Read more
In this important and stylish book, Michel Maffesoli argues that it is impossible to reduce knowledge to a conception of science inherited from the nineteenth century. Instead, he argues, we must go beyond intellectual conformities based on limited and archaic moral or political foundations. This approach emphasizes the growing importance of information and communication in modern societies. Maffesoli suggests that sociologists have too often succumbed to the "positivist fascination" of analytical formalism and dualistic thinking. Rather than viewing society as a finished product, he develops an approach which seeks to analyse, in all their nuances and contradictions, the new forms of social life - particularly everyday life - which are beginning to emerge in the late twentieth century.
A timely contribution to current debates,
Ordinary Knowledge will be welcomed by students and researchers in sociology and social theory.
List of contents
Perspectives. Introduction.
1. The Fascination of Positivism.
2. The Experience of Relativism.
3. The Ideological Function.
4. Towards a Sociological 'Formism'.
5. The Analogical Method.
6. Physical and Social 'Correspondence'.
7. Ever Renewed Life.
8. The Epistemology of Everyday Life.
Notes.
Bibliography.
Index.
About the author
Michel Maffesoli is a French sociologist. He is a former pupil of Gilbert Durand and Julien Freund, and an emeritus professor at Paris Descartes University.
Summary
* A provocative and challenging book which argues for a defiant innovation of thought* Puts forward a compelling argument: that everyday life should be regarded as a privileged object of investigation* The author is one of the leading sociologists of fin de siecle culture and society. .
