- came independent he was studying in Lon- cularism/universalism variable that Parsons don and therefore, he recalled later, wit- had done so much to promote. He also nessed its transformation into a state from followed Parsons, along with Robert Bellah abroad. Viewing that momentous change and others, in a return to evolutionary thin- from afar helped leaven his deep and positi- king, this time fortified by rejection of as- ve understanding of Jewish history and tra- sumptions of unilineality and assumed nor- ditions with a degree of distanced under- mative progress. He integrated other con- standing that few have achieved. In time temporary sociological emphases, going recognized as the foremost scholar of world further than Parsons even in noting the con- civilizations of his day, he never forgot his flicts and reactionary directions inherent in Judaic origins. Rather, he made Jewry the modernization. He identified sources of fai- foil for an evolution of comparative brava- led attempts to modernize; analyzed varie- do. In the 1950s, he compared differences in ties of reactive sectarianism–proto- childrearing practices between kibbutzim fundamentalist, fundamentalist, and com- (communal settlements) and moshavim (co- munal-national; and highlighted the struggle operative settlements), and then dealt with for new forms of collective identity. the absorption of immigrants in Israeli The problematique that caught Eisenstadt’s society by comparing the Yishuv and the attention during the last half of his life con- cultures of immigrant groups. Ultimately he cerned the fates of human societies in the moved, four decades later, to compare 4 wake of the expansive energies that led to ever on the lookout for new intellectual the formation of empires. With The Political problems. Systems of Empires (1973) he opened a bold It is unlikely that we shall see the likes of new research program, one that had exten- Weber or of Eisenstadt again, even though ded his unflagging comparativism to the numerous scholars of comparative civiliza- broadest historical scope. A decade later, tion continue to work those vast vineyards. engaging Karl Jaspers’s pivotal notion of Supported by his devoted wife Shulamit, “axial civilizations,” he turned a corner that Eisenstadt manifested a level of intellectual led to the magisterial, neo-Weberian works energy that literally took your breath away. for which he will doubtless be most remem- It will be a formidable challenge to maintain bered. These can be said to have come to a his grand tradition of work, so demanding in head in Japanese Civilization: A Compara- breadth of knowledge and scarcely tolerated tive View (1996). That work, perhaps his let alone supported by current academic finest single monograph (and most elegantly systems. One hopes that it will come to composed, thanks to exceptional editing by secure the attention it deserves. the Press), offered an unprecedentedly profound grasp of Japanese Donald N. Levine history and a breath-taking comparison with Europe, India, and China. Sociology of vulnerability and critical Eisenstadt qualified the conventional com- stance parative focus on national societies in three respects. He prodded us to realize that those It is now very timely to begin the process of societies cannot be understood as relatively theorizing vulnerability, as the mass media, closed, self-sufficient functioning systems, politicians and academics increasingly use but needed to be understood as interacting this term to signify the importance of the societal units, which never function in isola- fragile, insecure and contingent nature of tion. In thoughts for a project on societies of modern living. The proliferation of the noti- small scale, like Israel, Holland, Switzer- on of vulnerability seems to reflect a new land, and ancient Greece (which never sense of risk and is explained as a result of reached fruition), he questioned the unspo- many new unsettling trends (from global ken assumption that the size of such systems terrorism, through new medical technolo- does not affect the conditions of their creati- gies, climate change to the development of vity. Above all, his turn to civilizational GMOs), the growing economic polarization studies forced us to realize the larger socio- and a lack of vision of the future. Although cultural forms in which contemporary natio- the term vulnerability has acquired a Zeit- nal societies subsisted. From that came his geist-like status, the notion itself tends to be mature touchstone concept, Multiple Mo- defined in many different and unclear ways. dernities, whereby organizational forms that Such an ambiguous use of the concept, toge- might indeed be on their way to becoming ther with the puzzle of its current popularity, universal would need to be seen as embed- raises a question how to conceptualise it not ded in sociocultural frames of much broader only in a more critical way but also in a way scale of time and space. which reflects this notion’s complexity, appeal and multidimensionality. To answer In all his treatments of societal systems, this challenge was the reason for my writing Shmuel Eisenstadt was ever on the lookout The Challenges of Vulnerability: In search for phenomena of creativity: protest, change, of strategies for a less vulnerable social life revolution, transformation. Uniquely, The (Palgrave 2011), which also aims to contri- Heritage of Sociology volumes he edited, on bute to debates about how to reduce the ex- Weber and Buber, foregrounded the notions periences of vulnerability. of charisma and creativity. The leitmotif of continual creativity applied reflexively to his It was only after I finished writing The own work style: he was, he said of himself, Challenges of Vulnerability that I realised the empirical and normative significance of

