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Authority: A Sociological History PDF

455 Pages·2013·2.623 MB·English
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Authority ASociologicalHistory Concernwithauthorityisasoldashumanhistoryitself.Eve’ssinwas tochallengetheauthorityofGodbydisobeyinghisrule.FrankFuredi explores how authority was contested in ancient Greece and given a powerfulmeaninginImperialRome.Debatesonreligiousandsecular authoritydominatedEuropethroughtheMiddleAges andtheRefor- mation.Themodernworldattemptedtodevelopnewfoundationsfor authority – democratic consent, public opinion, science – yet Furedi shows that this problem has remained unresolved, arguing that today the authority of authority is questioned. This historical sociology of authorityseekstoexplainhowthecontemporaryproblemsofmistrust andthelossoflegitimacyofmanyinstitutionsareinformedbythepre- viousattemptstosolvetheproblemofauthority.Itarguesthatthekey pioneersofthesocialsciences(Marx,Durkheim,Simmel,Tonniesand especiallyWeber)regardedthisquestionastheoneprincipalchallenges facingsociety.   is an Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the Univer- sity of Kent in Canterbury, and Visiting Professor in the Institute of Risk and Disaster Reduction, University College London. Dr Furedi haspublishedwidelyoncontroversiesrelatingtoissuessuchashealth, parenting children, food and new technology, and his books and arti- clesprovideanauthoritativeyetlivelyaccountofkeydevelopmentsin contemporaryculturallifethathavebeenwidelydebatedinthemedia. Authority A Sociological History Frank Furedi UniversityPrintingHouse,CambridgeCB28BS,UnitedKingdom PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress, NewYork CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge. ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof education,learningandresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence. www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9780521189286 (cid:2)C FrankFuredi2013 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2013 PrintingintheUnitedKingdombyTJInternationalLtd.PadstowCornwall AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata Furedi,Frank,1947– Authority:asociologicalhistory/FrankFuredi. pages cm Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN978-1-107-00728-4(hbk.)–ISBN978-0-521-18928-6(pbk.) 1.Authority. I.Title. HM1251.F87 2013 303.3′6–dc23 2013016238 ISBN978-1-107-00728-4Hardback ISBN978-0-521-18928-6Paperback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceor accuracyofURLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredto inthispublication,anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuch websitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate. Contents Preface pagevii Introduction:alwaysinquestion 1 1 Thersitesandthepersonificationofanti-authority 16 2 Socratesandthequestforauthority 31 3 Romeandthefoundingofauthority 47 4 Augustus:arolemodelforauthoritythrough theages 70 5 MedievalauthorityandtheInvestitureContest 95 6 Medievalclaim-makingandthesociologyoftradition 124 7 Reformationandtheemergenceoftheproblem oforder 149 8 Hobbesandtheproblemoforder 181 9 Therationalisationofauthority 206 10 Thelimitsoftheauthorityoftherational 229 11 Tamingpublicopinionandthequestforauthority 247 12 Nineteenth-centuryauthorityonthedefensive 273 13 Authoritytransformedintosociology’scause 299 14 Theriseofnegativetheoriesofauthority 328 15 Bypassingauthoritythroughtherationalisation ofpersuasion 350 v vi Contents 16 Intheshadowofauthoritarianism 376 Conclusion:finalthoughts 403 Bibliography 410 Index 438 Preface DuringthepasttwodecadesIhavebeenpreoccupiedwiththedifficulty thatWesternculturehasingivingmeaningtoauthority.Inanumberof studiesIexploredthedifferentmanifestationsofthisprobleminrelation to issues such as disputes over child-rearing, scientific advice or who to trust in public life. From these studies I became aware of the absence of a serious account of the cultural devaluation of an idea that once constituted a central category of philosophy, political theory and of my owndisciplineofsociology.Thisstudyattemptstofindanswersthrough thesociologicalinvestigationoftheconceptofauthority. DuringthepastfiveyearsIhaveattemptedtounderstandhowauthor- ity emerged, evolved and changed through different historical periods. This work of historical sociology represents an attempt to mobilise the experience of the past to help explain why authority today has such an elusive quality. The story begins with the Homeric legend and leads up toourpresentdaypredicament.Hopefully,throughprovidingahistori- cal context for the constitution of theproblem of authority, it will allow twenty-first-centuryreaderstointerprettherelationbetweensocietyand authority in a new way. I believe that history provides a unique vantage