Social Theory for Alternative Societies

243 Pages·2016·3.64 MB·English

by  Matt Dawson

Social Theory for alTernaTive SocieTieS
Previous publications by the same author
Late Modernity, Individualization and Socialism: An Associational Critique of Neoliberalism
(2013, Palgrave Macmillan)
Stretching the Sociological Imagination: Essays in Honour of John Eldridge
(co-edited with Bridget Fowler, David Miller and Andrew Smith, 2015, Palgrave Macmillan)
Social Theory for
Alternative Societies
Matt Dawson
© Matt Dawson 2016
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First published 2016 by
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contents
Acknowledgments viii
Introduction 1
1 Should Sociologists Offer Alternatives? Value-Free and Critical
Sociologies 7
normativity and sociology 7
Max Weber: the value dispute 8
The Becker/Gouldner debate 14
further writings on value-freedom 18
critical sociology 20
conclusion 22
2 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels: ‘Recipes for the Cook-Shops
of the Future’ 24
Marx and engels’ critique 25
The wastefulness of capitalism 28
The revolution 29
Marx and engels’ alternative: communism 30
conclusion: would Marxist communism solve the problems
of capitalism? 42
3 Émile Durkheim: Curing the Malaise 44
Durkheim’s Rules of Sociological Method and critique 45
Durkheim’s critique: the ‘malaise’ 47
Durkheim’s alternatives 53
conclusion 60
4 W.E.B. Du Bois: A Black Radical Alternative 62
Du Bois’ early life and key concepts 62
Du Bois’ early critique: The Philadelphia Negro 64
Du Bois’ first alternative: the Talented Tenth and education 67
Du Bois’ turn to activism 68
Du Bois’ second critique: the legacy of the civil war 70
Du Bois’ second alternative: black economic cooperation 72
Du Bois’ later years and his socialism 76
conclusion: Du Bois’ alternatives 77
v
vi Contents
5 George Herbert Mead and Karl Mannheim: Sociology and
Democracy 79
George herbert Mead 80
Mead’s critique: narrow ‘personality’ democracy 82
Mead’s alternative: rational democracy through scientific
reform 84
assessing Mead’s activities as alternatives 88
Karl Mannheim 89
Mannheim’s critique: laissez-faire mass society 91
Mannheim’s alternative: The Third Way 93
Sociology in a militant democracy 96
conclusion: Mead and Mannheim on democracy 97
6 Henri Lefebvre and Herbert Marcuse: Neo-Marxist Alternatives 100
henri lefebvre 101
lefebvre’s critique: everyday life as alienation 103
lefebvre’s alternative: autogestion 106
Would lefebvre’s alternative solve the problems? 108
herbert Marcuse 109
Marcuse’s critique: the repressive totalitarian-technological
stage of capitalism 110
Marcuse’s potential liberation: the utopian potentials
of capitalism 112
Marcuse’s transition: the Great refusal 113
The new sensibility 115
Marcuse’s alternative: a society based upon the
new sensibility 116
conclusion: comparing lefebvre and Marcuse 118
7 Selma James, Andrea Dworkin and Their Interlocutors: Feminist
Alternatives 121
feminist alternatives 122
Wages for housework 124
Would wages for housework lessen patriarchy? 127
Banning pornography 130
The feminist critique of pornography 130
contemporary anti-pornography feminism 132
The alternative: ‘MacDworkin’ and the campaign to ban
pornography 134
feminist critics of banning pornography 136
conclusion 139
8 Anthony Giddens and Ulrich Beck: Cosmopolitan Alternatives 141
anthony Giddens 143
Giddens’ late modern world 143
Giddens’ critique: the emergence of life politics 145
Contents vii
Giddens’ alternative: generative politics in The Third Way 147
Giddens’ solution and being a public intellectual 149
Ulrich Beck 151
Beck’s second modern risk society 152
Beck’s critique: methodological nationalist sociology
and society 155
Beck’s alternative: a cosmopolitan world 156
conclusion: the alternatives of Giddens and Beck 160
9 Sociology and Utopia 162
The history of sociology and utopianism 163
ruth levitas: utopia as the imaginary reconstruction
of society 164
Sociology as utopia and utopia as sociology 166
levitas’ utopian reading of government discourse under
neoliberalism 168
erik olin Wright: Marxist utopianism 170
real utopias 171
The basic income 173
criticisms of the basic income 175
conclusion: the relationship between sociology and utopia 178
