Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T06:35:37.427Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter One - Rethinking the Social

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2015

Get access

Summary

“[…] it is relevant to point out, how superficial are our controversies on sociological theory apart from some more fundamental determination of what we are talking about

(A. N. Whitehead, Adventures of Ideas).

In the English-speaking world, at least, it seems straightforward to talk of the social. We might slip phrases such as the “end of the social” into our essays, lectures, conversations or papers. We think that we know what we mean. But do we? As will be seen throughout the course of this book, it is interesting to note the lack of the use of the phrase “the social” in the works of Durkheim, Marx and Weber. The same applies to later writers such as Parsons (1951, 1968a, 1968b) and Giddens (1984).

The following chapters will, through their readings of Durkheim, Marx and Weber, argue that none of these writers had a fixed conception of “society”, and it is only Weber who develops a clear conception of what constitutes “sociality”. As I have already indicated, it will turn out that the notion of the social hardly ever arises in these texts. This leads to the obvious but important question of why, if Durkheim, Marx and Weber do not talk of “the social”, has this concept been made a mainstay of the book? Is it not unfair or unwise to interrogate Durkheim, Marx and Weber with respect to a concept that they do not seem to recognize? The simple answer is that “the social” has become a problem for us. Although I have been unable to unearth exactly when the phrase “the social” was first used, I am tempted to state that it was first taken seriously and gained prominence as a stand-alone concept when social theorists started to argue that we are “at the end of the social” (for example, Baudrillard 1982, 2007). This is perhaps why discussions of the concept are so urgent today. They signal an uncertainty as to the very foundations and possibility of social theory, sociology and social research.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Anthem Press
Print publication year: 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×