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Informationen zum Autor Jean-François Côté is Professor of Sociology at the University of Quebec at Montreal. Klappentext This book presents the first comprehensive and critical account of Jeffrey Alexander's cultural sociology. Alexander has proposed a "strong program" in cultural sociology that analyses the cultural pragmatics of social performance, and his hermeneutical approach connects meaningful political action with deeper symbolic structures of social life. His highly original account of the civil sphere, as an institutionalized domain that is shaped by the discourse of liberty and solidarity and that sustains universalizing cultural aspirations provides an illuminating perspective on how democracy functions, and fails to function, in contemporary societies.This book charts the development of Alexander's thought in all its complexity. Through its critical readings, it also opens up a dialogue with other contemporary approaches in sociology, situating Alexander's work in relation to others and highlighting alternative views that challenge his ideas. It is an invaluable introduction for anyone who wishes to learn more about the work of one of the most creative sociologists of our time. Zusammenfassung This book presents the first comprehensive and critical account of Jeffrey Alexander's cultural sociology. Alexander has proposed a "strong program" in cultural sociology that analyses the cultural pragmatics of social performance, and his hermeneutical approach connects meaningful political action with deeper symbolic structures of social life. His highly original account of the civil sphere, as an institutionalized domain that is shaped by the discourse of liberty and solidarity and that sustains universalizing cultural aspirations provides an illuminating perspective on how democracy functions, and fails to function, in contemporary societies.This book charts the development of Alexander's thought in all its complexity. Through its critical readings, it also opens up a dialogue with other contemporary approaches in sociology, situating Alexander's work in relation to others and highlighting alternative views that challenge his ideas. It is an invaluable introduction for anyone who wishes to learn more about the work of one of the most creative sociologists of our time. Inhaltsverzeichnis Preface Introduction Chapter 1: The "strong program" of cultural sociology Alexander's "post-positivist" approach to sociology From Parsons to neofunctionalism From Neofunctionalism to Cultural Sociology A new analysis of the relative autonomy of culture based on reflexivity Chapter 2: A rereading of Durkheim: social ritual and cultural significance The presence of the religious in cultural life A sociology of religion in social life: politics and technology Symbolic forms of meaning in contemporary society Chapter 3: A critique of Marx, Cultural Studies, and Bourdieu The rejection of Marxian critique Critique of Cultural Studies Critique of Bourdieusian determinism Critical theory and reflexivity: the power of representation Chapter 4: Culture, Politics and Civil Religion: Weber and beyond With Weber and beyond: a sociology of religion in modernity Weberian analysis reassessed by pragmatics and hermeneutics The civil sphere and political debates: reconstruction of civil religion Chapter 5: The Civil Sphere and the "Societal Community:" beyond Parsons From Parsons to Touraine and beyond: analysis of performative social movements Cultural pragmatics and the challenges of symbolic codification Social and cultural trauma theory: social claims of identity Chapter 6: The power of representation and the representat...