5 vulnerability for critical social theory. I am on of vulnerability in a way that reflects this not going to summarize the book here but term’s complexity, appeal and multidimen- aim to show that sociology, by developing a sionality and I seek to contribute to debates comprehensive understanding and awaren- about how to reduce the experiences of vul- ess of vulnerability, can offer an illumina- nerability. The existing approaches to vulne- ting account of the nature of society, indeed rability tend to conceptualize it in many one that can motivate and justify critical different and unclear ways. For some social stands. scholars (for example, Furedi 2005), the In short, I argue that the vulnerability per- vulnerability narrative performs the function spective offers both a critical normative of promoting people’s passivity and retreat standpoint and an empirical–analytical ac- to privacy, implies a lack of agency or count of social trends and therefore the responsibility and contributes to feelings of recognition of vulnerability is the necessary defenceless. For others writers, this discour- first step in developing arguments for social se either discriminates against people who change. To comprehend vulnerability mat- are subjects to an intervention or imposes a ters because it makes it possible to ask ques- duty on those who are classified as the vul- tions about equality and justice and enables nerable to take preventive measures (Peter- us to analyse some central mechanisms of sen and Wilkinson 2008). Some view the social life, and thus revitalise our social notion of vulnerability as an indicator of imagination. The sociology of vulnerability, subjective well-being, while others try to by establishing a powerful understanding of offer a broader perspective by combining vulnerability and by informing public debate subjective and objective nature of the depri- about the social character of human vulne- vation (Whelan and Maître 2008). One of rability, can convey much more about social the most interesting approaches is offered by injustice than now very popular studies of Butler’s (2004) view of vulnerability as happiness which enjoy an enormous publici- conducive to developing wider modes of ty in the UK, with both David Cameron, the commonality and responsibility. conservative MP, and Ed Miliband, the lea- Following Bauman’s (2011) argument that der of opposition, promoting happiness as human vulnerability is the foundation of all the central task of the political system. Mo- political power and Butler’s (2004) idea that reover, happiness is singular; each case the public sense of justice is founded on the speaks only for itself. It is also only subjec- experience of human vulnerability, I assert tive as it only belongs to the world what is that for the concept of vulnerability to be a felt, while vulnerability may allow us to productive tool to account for our sufferings, grasp what most alarms us in our contempo- it needs to fuse or bind together body, self rary world, what scares us, that is, the forces and society, it needs to take into account that shape our lives which are no longer the both objective and subjective conditions personal, the forces with which make us of well being as well as the temporal struc- feeling powerless. ture of action, that is, the unavoidability of The concept of vulnerability is difficult to the present, the irreversibility of the past and define, yet since it is not the only idea that the unpredictability of the futures. Such an does not bear too much inspection (we im- understanding of vulnerability assumes that, plicitly deploy many equally not precisely in addition to being biologically frail, we are defined terms, such as happiness, reason or also socially vulnerable, that our vulnerabili- freedom) and since the discourse of vulne- ty is constituted socially to the extent that rability has a significant role in facilitating a vulnerability is fundamentally dependent on critical stand and evaluation of the present existing norms of recognition and to the day socio-economic conditions, sociology extent that the degree of vulnerability of a should take on a challenge to conceptualize person is precipitated by and through the this notion and analyse its relevance and actions of others, and finally such an under- implications in a more comprehensive and standing assumes that our vulnerability is focused way. In my book, I define the noti- 6 associated with the linear experience of hu- allows us to comprehend individuals’ resi- man time in the process of life. lience to pain, rejection of humiliation and This broad definition of vulnerability cap- demands and struggles for respect and tures the ways in which an individual expe- rights. In this light, the vulnerability ap- riences different aspects of disadvantage proach’s significance is connected with its connected with our contemporary depen- vision of a supportive society that can make dence on others, the future risks and in- difference to one’s life. By allowing us to securities as well as legacies of the past approach the dilemma of the quality of life traumas, wounds and harms. In short, I from three different angles, it offers an op- propose to focus on three forms of vulnera- portunity to promote people’s achievements, bility, the first form refers to our exposure to rights and opportunities in all spheres of life involuntary dependence on others for care, and to conceptualise social change not only recognition and love, the second form is in terms of economic criteria, and hence it rooted in the unsecured future and the