Interpreting Culture: Rethinking Method and Truth in Social Theory (Modern German Culture and Literature)

221 Pages·2001·3.2 MB·English

by  Joseph D. Lewandowski

Interpreting Culture
ModernGermanCultureandLiterature
GeneralEditor:PeterUweHohendahl,CornellUniversity
EditorialBoard:RussellA.Berman,StanfordUniversity;
MartinJay,UniversityofCalifornia,Berkeley;SaraLennox,University
ofMassachusetts,Amherst;KlausPeter,UniversityofMassachusetts,
Amherst;KlausR.Scherpe,HumboldtUniversity,Berlin
interpreting culture
Rethinking Method
and Truth
in Social Theory
joseph d. lewandowski
UniversityofNebraskaPress
LincolnandLondon
©2001bytheUniversityofNebraskaPress
Allrightsreserved
ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
(cid:1)(cid:1)
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Lewandowski,JosephD.,1966–
Interpretingculture:rethinkingmethodand
truthinsocialtheory/JosephD.Lewandowski.
p. cm.—(ModernGermancultureandliterature)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn0-8032-2939-9(cloth:alk.paper)
1.Sociology—Philosophy.
2.Socialsciences—Philosophy.
I.Title. II.Series.
hm585.l492001
301'.01—dc21
00-053687
Contents
ListofIllustrations vii
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xi
Chapter1.TheContemporaryLogicsofSocialTheory 1
1.TextualityandDeconstruction 5
2.RationalityandReconstruction 26
3.ConstructingConstellations 35
Chapter2.MethodandTruthamid
theRuinsoftheSocial 38
1.Image-ConstructionandtheProblemofTruth 39
2.Adorno’sCritiqueandAppropriationofBenjamin 47
3.InterpretivePhilosophyasConstructing
Constellations 51
Chapter3.AffectandEvidenceintheLogicof
ConstructingConstellations 70
1.Adorno’sKierkegaardStudy 71
2.TruthasTruthBearers 81
3.SociologicalInterpretationandDisenchantment 86
Chapter4.MethodandTruthinFrenchSocialTheory 95
1.ArchaeologyandGenealogy 96
2.ReflexiveSociology 110
Chapter5.ConstructingUrbanConstellations 121
1.GhettoLifeinAmerica 123
2.SocialStruggleinChicago 139
Afterword:ConstructingConstellations,orThematizing
Embeddedness 161
Notes 165
Bibliography 185
Index 195

Illustrations
1.WestSide,Detroit,1991 128
2.RosaParksBoulevard,Detroit,1987 128
3.178thandVyseAvenue,1980 130
4.178thandVyseAvenue,1982 131
5.178thandVyseAvenue,1983 131
6.178thandVyseAvenue,1986 132
7.178thandVyseAvenue,1988 132
8.178thandVyseAvenue,1991 133
9.178thandVyseAvenue,1993 133
10.178thandVyseAvenue,1996 134
11.EastSide,Detroit,1991 135
12.CentralWard,Newark,1993 135
13.HighlandPark,Michigan,1993 136
14.WestSide,Chicago,1986 137
15.Harlem,NewYork,1992 137
16.CentralWard,Newark,1994 140

Preface
It is perhaps to point out the obvious to begin by saying that in
thepastseveraldecadessocialtheoristsofvariousstripeshavebeen
increasingly willing to acknowledge the interpretive character of
theirwork.Whatsuchaninterpretivecharacterinfactmeansforthe
methodsofsocialinquiryisratherlessobviousanddependslargely
on how the term interpretation is understood and incorporated
intothepracticalstudyofsociallife.Indeed,oneofthepersistent
tasksofcontemporarysocialtheoryappearstobenottoconceive
ofwaystoavoidinterpretationbutrathertodevelopanadequate
account of interpretation and the kinds of truths that define it.
This study attempts to make a provisional contribution to such
anongoinganddifficulttaskbyexaminingtheinnerworkings,or
logic,ofthreedifferentmodesofinterpretivesocialtheory:what
Ishallcallthelogicofrationalityandreconstruction,thelogicof
textualityanddeconstruction,and,finally,thelogicofconstructing
constellations. While all three of these logics have their relative
strengths and merits, I argue that the first is deeply flawed, the
second has a rather limited range of application, and the third,
once sufficiently developed as a kind of reflexive hermeneutics of
retrieval and disenchantment, is the richest and most materialist
option for those social theorists who are committed to nonrela-
tivizingandempiricallyinformedinterpretationsofsociallife.
The ensuing study thus has a rather narrow focus. The dis-
ciplinary giants of social theory such as Karl Mannheim, Max
Weber,ÉmileDurkheim,TalcottParsons,andC.WrightMills,for
example,donotmakeanappearancehere,nordoestheimportant
work of American Pragmatists such as John Dewey or George
HerbertMead;andKarlMarxandGeorgSimmelare,forthemost
part, only subtexts. By and large the study exclusively treats the
workofalimitednumberofhermeneuticallyinformedContinental
and American social theorists: Jürgen Habermas and Axel Hon-
neth(asexemplarsofthelogicofrationalityandreconstruction);
ix