The human subject is under threat from postmodernist thinking that has declared the "Death of God" and the "Death of Man." This book is a revindication of the concept of humanity, rejecting contemporary social theory that seeks to diminish human properties and powers. Archer argues that being human depends on an interaction with the real world in which practice takes primacy over language in the emergence of human self-consciousness, thought, emotionality and personal identity--all of which are prior to, and more basic than, our acquisition of a social identity.
Contents
Part I. The Impoverishment of Humanity: 1. Resisting the dissolution of humanity; 2. Modernity's man; 3. Society's Being: humanity as the gift of society; Part II. The Emergence of Self Consciousness: 4. The primacy of practice; 5. The practical order as pivotal; Part III. The Emergence of Personal Identity: 6. Humanity and reality: emotions as commentaries on human concerns; 7. Personal identity: the inner conversation and emotional elaboration; Part IV. The Emergence of Social Identity: 8. Agents: active and passive; 9. Actors and commitment; Conclusion.
Review
"...extraordinary...this is one of the very few really outstanding treatises in theoretical sociology and its ontology in recent decades." Contemporary Sociology
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