third has implications for public action and social form of vulnerability grasps the conse- change. Talking about vulnerabilities is quences of painful past. My approach, by another way of talking about injustice as it is capturing vulnerability’s several forms that referring to the experience of misrecogniti- are inherent in the human condition and on, humiliation, a lack of fair way to distri- reinforced by life in society and its institu- bute things and right procedures for organi- tions, conceptualizes vulnerability as an zing protection as well as to the absence of irreducibly plural, multidimensional notion tolerance and respect for different obligati- that cannot be conceived on a single conti- ons and loyalties. nuum. In short, I propose to understand the Another major strength of the proposed ap- concept of vulnerability as an irreducibly proach is connected with the fact that the plural, multidimensional notion that cannot vulnerability is a very useful notion to dis- be conceived on a single continuum. cuss the relationships between society and There are benefits associated with such a the market, society and the state and society comprehensive conceptualization of vulne- and the global system. As these relations- rability. It allows us to avoid inconsistent, hips, due to many contemporary trends, in- incoherent and often confusing answers to cluding the process of globalization, are questions of who are vulnerable, what are under conditions of change, we need to re- their needs and how to protect them. It pre- conceive these interactions. In other words, vents fragmentation of our knowledge and in order to develop our knowledge of me- casts the net of our understanding of the chanisms shaping the quality of social life issue as widely as possible. The most signi- and measures to challenge vulnerability, ficant advantage of emphasizing the three seen as an indicator of subjective experience dimensional vision of vulnerability is of injustice which roots are located in the connected with the fact that it opens up pos- objective conditions, we need to expand our sibilities of grasping disadvantage from a comprehension of changing relationships more wide-ranging perspective than from between these main spheres. For example, in the solely economic stand as it is broad the context of the increased interest in the enough to capture the ways in which an in- way in which economic life interlinks with dividual’s experience of a range of injustice, social structures and practices, the notion of humiliation, misrecognition, risks and trau- vulnerability, understood as the measure of mas, while at the same time investigating deprivation which allows accounting for not the strength of socio-economic system. just fluctuating levels of economic and soci- al well-being but also for people’s attitudes The multidimensional conception of vulne- and the resilience against advert events, can rability not only helps us achieve the breadth be a good indicator of potential threats to the and depth of comprehension of vulnerability socio-economic system. By registering eco- without reducing it to economic, political or nomic risks and people’s experience of such cultural dimensions of disadvantage. It also crisis, the concept of vulnerability offers a

7 fruitful approach to grasp the interaction the attempt to grasp changes to global safety between social and economic threats. and security resulting from the dynamics of The aggregative conception of vulnerability interactions at the international level. can also shed light on the complexity of the To conclude, without suggesting that we citizenship process and the scale and conse- evaluate everything from the perspective of quences of the transformation of the relati- vulnerability and without necessarily propo- onships between society and the state. Deve- sing a shift from the focus on happiness to loping such knowledge is presently of the unhappiness, I think we need to appreciate especial relevance as the idea of citizenship the social relevance and practical appeal of is under scrutiny due to a board change in the vulnerability perspective. This approach the ways that states have been responding to can convey much more about social injusti- the process of globalization. The state’s ce and carries more weight than studies of power becomes transformed and as many happiness because being vulnerable is more national governments face the reduction in acutely experienced than desirable states or their capacity to protect their citizens, at the gains (Offer 2006). Thus, focusing on the same time however more groups are de- comprehension of the cause and consequen- manding the expansion and redefinition of ces of vulnerability can be more productive citizenship rights. In order fully grasp the because it is easier to reach consensus about nature of these processes, we should place what we want to avoid rather than to agree human vulnerability at the heart of citi- on a standard of happiness. The recognition zenship as such an approach would allow us of vulnerability as the focal point for lin- to see tensions that are erupting at the citi- king personal troubles and public issues can zenship formation, seen as a product of the produce important knowledge that can in- interaction of civil society and the state. form public debates and enrich social polici- The sociology of vulnerability can also offer es conducive to social justice and help the a new insight to the international communi- building people’s resilience against and de- ties’ willingness and capacities to address veloping ways of confronting of all three the global risks and assist the global vul- types of vulnerabilities. Thus sociologists’ nerable. We need to acknowledge that con- contribution to this task of rethinking what fronting the condition of vulnerability on the kind of interpersonal and institutional struc- global level is the essential prerequisite of tures may better protect people against actu- the creation of a post-nationalistic, open, al and potential vulnerabilities can be very cooperative and tolerant cosmopolitan valuable. Perhaps the recognition of vulne- society. The salience of the global threats rability can also help the social science to calls for revival of discussions on how can recover their earlier role as synthesizers and the international community prevent and generalizers, which - according to Savage provide protection against this new type of (2010) - is only way for sociology to survi- risks. It raises a question how can nations, ve within the context of informalization and international institutions and global civil digitalization. society’s players be brought together so List of References practical progress can be achieved and the Bauman, Z. (2011) Collateral Damage. world could avert or mitigate the global Social Inequalities in a Global Age. risks. Studies of interactions between agents Cambridge: Polity global civil society and international and national institutions could complement an Butler, J. (2004) Precarious Life. The po- account of vulnerability arising on the world wers of mourning and violence London: scale, while at the same time, research of Verso such vulnerabilities has major implications Furedi, F. (2005) Politics of Fear. London: for our understanding of the relationship Continuum between various actors at the international stage. For all above reasons, sociology of vulnerability might be an essential part of 8 Gouldner, A. W. (1975) For Sociology and the basis of their mutual resonance of inner Critique in Sociology Today, Harmonds- conflicts, and, as a result, they create more worth: Pelican Books meaning. At the level of social institutions, Mills, W.C (1959) The Sociological Imagi- there is an accumulation of the emotional nation. New York: Oxford University Press energies flared up in local synchronic ent- anglements. Social structures are made up Offer, A. (2006) The Challenge of Affluence. through a complex aggregation of emotional Oxford: Oxford University Press energies. Petersen, A. and Wilkinson, I. (eds) (2008) Starting from a commitment to the idea that Health, Risk and Vulnerability. London: humans are beings that saturate objects (in- Routledge cluding themselves) with meaning in an Savage, M. (2010) Identities and Social emotion-driven fashion, and that this pro- Change since 1940:The Politics of Method, cess of meaning-saturation is at the basis of Oxford: Oxford University Press. both microinteraction and macrostructures, I show how accumulations of “improper” Whelan C. T and Maître, B. (2008) Social emotions (such as anger, fury, outrage, or class variation in risk: a Comparative analy- embarrassment) of those found in positions sis of the dynamics of economic vulnerabili- of domination are at the root of creative ty British Journal of Sociology, 59(4): 635- social outcomes. Emotions are, first of all, 56 modes of action, or engagements with the Barbara A. Misztal world. They are social action, and bear all the predicates of social action, including responsibility. Emotions do not overwhelm us or take us over. They are the ways in which whole persons, capable of corpore- Outlaw Emotions: Working-Through a al/intellectual interactions, engage the Psychoanalytic Sociology of the Mind world, with its human and non-human ob- Reconsidering the place of emotions in soci- jects. al theory is akin to a process of working- Psychoanalytic thinking holds the key to through: it refers to the labour of the theorist elaborating a non-cognitivist account of in freeing herself from the long line of repe- emotion and to theorising on and around an titions, interventions, symbolisations and actor with a psyche. While I draw on a psy- omissions in Western thought which have choanalytic understanding of the de- coagulated into a hierarchical regime of functionalised human imagination (follo- treating human faculties, with emotionality wing Cornelius Castoriadis), I do so to sub- being the most devalued. Emotions are the stantiate a sociological account of creativity, element explicitly absent from the dichoto- which does not leap out of an interactionist mies body/mind or nature/culture, while view of social life. This theoretical act aims they actually stand right at the centre of the- to open a space of thought at the intersection se conceptual pairs. between sociology and psychoanalysis: I One form that such theoretical labour can will call this space socioanalysis. take is perhaps to pick up where the Frank- The way the configuration of internal con- furt School left off, and to recast the re- flicts of an individual – conceived as an in- sources of psychoanalytic thinking as a dividual with a psyche – comes in resonance hermeneutical apparatus of social and cultu- in the social world with the configuration of ral critique. Keeping to this spirit of theore- conflicts of another individual is the most tical working-through, I formulate a theory fascinating terrain that socioanalysis can and of outlaw emotions. Here, actors are relatio- should take up the task of exploring. This nal, or multi-relational, rather than phalo- situation of resonance is also the basic social centric; they become entangled with one situation, the unit of investigation in socio- another and they sustain their synchronic analysis, and the situation where the varying entanglements with meaningful objects, on 9 charge with emotional energy