Quaderni di Teoria Sociale

Ideologia e apertura: oltre l’impero dell’epistemico

2022-12-09T12:56:45+01:00

How to reformulate a normative, and not simply descriptive, concept of ideology consistently with the “linguistic turn”? Does the perception of being “thrown” in a horizon of “reasonable pluralism” enjoin us to relinquish the normative notion of ideology? The article suggests that the fact of reasonable pluralism enjoins us not to give up, but to reconceive ideology along “practical” lines on two entirely new bases. The first basis (offered by Arendt and Rawls) consists in taking distance from the idea that right things are right because they ultimately reflect something true, and that ideologies then necessarily embed some kind of epistemic inadequacy. The second basis draws on the theories of self-constitutions (Korsgaard, Larmore, Frankfurt), which posit that a subject becomes a subject by making (and keeping) certain commitments. Action that radically violates these constituting commitments detracts from the subjecthood of the subject and brings a quality of wantonness to it. Ideology can then be reconceptualized as interference with the relation of the subject to its constitutive commitments. Ideology reduces the subject’s openness to the world, leads the subject to an ungrounded closure vis-à-vis the world, or exposes the subject to a destructive dispersion beyond its ability to recover integration.

Ripensare la critica dell’ideologia. Alcuni percorsi nella teoria critica contemporanea

2022-12-09T13:12:20+01:00

In the debates within contemporary critical theory, there have been a number of reflections in recent years aimed at reframing the critique of ideology as a specific form of social criticism. These lines of research move from a twofold observation. On the one hand, they start from the assumption that today more than ever there are social relations and forms of domination that continue to operate through ideological mechanisms. Secondly, however, it is noted that the classical versions of the Marxist-driven critique of ideology were plagued by problems and difficulties that today call for a thorough revision. After a reference to the way Habermas had already reformulated the model of the critique of ideology within the framework of the linguistic turn, two theoretical proposals in particular are considered in the article. First, the article analyzes Robin Celikates‘ proposal that outlines a social theory approach that aims to enhance the critical capacities of social actors. The critique of ideology is outlined as a refinement and radicalization of similar critical capacities of social actors, and as an analysis of the structural blocks that prevent a full exercise of their potential for self-reflexivity and autonomy. The second proposal reconstructed in the article is that of Rahel Jaeggi, who reinterprets the critique of ideology as a form of immanent negativist critique. This is a form of social criticism that works immanently on the self-contradictions of norms and social practices, deriving the criteria for overcoming their crises, through the method of determinate negation. In this second case, too, it is affirmed how the critique of ideology is part of existing social self-understanding and yet also at the same time an emancipatory and transformative factor aiming at the self-denial of situations characterized by blocks of self-reflexivity.

Ideologia, immaginazione, e immaginario sociale

2022-12-09T13:22:35+01:00

Ideology has been approached in a negative manner for a long time, and in recent years has been a relatively marginalized field of research in political and social studies. This paper argues that the complex – constructive as well as distortive, narrowing – nature of ideologies needs to be recognized if we want to understand the current challenges of populism and illiberalism. A broader argument is that ideologies are best understood in relation to the backcloth of a more abstract, trans-ideological cultural dimension, that of the relatively open-ended horizon of social imaginaries. Contemporary ideological critiques of liberal and constitutional democracy maybe understood as a reaction to a relatively robustly institutionalized imaginary of liberal-constitutional democracy. The populist counterreaction to liberal legalism, constitutional democracy and the human rights imaginary ought hence to be understood as an ideological phenomenon in its own right, and its success may even indicate an unsettling of the dominant imaginary and a potential shift (or even return) towards an imaginary dominated by nationalism and sovereignism. The paper hence attempts to contribute to existing debates in two ways: the consideration of ideology in relation to social imaginaries and a claim towards the self-standing ideological nature of contemporary populism.

Ideologia e identità. Un approccio storico-sociologico

2022-12-09T13:46:00+01:00

The aim of this essay is to make, through a socio-historical approach, a comparison between certain periods of Western society considered from the advent of the industrial revolution to the present day. The theme that motivates this excursus concerns the function played by ideologies in responding to certain criticalities typical of contemporary societies, criticalities considered not so much from a merely political point of view, but under the lens of a particular cultural factor, the need for identity, an element, the latter, which to a greater or lesser extent is in any case always present in whatever type of society one wishes to consider. Therefore, we will not ask whether and to what extent ideologies have affected political discourse and the relations and dynamics between political actors, but we will ask whether and to what extent ideologies, with their symbolic representations, values, collective meanings and, ultimately, as producers of meaning, have or have not been able to structure collective behaviour and collective belonging, thus generating as many collective identities.

