Crisis and Critique Book.Pdf

When a person is in crisis, she goes to see a psychoanalyst. When society is in crisis, sociology emerges as psychoanalysis on a grand scale. And when critique enters into crisis, one turns to Rodrigo Cordero. Not that one will find a way out of the crisis, but following a rich investigation of the relation between critique and crisis in social theory, from Marx to Habermas and Arendt to Foucault, one will rediscover the human frailty in the cracks of society and our responsibility to respond to it. Frederic Vandenberghe, Professor in Sociology at the Institute of Social and Political Studies, Rio de Janeiro State University. Author of A Philosophical History of German Sociology Rodrigo Cordero has done a magnificent job in shedding light on the pivotal role that both crisis and critique play in the tension- laden construction of human reality. This book is a powerful reminder of the profound fragility that permeates the whole of social life, including its seemingly most solidified dimensions. I have never come across a more persuasive account of the multiple ways in which the dynamic relationship between the experience of crisis and the practice of critique defines—and, indeed, constantly redefines—the normative parameters for what it means to be human. Simon Susen, City University London. Author of The ‘Postmodern Turn’ in the Social Sciences and The Foundations of the Social: Between Critical Theory and Reflexive Sociology “Society is not a solid crystal, but an organism capable of change, and constantly engaged in a process of change.” This quote from the Preface to Capital signifies not only a cornerstone of sociology but is more actual than ever. Society, and this is the brilliantly explained throughout Cordero’s book, appears as a solid crystal once critique is isolated from crisis and crisis from critique. Cordero’s fascinating and well written book forces the petrified oppositions between paradigms of dis- course analysis (Foucault) and political action theory (Arendt), of societal (Hab- ermas) and conceptual (Koselleck) theories of modern society to dance by singing their own tune to them. This opens the path to a new, and much stronger theoretical combine that reveals new paths to utopia within the existing relations of power and production. The solidity of the crystal consisted in frozen concepts. It needs a categorical spring to make them melt. This book is spring- time for the return of social theory. Hauke Brunkhorst, Professor of Sociology at the University of Flensburg, Germany. Author of Solidarity: From Civic Friendship to a Global Legal Community and Critical Theory of Legal Revolutions Crisis and Critique Fragility is a condition that inhabits the foundations of social life. It remains mostly unnoticed until something breaks and dislocates the sense of completion. In such moments of rupture, the social world reveals the stuff of which it is made and how it actually works; it opens itself to question. Based on this claim, this book reconsiders the place of the notions of crisis and critique as fundamental means to grasp the fragile condition of the social and challenges the normalization and dissolution of these “concepts” in contemporary social theory. It draws on fundamental insights from Hegel, Marx, and Adorno as to recover the importance of the critique of concepts for the critique of society, and engages in a series of studies on the work of Habermas, Koselleck, Arendt, and Foucault as to consider anew the relationship of crisis and critique as immanent to the political and economic forms of modernity. Moving from crisis to critique and from critique to crisis, the book shows that fragility is a price to be paid for accepting the relational constitution of the social world as a human domain without secure foundations, but also for wishing to break free from and resist all attempts at giving closure to social life as an identity without question. This book will engage students of sociology, political theory and social philosophy alike. Rodrigo Cordero is Associate Professor in Sociology at University Diego Por- tales, Chile. Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought 105 Distributive Justice Debates in 111 Liberty, Toleration and Political and Social Thought Equality Perspectives on Finding a Fair John Locke, Jonas Proast and the Share Letters Concerning Toleration Edited by Camilla Boisen and John William Tate Matthew C. Murray 112 Jürgen Habermas and the 106 Re- Grounding European Economic Crisis Cosmopolitanism Cosmopolitanism Reconsidered Towards a Post- Foundational Edited by Gaspare M. Genna, Cosmopolitanism Thomas O. Haakenson, and Ian Edited by Tamara Caraus and W. Wilson Elena Paris 113 Genealogies of Emotions, 107 Panarchy: Political Theories of Intimacies, and Desire Non- Territorial States Theories of Changes in Edited by Aviezer Tucker and Emotional Regimes from Gian Piero de Bellis Medieval Society to Late Modernity Ann Brooks 108 Gramsci’s Critique of Civil Society 114 Modernity and Crisis in the Towards a New Concept of Thought of Michel Foucault Hegemony The Totality of Reason Marco Fonseca Matan Oram 109 Deconstructing Happiness 115 Crisis and Critique Critical Sociology and the Good On the Fragile Foundations of Life Social Life Jordan McKenzie Rodrigo Cordero 110 Novels and the Sociology of the 116 China in Early Enlightenment Contemporary Political Thought Arpad Szakolczai Simon Kow Crisis and Critique On the Fragile Foundations of Social Life Rodrigo Cordero First published 2017 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2017 Taylor & Francis The right of Rodrigo Cordero to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Names: Cordero, Rodrigo, 1979– author. Title: Crisis and critique : on the fragile foundations of social life / Rodrigo Cordero. Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, [2017] | Series: Routledge studies in social and political thought ; 115 Identifiers: LCCN 2016007386| ISBN 9781138803121 (hardback) | ISBN 9781315753904 (e-book) Subjects: LCSH: Sociology–Philosophy. Classification: LCC HM585 .C667 2017 | DDC 301.01–dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016007386 ISBN: 978-1-138-80312-1 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-75390-4 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear For Vicente Contents Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 PART I Sociologies of Crisis/Critiques of Sociology 13 1 The Critique of Crisis: From Marx to Beck 15 2 The Crisis of Critique: From Hegel to Luhmann 38 PART II Models of Crisis/Forms of Critique 59 3 Diremptions of Social Life: Bringing Capitalist Crisis and Social Critique Back Together—Jürgen Habermas 61 4 The Non- Closure of Human History: The Vicissitudes of Social Critique and the Political Foundations of Concepts—Reinhart Koselleck 79 PART III Fragile Foundations/Political Struggles 101 5 The Fragile World In-Between: Totalitarian Destruction and the Modesty of Critical Thinking—Hannah Arendt 103 6 Making Things More Fragile: The Persistence of Crisis and the Neoliberal Disorder of Things—Michel Foucault 128 x Contents Postscript. Decoding Social Hieroglyphics: Notes on the Philosophical Actuality of Sociology—Theodor Adorno 153 Bibliography 162 Index 178 Acknowledgments This book started as a PhD thesis eight years ago at the University of Warwick. My original idea was to write a dissertation on the therapeutic uses of law in situations of political and economic crisis. By looking at cases of neoliberal constitution-making in the 1970s and 1980s in Latin America, I sought to inves- tigate why and how the law had become such a powerful mean for reshaping the sphere of the social. The wealth of research on constitutional and political crises produced by sociology and political science in the last 50 years or so seemed a promising point of departure. However, it soon became apparent that this bulk of literature was rather limiting in one essential respect, namely, the a priori accept- ance of the category of crisis and its use as a kind of compensatory artifact to grant arguments and situations immediate significance. In this context, the idea of developing a critique of the naturalization of the idea of crisis, especially in contemporary sociology and critical theory, attained a theoretical force of its own and signed an unexpected detour to a whole new project. This book draws on these original intuitions in order to reconsider the relationship between the experience of crisis and the practice of critique. The book is the result of an extended conversation over the years with Robert Fine. He was an inspiring supervisor and has become a very good friend. His support at all stages of this project has been crucial, especially when my confi- dence about finishing the manuscript was failing. Working with Robert has been a challenging and rewarding journey; he has helped me appreciate the significance, difficulties and pleasures of thinking in the “severe style.” I would also like to recognize my intellectual debt to my friend Daniel Chernilo, one of the brightest social theorists of his generation; his work has been a source of perma- nent inspiration for my own thinking. Daniel’s sincere encouragement and criti- cism were essential in shaping the whole project.

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