of social net- Bibliography works or zones of networks is accomplished. De Gaulejac, Vincent, “La sociologie clini- Enactment and perpetuation of situations of que entre psychanalyse et socioanalyse”, high resonance will bring a considerable SociologieS [En ligne], Théories et recher- emotional charge to the participants. I argue ches, mis en ligne le 27 avril 2008, Consulté that synchronicity that is sustained by a sig- le 07 juillet 2010. URL : nificant emotional investment is the most http://sociologies.revues.org/index1713.html reliable resource-generating activity availab- le to human kind. Raluca Soreanu No social theory can fall short of a notion of social rhythm and social synchronicity, if it How to shape society? The social ex- aims to account of the way people become planandum in Latour and Descola entangled with each other in the social world, of the way they love each other, fear “How to shape society” is a shared thematic each other, or of the way they produce of the new books of Latour and Descola. knowledge. The social place where unsolved The latest issue of Latour leans on his main psychic conflicts meet is a place full of soci- results in the sociology of science, so as to al power and of reformative potentialities. explain and question their consequences for These reformations address our most violent the sociological method, reframed now as and unjust institutions, such as patriarchy, “associationism”. The book by Descola is war, and their historical forms and inter- framed around the problem of the relations articulations. between nature and culture, so as to question the results of structuralism and in order to There are three crucial forms of work that provide proposals in the sociology of cul- this conception of outlaw emotions can do in ture. Despite investigating different do- social theory, and that I would like to dis- mains: science and technology, culture and cuss here. First, it reinterprets the situational anthropology, these two books come closer conception of the social (as advanced by in their socio-anthropological visions and Erving Goffman or Randall Collins), and it their methodologies, as the collectives of gives priority to the psychic situation: we translation, on the one hand, and, as com- can thus comprehend what an actor does, in munity and social classification, on the oth- the sense of social action, in a moment, whi- er. le implicating her psychic world. Second, it addresses the common misconception in A/ In his synthesizing analysis of scientific social theory that psychoanalytic thinking and social controversies, Latour identifies does not provide us with a theory of sociali- the associations and the connections that sation. I turn this critique on its head, and shape a specific knowledge and that then show how thinkers like Pierre Bourdieu and shape an idea of society. He envisions the Randall Collins render the process of the social group as a collective who assemble incorporation of subjective structures invi- some active mediators, involving translation sible; in other words, they offer no account and activation. In these collective processes, of the correspondence between mental struc- the actors have not been defined in advance. tures and social structures. In lack of a theo- The repertories of the actors have to be ex- ry of inwardness, the psyche appears as a tended, including the mediating objects in a “black box” (De Gaulejac 2008) on which new “inter-objectivity”. social structures are inscribed. Third, it In this ‘extensive’ view, Latour formalizes construes a much needed link from social three main tasks; these are the methodologi- suffering to creativity, and it reasserts the cal principles intended to promote a “sci- fact that social justice is not a lateral discus- ence of life together” (“la science du vivre sion that we can engage in after we have ensemble”): finished our important conversations about action – instead, it stands at the very core of 1) To display the repertories of contro- the problem of action. versies by the associations. 10 2) To set up some practical arrange- pological types of the relationship of culture ment, where these controversies can be sta- and nature, such as animism, totemism, nat- bilized. uralism and analogy. Descola suggests that 3) To define the acceptable proceed- the stabilization of the relational system in a ings, so to gather a collective. specific culture is subordinated to ontologi- cal realities, that is, to the intrinsic proper- He develops both a reflexive and an episte- ties attributed to the existing (objects and mological argument: the collection of state- people). He is then able to draw a table of ment draws new connections; they also the modes of identification, specifying the elaborate new theories of the meanings nexus between continuity and discontinuity, about these connections, such as in the theo- contiguity and resemblance. ries of justification proposed by Boltanski and Thevenot. For Latour, this process of In this epistemology, where the sociological theorizing leads to a way of promoting a notions proceed by drawing out the associa- new empirical sociology, in order to then tions of the collective and the cultural classi- reconstruct the traces of the cognitive asso- fications, Descola reproduces the reasoning ciations, even outside the locus of the ac- of Latour on the institution of the collective: cepted social standards. He recalls the ar- “Away from a fundamentalism presupposi- gument of Tarde that it is necessary to dif- tion, the social results from a process of ferentiate the “explanans” (explication prin- assembling, from the specific ontological ciples) from the “explanandum” (explana- “repartition“ between the objects and the tion proceedings). This linked sociology, subjects that each mode of identification is based on the actor network methodology, operating.” raises large questions about how institutions Descola’s statement means that each cultural are stabilized and the modes of social incor- space has its own collective and its opera- poration. tion of classification; such as the hybrid B/ The book by Descola proceeds in another collective produced by difference and com- domain: the anthropological analysis of the plementarity in the system of totemism, or relations between nature and culture. Based such as a mixture of inclusive and hierarchic on an extensive corpus, Descola reviews collectives in analogy. different purposive notions in the sociology This anthropology, combining ontological of culture, such as disposition, habitus, ‘in- classification and modes of identification in tegrative scheme’. His discussion of the the representations of the collective, con- relations between the wild and the domestic tributes to Descola’s envisioning a relative domains questions the great divides that are universalism. “Instead of presuming a uni- usually taken to separate the natural, the versal subject, we (anthropologists) have to cultural and the knowledge of them. determine what may be universal in each For Descola, the structuration of experience mode of identification”. At the same time, is framed by the schemas of practice, prac- he suggests: “We have to recognize the sali- tices which combine the mode of identifica- ence of the discontinuity of the things (ob- tion and these - cognitive and social - rela- jects and people) inside the mechanisms of tions inside a matrix. He states that: their ‘apprehension’”. This ecology of the “The mode of identification is not some kind relations remains sensitive to the mode of of cultural patterning or locally relevant attachment (belonging): “Like the mode of habitus, but various cognitive schemas that identification, the modes of relations are integrate this experience, in a selective some integrative schemas, such as cognitive structuration of the flux of perception and emotional structures that channel the pro- the relations with others, thereby framing duction of the automatic inferences, make resemblances and differences”. the orientation of the actions, and organize the expression of ideas and affects”. Such a formula enables him to review in the same analytical schema the different anthro- From our discussion, we notice that the

11 same methodology is shared between Latour It is intended to provide motivation and and Descola in terms of the composition of recognition to a promising young scholar in the social, each underlines the place of the the field of sociological theory, as well as to collective in the constitution of the social. encourage growing graduate student interest Descola is more attached to the fixation of and participation in the ISA and RC16. the cultural values, i.e. the cultural anchor- The award consists of a certificate with a ing that is evident in the disposition of being citation and the travel costs (up to a maxi- and the mode of identification. Latour fo- mum of $750) of the winner(s) to attend the cuses on the collectives of translation. He mid-term conference of RC16. The win- emphasizes the social proceedings of the ner(s) will present his/her (or their) joint associations and the transactions between work during a special session of the mid- connections and controversies. In response term conference of RC16. to the topic of ‘how to shape society’, Latour has to envision some new modes of In order to be eligible for the award, the social learning (and also imitation), such as candidate(s) must be younger than 35 years. in the case of the knowledge community, as The submitted paper must have been must well as supposing that there are some miss- be published or accepted for publication no ing links in the mode of identification (the more than three years prior to its nomination so called crisis of identity). or submission. Papers can only be authored by one or more young theorists; those co- authored with tenured faculty members at a Bibliography degree granting institution are not eligible. Descola, P. (2006) Par-delà nature et cul- The paper can be in any of the three official ture, Gallimard. languages of the ISA (English, French, and Latour, B. (2006) Changer de société, re- Spanish), to a maximum length of 10,000 faire de la sociologie, La découverte, 2006 words. The winner(s) must be a member (or members) of both the IS and RC16 at the Latour, B. (2005) Re-assembling The Social, time of receiving the award, and attend the An Introduction to the actor-Network Theo- mid-term conference of RC16 to accept the ry, Oxford University Press. award. Nominations and self-nominations are both Gilles Verpraet encouraged. Please send (or have arranged to be sent) an electronic copy of the paper by November 30th, 2011 to [email protected] as well as to the members of the selection committee: Call for Nominations Giampaolo Baiocchi (gianpao- [email protected]), Sang-Jin Han Research Committee 16: Sociological Theory of the International Sociological ([email protected]) and Giuseppe Sciortino Association ([email protected]). Best Junior Theorist Paper in Sociological Theory Award

RC16 invites nominations for the Best Juni- or Theorist Paper in Sociological Theory Award, which will be awarded at the 2012 Mid-term conference of RC16, to be held in Trento, Italy, 28-29th June 2012. The award is granted to the best paper in sociological theory authored by one or more theorists submitted to the competition.

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