10 Public Sociology 180
Burawoy’s case for public sociology 181
Doing public sociology 183
Public sociology in sociological alternatives 186
criticisms of public sociology 189
conclusion: the case of Pierre Bourdieu 194
Conclusion: Sociology and Alternatives 198
Bibliography 206
Index 227
acknowledgements
one argument made in this book is that social theorists develop ideas for alter-
native societies based upon the circumstances they find themselves in. The same
is true of someone who decides to write a book like this; the decision to do so
will inevitably be influenced by the circumstances in which i live and the people
around me. consequently, the acknowledgements page is an important part of
such a book by recognising all the influences which allowed this book to be
written.
The first, and biggest, thanks goes to the honours students who took my
‘Sociological alternatives: Ways to change the World’ course at the University
of Glasgow in 2013 and 2015. The idea for this book actually began as the idea
for that course. inevitably, when developing such a course, there’s a bit of fear
that you’re actually the only one who cares and that students will find all this
material, which you care about so deeply, dull. Thankfully, both classes were
exactly the opposite. in your enthusiasm for the topic, criticisms and compli-
ments of the theorists we discussed and truly impressive essays you reassured
me that actually i wasn’t the only one who cared and that there was something
to this sociological alternatives topic. i consider myself immensely lucky to
have had such sharp students on the course to date and have no doubt those
to come will be equally so. i hope anyone reading this book finds the topic as
interesting as you all seemed to.
My next set of thanks goes to those who have read sections of this manu-
script, provided comments and, perhaps more important, assured me that i
was on the right track. especial thanks here to charlie Masquelier and luke
Martell who read all, or almost all, the manuscript and provided really valu-
able comments and further readings. others who have been kind enough to
cast their eye over material include emma Jackson, roona Simpson and Sarah
Burton. i’m really grateful to all of you for that.
in many ways writing a book which traces a history of social theory is an
arrogant act. after all, these theorists could, and do, have whole volumes
devoted to their work. Therefore, a book like this requires lots of reading from
the author and, in doing so, you can’t help but recognise that you’re fulfilling
the old adage of standing on the shoulders of giants. as the author of this book
i owe a great deal to the authors cited here who have devoted their time to dis-
cussion of these theorists, filling out the details of intellectual history we all so
dearly rely on. This is academic labour which in times of ‘impact’ is increasingly
hard to justify to the powers that be. We should continue to justify it since any
discipline which loses such contributions is inevitably poorer.
Material from the G.D.h. cole archives quoted in the introduction is repro-
duced with the kind permission of the Warden and fellows of nuffield college,
viii
ACknowledgements ix
oxford. My thanks to the staff at nuffield college library for facilitating access
to the archive.
i also owe thanks to those at Palgrave for their assistance in preparing this
volume. anna reeve was important to this book being written as a result of her
enthusiasm for the project and encouragement to submit the initial proposal,
for which i am very grateful. lloyd langman and nicola cattini have then
been an excellent source of support and encouragement during the production
of the volume. This includes bearing with an event unknown to this point: an
academic missing a deadline. My thanks also to Palgrave’s reviewers who pro-
vided valuable comments which have improved this text.
finally, huge, huge thanks to the friends and family who supported (or, at
some points, simply put up with) me during writing this book. Some of them
have already been mentioned but i would like to thank my parents for their
continual support along with friends lucy, Susie and Kirsteen. Thank you all
so much.