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Sociological Theory and the Problem of Collective Subjectivity, with Special Reference to Marx, Parsons, Habermas and Giddens Jo

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Sociological Theory and the Problem of Collective Subjectivity, with Special Reference to Marx, Parsons, Habermas and Giddens Jo SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY AND THE PROBLEM OF COLLECTIVE SUBJECTIVITY, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO MARX, PARSONS, HABERMAS AND GIDDENS JOSE MAURICIO C. S. DOMINGUES London School of Economics and Political Science Sociology Department University of London Ph D Thesis UMI Number: U615542 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U615542 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 //■+£ S /£ r 7 093 POU TICAJk ABSTRACT This thesis stresses the centrality today of synthetical sociological theories, such as those of Habermas, Giddens and Alexander, but criticises them for neglecting the problem of collective subjectivity. The failure to consider this topic stems from deep problems in the history of sociology. Emerging from the social thinking of the Enlightenment and the Counter-Enlightenment, sociology has been keen on perceiving social life in the mould of a polarisation between active individuals and passive societies or, more generally, social systems or structures. Although the dialectics between subject and object plus the notion of interaction have allowed for bridges between those two poles, a crucial idea has not been receiving enough attention. Marx - with the concept of social class - and Parsons - with the concept of collective actor - produced two important departures from the presuppositional universe of the Enlightenment. But their elaboration does not suffice and, more regrettably however, those synthetical theories have not acknowledged and worked on the problems and concepts Marx and Parsons highlighted. The concept of collective subjectivity is, therefore, introduced to resume their insights and connect them to the issues and formulations put forward in synthetical theories. A critique of the philosophy of the subject, aiming at its decentring, is moreover pursued, for Marx and Parsons still embraced some of its main tenets. The concept of collective causality holds centre stage for the definition of collective subjectivity. Alongside collective causality, interaction, dialectics, levels of (de)centring, the syllogism of the general, the particular and the individual, plus multidimensionality, furnish the categorial axis for the development of the thesis. Concerned with general theoretical questions, this study makes, however, reference to "middle range" theories, in order to develop, ground its propositions and suggest ways in which its concepts may be useful in more empirically oriented research. 2 CONTENTS Introduction.....................................................................................................6 Part I Synthesis and Causality Chapter I Active and Conditioning Causality in Sociological T heory.............................................................................................................14 Fragmentation and reconstruction .................................................................. 15 Action and structure in sociological theory ..................................................22 Searching for the origins ................................................................................29 Surpassing the polarity: three sets of concepts .............................................42 Individualism and holism: ideology and the layers of social reality...............................................................................................................53 Structure, movement and social properties ..................................................60 Chapter II Individuals, Structures and Systems in Giddens’ Structuration T heo ry............................................................................................................ 65 The synthetical character of the theory of structuration ...................................................................................................66 Action, system and structure ......................................................................... 69 Collective actors, individualism and history ............................................... 90 Chapter III Life-World and System in Habermas' Historical Materialism ...................................................................................................99 Synthesis and dialectics ........................................................................... 100 Action, life-world and system .................................................................. 107 Capitalism, identities and social movements ..............................................129 Part II Two Concepts of Collective Subjectivity Chapter IV Marx: the Critique o f Liberalism and the Social Classes..........................................................................................................140 Interaction and dialectics ........................................................................... 141 Social classes as collective subjects ........................................................... 148 Properties, structure and action ..................................................................158 Chapter V Parsons: Social Systems and Collective Actors ............................... 176 Individualism and analytical realism ........................................................... 177 Social systems and collective actors ...........................................................185 Functional analysis and collective subjectivity...........................................198 Part III Social Systems and Collective Subjectivity Introduction: Theory and Synthesis .........................................................209 Chapter VI Interaction, System and Structure............................................................. 213 A concept of interaction ............................................................................. 214 Properties and elements of interaction ...................................................... 217 Systems, structures and structurings ................................ 229 From interaction and beyond.......................................................................235 4 Chapter VII The Constitution of Collective Subjectivities ...........................................242 The decentring of the subject and collective subjectivity.................................................................................................. 243 The internal contingency of subjectivity....................................................246 Interaction and the constitution of collectivities ........................................ 260 Structures and causality ............................................................................. 269 Chapter VIII Collective Subjectivity and Multidimensionality......................................275 Perspectives and organic constitution .........................................................276 The space-time dimension of social system s.............................................285 Dispositions, interests and the structuring of collective subjectivities................................................................................................295 Stratification and resources .........................................................................303 Conclusion.................................................................................................. 312 Collective subjectivity: a typology............................................................. 313 A controlling frame of reference ................................................................319 Decentring, the Protestant sects and modernity ........................................ 326 A reiteration of basic concepts ..................................................................336 Bibliography ................................................................. 340 5 INTRODUCTION Since the nineteenth century beginnings of sociological theory, there has been much attention paid to individuals as actors and to societies, systems and structures. This stems from a commitment to some underlying tenets of the Enlightenment, even though it is not necessarily acknowledged, and from the almost unavoidable dependence of sociology upon the universe of ideas that furnish the ideological core of modern bourgeois society. Some alternative perspectives have been suggested to these two poles of sociological theory. Marx’s and Parsons’ conceptualisations stand out amongst them. Nevertheless, the very important and interesting syntheses which have been developing in the last decades do not take much notice of these alternatives and hold fast to individual actors, on the one hand, and to systems or structures, as passive entities, on the other, as the two main elements in their explanatory schemes. The objective of this thesis is to address precisely this shortcoming. The concept of collective subjectivity lies, therefore, at its core. It is accompanied by a specific notion of causality, namely collective causality, which will allow for the understanding of social systems as something else than merely passive,
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