📖 Fin de Siècle Social Theory
Saturday, November 24, 2018 by dev
Fin de Siècle Social Theory
By:Jeffrey C. Alexander
Published on 1995 by Verso
In four closely interwoven studies, Jeffrey Alexander identifies the central dilemma that provokes contemporary social theory and proposes a new way to resolve it. The dream of reason that marked the previous fin de siècle foundered in the face of the cataclysms of the twentieth century, when war, revolution, and totalitarianism came to be seen as themselves products of reason. In response there emerged the profound skepticism about rationality that has so starkly defined the present fin de siècle. From Wittgenstein through Rorty and postmodernism, relativism rejects the very possibility of universal standards, while for both positivism and neo-Marxists like Bourdieu, reductionism claims that ideas simply reflect their social base. In a readable and spirited argument, Alexander develops the alternative of a |neo-modernist| position that defends reason from within a culturally centered perspective while remaining committed to the goal of explaining, not merely interpreting, contemporary social life. On the basis of a sweeping reinterpretation of postwar society and its intellectuals, he suggests that both antimodernist radicalism and postmodernist resignation are now in decline; a more democratic, less ethnocentric and more historically contingent universalizing social theory may thus emerge. Developing in his first two studies a historical approach to the problem of |absent reason,| Alexander moves via a critique of Richard Rorty to construct his case for |present reason.| Finally, focusing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, he provokes the most sustained critical reflection yet on this influential thinker. Fin de Siecle Social Theory is a tonic intervention in contemporary debates, showing how social and cultural theory can properly take the measure of the extraordinary times in which we live.
This Book was ranked at 15 by Google Books for keyword problem.
Book ID of Fin de Siècle Social Theory's Books is W91hBMnnwH8C, Book which was written byJeffrey C. Alexanderhave ETAG "Ac92E5Zck8Q"
Book which was published by Verso since 1995 have ISBNs, ISBN 13 Code is 9781859840917 and ISBN 10 Code is 1859840914
Reading Mode in Text Status is false and Reading Mode in Image Status is true
Book which have "231 Pages" is Printed at BOOK under CategorySocial Science
This Book was rated by Raters and have average rate at ""
This eBook Maturity (Adult Book) status is NOT_MATURE
Book was written in en
eBook Version Availability Status at PDF is falseand in ePub is false
Book Preview