pointforunderstandingthedifferentsymptomsofthecrisisofauthority. Studying and maybe diagnosing those symptoms will be the subject of mynextbookonthisarea. Despite the length of this study, it was impossible for a single author to do justice to the history of authority. The wealth of historical and philosophicalscholarshipdevotedtoalltheperiodsanddebatescovered inthisbookistrulyimpressive.Anysociologistsattemptingtofamiliarise themselveswithSocrates’AthensorHobbes’sEnglandwillfindthetask atrulyhumblingexperience.Theywillalsobesurprisedbytheimportant sociological insights that can be gained from the study of the historical literature. I used this journey into history as an opportunity to reflect on what can be learned from old intellectual friends and enemies. After all, some of the most influential figures in the humanities and social vii viii Preface sciences – Hobbes, Hume, Mill, Marx, Durkheim and Weber – were deeply concerned about the question of authority. And even when their viewsappearincompatibletheyhavesomethingimportanttoaddtoour understanding of the problem. No doubt many readers will note the influenceofHannahArendtonthewaythattheproblemofauthorityis conceptualised.ItwasnotuntilIfinishedthebookthatIcametoappre- ciate her extraordinary intellectual courage of going down a road where others fear to tread. At a time when many of her colleagues abandoned thisjourney,Arendtremainedcommittedtocompletingit. I am grateful to the many colleagues who have helped me to navigate aroundtheintricateandcomplexscholarlydebatesthatsurroundallthe subjects covered in this book. In the course of researching and writing Authority:ASociologicalHistoryIhavehadthepleasureofencountering a variety of thinkers whose work is often hardly known and therefore underappreciated. The historian Leonard Krieger has written what are arguablythemostimportantreviewsofthehistoryofauthority.1 Hisall- too-brief monographs demonstrate an unparalleled capacity to capture themovementandevolutionofauthorityinhistory.Hisunexpectedcon- tribution has significantly influenced the direction taken by this study. Towardsthecompletionofthisbook,Iencounteredanarticle‘Towards a Sociology of Authority’ published by a young American sociologist, Jeremiah Wolpert in 1950. Unfortunately Wolpert passed away a year before the publication of his immensely suggestive contribution to this subjectandthereforedidnothavetheopportunitytomakeasignificant impactonthediscipline.Ihopethatsomeofmyreaderswillfeelstimu- lated to revisit these ideas as well as those of some of the other scholars mentionedinthisbook,fortheirideascanhelpencourageamuchneeded rethinkonthemeaningofauthority. My close collaborator Jennie Bristow served as a constant sounding board and her comments have helped to clarify many of the arguments inthisbook.Ithankherforpatienceandherfriendship. 1 SeeKrieger(1968)andKrieger(1977). Introduction: always in question Whentheword‘authority’initsoriginalLatinformwasusedasaform of self-description by Augustus, the Emperor of Rome, his aim was to communicatethepossessionofsomethingfarmoreimportantthanmere military or political power. His self-conscious reference to his unique auctoritas sought to draw attention to a far more compelling attribute, which was a dignified moral authority. Augustus’s implied distinction betweenpowerandauctoritasspoketoaworldthathadbeguntounder- standthatsomethingmorethanforcewasneededtomaintainorderand cohesion. SinceAugustus’stimetherehavebeencontinualattemptstoclaimthe possession of something more than power. Yet time and again, societies have found it difficult to find an adequate way of conceptualising this. In England at least, it was not until the seventeenth century that a new languagewascreatedtorespondtheunsettledpoliticalrealitiessoughtto distinguishconceptuallybetweenauthorityandpower.Onepamphleteer in1642drewattentiontothedistinctionbetweenthetwotermswhich,he claimed,were‘commonlyconfoundedandobscurethewholebusiness’.1 However,theabsenceofalanguagetocontrastpowerandauthoritydoes notmeanthatthedistinctionitselfwasabsentfromWesternpoliticalcul- ture.ThehistorianLeonardKriegerhasarguedthatwhatwassignificant anddistinctabout‘theChristiandimensionofauthority’wasitsindepen- dence from political power: while ‘medieval men’ would use the terms ‘interchangeablyinmanycontexts’,a‘contextwasestablishedforthesep- arationofauthorityfrompower’.2Andcertainly,thedistinctionbetween authorityandpowerhasbeenanintegralcomponenttoWesternpolitical theoryforwellovertwomillennia.‘Themostfundamentalofalldistinc- tions in political thought is the distinction between ‘force’ or ‘violence’ and ‘authority’; between potential, which is physical, and potestas 1 WilliamRobinson’s1642statementinThePeople’sPleaiscitedbyTuck(1974)p.42. 2 Krieger(1968)pp.146and147. 1

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