Visions of the Social: Society as a Political Project in France, 1750-1950 (International studies in sociology and social anthropology) PDF
Preview Visions of the Social: Society as a Political Project in France, 1750-1950 (International studies in sociology and social anthropology)
Visions of the Social International Studies in Sociology and Social Anthropology SeriesEditor David Sciulli† EditorialBoard Vincenzo Cicchelli,Gemass,Paris4/CNRS,ParisDescartesUniversity Benjamin Gregg,UniversityofTexasatAustin VOLUME119 Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.nl/issa Visions of the Social Society as a Political Project in France, 1750–1950 By Jean Terrier LEIDEN•BOSTON 2011 Coverillustration:‘Sanstitre,’fromthecollection:‘Est-ceainsiqueleshommesvivent?,’by VirginieRestain. Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepaper. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Terrier,Jean. Visionsofthesocial:societyasapoliticalprojectinFrance,1750-1950/byJeanTerrier. p.cm.–(Internationalstudiesinsociologyandsocialanthropology,ISSN0074-8684; 119) Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN978-90-04-20153-8(hbk.:alk.paper) 1.Sociology–France.2.Politicalsociology–France.I.Title. HM477.F8T472011 301.0944–dc22 2011011641 ISSN0074-8684 ISBN9789004201538 Copyright2011byKoninklijkeBrillNV,Leiden,TheNetherlands. KoninklijkeBrillNVincorporatestheimprintsBrill,GlobalOriental,HoteiPublishing, IDCPublishers,MartinusNijhoffPublishersandVSP. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,translated,storedin aretrievalsystem,ortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical, photocopying,recordingorotherwise,withoutpriorwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher. AuthorizationtophotocopyitemsforinternalorpersonaluseisgrantedbyKoninklijkeBrillNV providedthattheappropriatefeesarepaiddirectlytoTheCopyrightClearanceCenter, 222RosewoodDrive,Suite910,Danvers,MA01923,USA. Feesaresubjecttochange. CONTENTS Acknowledgments.................................................... vii Introduction .......................................................... ix ConceptsandCritiquesoftheSocial.............................. xi TowardsaHistoryoftheSocialAsaLanguage................... xxii .TheCollectiveWill:FromthePoliticaltotheSocial 1 “BearingthePeople’sPerson”:HobbesonUnitythrough Representation .................................................. 2 “AMoralandCollectiveBodyofManyMembers”:Rousseau’s UnitaryState .................................................... 5 “AUniqueWholeComposedofIntegralParts”:NationalUnity duringtheFrenchRevolution .................................. 9 “PoliticsIstoBeWroughtbySocialMeans”:Burkeandde MaistreonthePre-eminenceoftheSocial..................... 14 TheNaturalandtheSocial:TheNotionofSocialCausality...... 21 “DeterminedbyItsCharacterandPast”:Taine’sTraditionalist Arguments ...................................................... 27 ASociologyfortheRepublic ...................................... 31 TwoLanguages,Hybridised:EsmeinonNationalSovereignty... 39 .NationsandTheirAdversariesAsaThemeofSocialThought ... 45 NationalSingularityandtheCommunityofNations: Montesquieu,Encyclopédie,MmedeStaël ..................... 47 PoliticsandNationalCharacters:RousseauanddeMaistre...... 54 IncreasinglyDistinctNationsinaSocialAge:Michelet.......... 58 “ASpiritualPrinciple”:TheNationAccordingtoRenan ......... 62 ARacialTheoryofNationalCharacters:GustaveLeBon........ 67 SocietiesandNationsAsTotalities:EmileDurkheim ............ 70 SocialPhilosophyandtheFigureoftheEnemy .................. 75 .SeveringtheLinktoNature:TheRiseoftheCultureConceptin InternationalPerspective .......................................... 81 “NationalCharacter”:VarietiesofUnderstanding................ 84 vi contents “AContinuousFermentation”:TheSocialOntologyofGabriel Tarde............................................................. 89 “NoSuchThingAsaCollectivePersonality”:MaxWeber’s NominalistSociology ........................................... 96 ExchangeandFlux:CulturalFormsAccordingtoFranzBoas... 102 Societyand“ConscienceCollective”:DurkheimonSocietyand Morality ......................................................... 107 AnObjectfortheHumanSciences:TheRiseoftheCulture Concept ......................................................... 110 .“InUs,butNotofUs”.TheLocationofSocietyAccordingto EmileDurkheim ................................................... 119 Durkheim’sFundamentalQuestion:TheLocationofSociety.... 119 TheQuestionoftheMaterialSubstratum......................... 122 IndividualandCollectiveRepresentations........................ 126 CollectiveConsciousnessandtheExternalityofSocialFacts.... 129 Religion,CollectiveIdeation,and“HomoDuplex”............... 135 .TheNationalandtheTransnational:MarcelMauss............... 145 BeforeNations:FromHordestoEmpires......................... 148 TheNationAsan“IntegratedSociety”ofPoliticallyConscious Citizens.......................................................... 150 ThePoliticalDefinitionofaSocialForm ......................... 153 ExcursusonPhilologicalProblems................................ 156 “EverythingCanBeSharedbetweenSocieties”:ASociologyof InternationalRelations.......................................... 158 TheQuestionofaHumanCivilisation............................ 165 “AnEntitywithaThousandDimensions”:Society,Language, andtheCategoryofRelation ................................... 170 Epilogue.TheLanguageandDialectsoftheSocial.................. 175 Bibliography .......................................................... 193 IndexofSubjects...................................................... 