Sociological Trespasses: Interrogating Sin and Flesh

174 Pages·2011·1.064 MB·English

by  James Aho

Sociological Trespasses

Sociological Trespasses
Interrogating Sin and Flesh
James Aho
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Aho, James Alfred, 1942–
Sociological trespasses : interrogating sin and flesh / James Aho.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7391-6462-4 (alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-7391-6464-8 (electronic)
1. Hostility (Psychology) 2. Human body—Social aspects. 3. Mind and body. 4.
Common fallacies. 5. Social psychology. I. Title.
BF575.H6A36 2011
301—dc22 2010052547
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for
Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America

Contents
Preface vii
1 Hope 1
I:Sin 15
2 Inflation 17
3 Diabolization 35
4 Hurry 49
5 Greed 63
II:Flesh 77
6 MouthsandGenitals 79
7 Habitat 95
8 Health 111
9 TheLived-Self 125
10 TheHiddenSelf 139
References 147
Index 155
AbouttheAuthor 161
v
Preface
Unlessweprefertobemadefoolsofbyourillusions,weshall,bycarefullyanalyz-
ingeveryfascination,extractfromitaportionofourownpersonality,likeaquintes-
sence, and slowly come to recognize that we meet ourselves time and again in a
thousanddisguisesonthepathoflife.
—CarlJung(1969)
Sociology can and has been directed to virtually every occasion of human
concern:gender,poverty,race,sexuality,lawandmorality,propheticrevela-
tion,andevengenius,tonamejustafew.SociologicalTrespassesaddresses
the handful of issues that have commanded my attention throughout a four-
decadescareerasanacademic:
• Whatisthesignificanceofracial,ethnic,and/ornationalidentity?
• Why do people of good conscience organize themselves to murder and
rapetheirfellows?
• Why is it that we are always running out of time, yet seem to have “too
muchofit”onourhands?
• Whatdrivespeopletoamasspilesofconsideredgoods?
• Whydoweundertakethejointpolicingofourbodyopeningsandthoseof
others?
• Whatistheoccasionofenvironmentalcatastrophe?
• What is the significance of pursuing health and immortality through bio-
medicine?
• Who,what,where,andhowisthisself,really?
• Whatisheroism?
My position is that each of these concerns arises from and loops back to
reaffirm certain widely shared misbeliefs. These in turn are traceable to a
vii
viii Preface
basic ur-illusion, so to say, an axiological conviction that there is a thing or
things“outthere”independentofmethatcanvariouslycompleteme,secure
me, fill me, stabilize me, or in some other way enable me to escape from or
deny my “void,” my existential vacuity and precariousness, or if the reader
prefers,myowndying.
It is my own inner quaking that lies behind the search for a We “out
there”withwhichtoaffiliate:anation,religion,orracebiggerthanmethatI
canmergewith,andinbeingmergedescapemynakednessandfragility.
This also explains the obsessive hunt for a Them out there, a person or
groupthatconstitutesathreattothatWe(whichistosay,ineffect,aperilto
my own existence). By taking up cudgels to fight this demonic other, this
exemplar of nothingness, I can delude myself into thinking that I have con-
quereddeath.
The same idea also applies to strange ideas and weird music, to alien
foodsand“addictive”intoxicants,andespeciallytospeakersof“bar-bar,”as
they were known to the ancient Greeks: barbarians out there. By erecting
wood, mud, concrete, and/or electronic walls against such objects, I am
granteddelusivesecurity.
Likewise,timeoutthere:anever-endingmotilitythatcan,asitissaid,be
“savedup,”“bought,”“sold,”or“wasted.”Havingconvincedeachotherthat
timecanbemanagedlikewaterresourcesandfirtrees,wedeceiveourselves
intobelievingthatwearesomehowfixedandstable.
So, too, that eminently magical stuff known as money out there: cowrie
shells,beaverskins,slips of inscribedpaper, or tiny numerical icons skitter-
ing across my computer screen. By amassing more and more of it I fill the
emptinesslyingatthecoreofmybeing.
Thisisalsotheimportofanenvironmentoutthere.Withanenvironment