211 IndexofNames ....................................................... 215 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In thepreparation ofthisvolume, Ihave benefitedfromthesupportof manypersonsandinstitutions.Itsdistantoriginslieinresearchdoneat the European University Institute under the supervisionof Peter Wag- ner,towhomIamgladtoexpresshere,again,mygratitude. Partofthe research on the eighteenth century has been made possible by a grant oftheFritzThyssenFoundation.Thisgranthasenabledmetouse,over thecourseofseveralmonths,thelibrary andfacilities oftheInterdiszi- plinäres Zentrum für die Erforschung der Europäischen Aufklärung at theFranckescheStiftungeninHalle(Saale).Ithankallthreeinstitutions for their support. The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation has pro- vided me with the possibility to spend a year at Humboldt University and the Centre Marc Bloch in Berlin, during which I did research on MarcelMauss,EmileDurkheim,andMaxWeber.ApartfromtheFoun- dationitself,IwanttothankHans-PeterMüller,YvesSintomerandPas- cale Laborier for their hospitality and scientific advice; also Uta Kühn ofHumboldtUniversityhasbeenofinvaluable help.Lastly,theInstitute for Cultural Inquiry in Berlin has provided me with first-rate working conditionsandastimulatingintellectualenvironment.Iwanttoexpress gratitudeespeciallytothedirectorofthisinstitution,ChristophHolzhey. Many colleagues and friends, whose names are mentioned in the correspondingchapters,havereadoneormoresectionsfromthisvolume and madealways insightful comments.I did my bestto take theminto account.SpecialmentionmustbemadehereofGitaRajan,whoreadthe entire manuscript and made extremely helpful suggestions concerning style,structureandcontent. All chapters of this volume appear for the first time in the English language. Chapter is a modified and expanded version of an essay I wrote for the “Seminar on theHistoryof the Conceptsofthe European Political Tradition” at Università Suor Orsola Benincasa in Naples. It was published as “Cohésion politique, cohésion sociale, et théories de l’autorité politique” in Storia dei concetti, storia del pensiero politico. Saggidiricerca,editedbyGiuseppeDusoandSandroChignola(Naples: EditorialeScientifica,):–.Italsoentailssomepassagesfrom myarticle:“TheideaofaRepublicantradition.Reflectionsonthedebate viii acknowledgments concerning the intellectual foundations of the French Third Republic,” JournalofPoliticalIdeologies,no.(October):–. Chapterbuildsonmy“Âmeetanimositédespeuples:représentations de la singularité et de l’adversité des nations dans la pensée sociale en France,” published in Ennemi juré, ennemi naturel, ennemi héréditaire. Constructionetinstrumentalisationdelafiguredel’ennemi.LaFranceet sesadversaires(XVIIe–XXesiècles),editedbyBurghartSchmidtandJörg Ulbert(Hamburg:DoBu,). AGermanversionofChapterwaspublishedas“DieVerortungder Gesellschaft: Durkheims Verwendung des Begriffs ‘Substrat’,” Berliner JournalfürSoziologie,no.():–. Iamextremelygratefultotheeditorsandpublishersoftheseessaysto haveallowedtheirrepublicationinthepresentvolume. Chapters and , as well as the Introduction and the Epilogue, are publishedhereforthefirsttime. INTRODUCTION Oursareinterestingtimesforthosestudyingthehistoryoftheconceptof “thesocial”.Theterm hasbecomeubiquitous in recentyears,especially to describe some of the tools made available to us by the newest tech- nologiesofcommunication.Activitiesthatoncewereinvariablysolitary, andoftentedious—suchassearchingforbooksrelevanttoone’sidiosyn- craticinterests,organisingacollectionofphotographs,orevenkeepinga diary—,nowhaveacquiredasocialdimension.Inthissemanticpassage, someconnotationsof“thesocial”haverisentoprominence,whileothers have receded into the background. The social is increasingly perceived as a realm of freedom. It has moved towards a semantic area evoking friendship,dialogue,partnership,exchange,unconstrainedcooperation. Previouslyabovealltheadjectiveofthenoun“society”,understoodasa boundedtotality,“thesocial”todayreferstoassociationsembracingthe idealsofcommonpurposeandfreemembership. The meaning of the “social” entertains a relation of interdependence withthemeaningofafewfurthernotions,especiallythe“political”and the“natural”.Itishardlysurprising,thus,thatourunderstandingofpol- iticsitselfismodifiedasaresultofthesesemanticshifts.Manyauthors, including Hannah Arendt, Jürgen Habermas, and Cornelius Castori- adis,1 have argued that the association of “the political” with collective autonomy,withthecollaborativeestablishmentandenforcementofrules acceptable by all, receded in the years of the administration of things which characterised the “organised modernity” of the post-war era.2 It seems that this association is being further weakened today. Now that wehavecometobelievethatourfreedomisbestexpressedintheasso- ciations we voluntarily belong to—for instance, in the communities of the“socialweb”ortheorganisationswhichmakeup“civilsociety”—we envisage the political as the necessary evil in charge of all things non- associative,constraining,conflictual,orevenviolent.Politicsistakento 1 HannahArendt,TheHumanCondition(Chicago:TheUniversityofChicagoPress, );CorneliusCastoriadis,Philosophy,Politics,Autonomy(Oxford–NewYork:Oxford UniversityPress,);JürgenHabermas,TheStructuralTransformation ofthe Public Sphere.InquiryintoaCategoryofBourgeoisSociety(Cambridge:PolityPress,). 2 I borrow the notion of organised modernity from Peter Wagner, A Sociology of Modernity.LibertyandDiscipline(London-NewYork:Routledge,).
Description:The list of books you might like