Ihavesomethingconcreteandsubstantialtoworkagainstandtransformafter
myownimageandlikeness,andinsodoingconcretizemyself,makemyself
tangible.
Stillagain,thereistheillusionthathealthandwholenessareattainableby
meansofaremedyoutthere—acosmeticsurgeryorarejuvenatingelixir—a
thingthatcanputoffforeverthefactthatatthisverymomentIamonestep
closertomyownend.
Alongwiththeseisthechimeraofapersonalyouorananonymouspublic
outthere,asignificantotherwhoseacknowledgmentandapprovalcanassure
meonceandforallthatmyexistenceisnotadream;thatIamtrulyhere.
Finally,thereistheideathatifIcanperformonemagnificentdeedinany
of these arenas out there—defeat an enemy, accrue unsurpassed wealth, do
six things at once instead of just two, ascend that last mountain, discover a
cure for cancer, or simply attain fame by being the last survivor on a TV
reality show (or, for that matter, simply be on one), then I can claim, “I am
somebody!”
Preface ix
My argument is that our unexamined faith in these redemptive idols
drives usto engage the world in destructiveways,frustratingour intentions,
hurtingourselvesandothers.Thisbeingthecase,thetaskforsociologyisto
explodetheur-illusion;nottodenytheexistenceofareality“outthere,”but
to undermine belief that whateverit iscansomehow assuageour hunger for
securityandcompleteness.Icallthistheactofsociologicaldestruction,orif
the reader prefers the softer variation, deconstruction: down-building the
scaffoldingofdeceptionsuponwhichwehaveerectedourlives.Butdestruc-
tion is merely the first step. The second involves reconstruction. By this I
meantheactofreclamation:reappropriatingbacktoourselveswhatwehave
projected or transferred onto nations, enemies, time, the environment, mon-
ey, and soforth. Another word forthisisrepossession.The ultimate goal of
sociology is to repossess what we have been too eager to give away, re-
nounce, or simply forget. Instead of evacuating our interiority, abandoning
ourselvesinthingsoutthere,sociologycallsforareturntoourselves.
I understand that this conception of sociology barely comports, if it does
at all, to what passes by that title in today’s university. And it appears that
this is likely to be even truer tomorrow as this same university gears up (or
dumbs down, depending on one’s perspective) to compete for prestige and
richesontheglobalstage.Whereishismethodology,itmightbeasked?his
theoretical presuppositions? his empirical data? Above all, where is his pro-
gramofsocialreform?
Admittedly, my first inclination when faced with these questions is to
hedge; to deal with them by indirection and obfuscation; to hide behind
convoluted sentences and impersonal voicing, as I’ve seen other timid souls
do. After all, who but a masochist would seek out the rebuke likely to be
inflictedbyhiscolleagueswhenthelatter’ssuspicionsareconfirmed:Hehas
none!Butlookingbackonmyteachingexperience,ithasbecomecleartome
that what distinguishes sociology is not so much a methodology, a body of
facts,asetpolicy,orevenatheory.Itisinsteadaformofartfulpractice.One
thatfirstdestabilizes(“trespasses”)taken-for-grantedtruthsabouttheworld,
and then plays in the resulting space. Thus instead of issuing a set of proto-
cols which, if followed, promise to generate objective truths, I follow the
recommendations of Paul Feyerabend, who advocates the anarchic metho-
dology of “anything goes” (Feyerabend 1993, 19). In place of unassailable
facts, I write about findings and suggestions. And in lieu of a systematic
theory, I outline a standpoint. Finally, rather than announcing a program of
social reform, I advocate personal work: disciplined reflection on what our
motivesareforgoingtowar,goingtowork,goingtothedoctor,orjustgoing
fasterandfaster.Inotherwords,insteadofcallingforreformoftheexterior
world, of rectifying society so that I can fool myself one more time into
thinking that I am correct; that I, at least, am a man of ethics and scruples;
thatIamokayevenifyouarenot,Iproposetransformation“inhere,”active