La razionalità neoliberista e gli ecosistemi digitali: ideologia, narrazioni, immaginari

2022-12-09T14:02:16+01:00

The article analyses the development of neoliberalism, also in the light of communicative ecosystems. Starting from the concept of neo-liberalism as global rationality, the essay attempts to identify the characteristics of the neo-liberal narrative that, increasingly, tends to take the form of imaginary. In this scenario, neoliberalism - thanks to global élites, including media élites - asserts itself by fragmenting the public sphere and saturating every aspect of public discourse. One of the repercussions of the neoliberal imaginary is the neoliberalisation of the state or, again, its transformation into an “asocial stat”, in which even the individual dimension of the subject is reduced to extemporaneous forms of de-subjectivised individualism.

Ideologie e populismo: prospettive morfologiche

2022-12-09T14:15:05+01:00

My contribution will focus on the analysis of the contemporary debate on ideology, in particular from the point of view of social theory and political sociology. In an attempt to provide a general interpretation, I will present some of the most recent scientific positions on the subject, underlining the main issues underlying the fronts of analysis on this subject.

Whenever we talk about ideology, it is necessary to remember what the anthropologist Clifford Geertz defines the Mannheim paradox, namely: “any evaluation of ideology is still ideological and therefore ideologized, that is, it is always linked to the real life situation of the thinker. A statement that Raymond Boudon explains as follows: “since according to Mannheim, the perception of a historical datum is always a historical perception itself and depends on the historical position of the observer”.This inevitable historicity of the theme of ideology also implies that every discourse on ideology, and therefore also every critical discourse on ideology, is always historically determined. The scientific discussion on ideology is based on semantic, categorical and definitional premises determined by the historical-social contingency. This peculiarity means that ideology is a dynamic and changing scientific object and that a critique of ideology to be effective must start from the analysis of reality and therefore conform to real phenomena. It should also be considered that the history of ideology studies shows how moments of great centrality of the topic alternate with moments of near-forgetfulness or in any case marginalization with respect to the scientific debate. In this sense, the current phase is characterized by a still weak presence of studies on contemporary ideology, although there are signs of recovery from many quarters and in the context of specialized debates, ideology returns as a sub-category. An example of this is the use of the concept of thin ideology expressed by Michael Freeden and used by Cas Mudde in the most famous conceptualization of the category of populism.

Sovranismo. Ideologia della sinistra populista?

2022-12-09T14:22:49+01:00

Since the end of the ‘short century’, new parties of the ‘populist’ left have emerged in Europe. One of the most original features of these political parties can be traced back in their sovereignist identity, which was certainly absent both in the socialist-communist parties and in the post-89 radical left parties. The term sovereignism stands for a nationally defined political claim, conceived in opposition to the public and private supranational actors and institutions, considered interpreters and protagonists of a way of exercising power that tends to be undemocratic. The sovereignist parties of the populist left intend to recover the space of democratic conflict within the borders established and represented by nation states. Starting from these considerations, the aim of this article is to provide and deepen the definition of left-wing sovereignism, and then to understand whether this peculiarity represents a new ideology of the left-wing of the 21st century, comparable to the ideologies of the previous century, or whether instead it is differently conceived and interpreted.

La polarizzazione ideologica negli Stati Uniti, fra americanismo e guerre culturali

2022-12-09T14:40:00+01:00

The purpose of this contribution is to focus on the origins and developments of the American debate on the phenomenon of political and ideological polarization, highlighting the role that intellectual, political and economic elites have played in its emergence and definition, as well as its connection to the ideological matrix of nationalism, whether progressive or conservative. It is therefore intended to reiterate the centrality of ideology in determining American political conflict. To this end, Freeden’s definition of nationalism as thin ideology is considered, which helps us explain the different matrices of the two Americanisms. At the same time, the social basis of polarization is highlighted, through which we interpret the phenomenon of ‘mass polarization’ that characterizes the American political system. The conclusions ask how much polarization is sustainable for a democratic country, and whether we are crossing that threshold of hyper-partisanship that the American political system has experienced before.

La traduction anthropologique et l’expérience de l’Autre: entretien avec Jean-Bernard Ouédraogo

2022-12-09T15:11:31+01:00

Jean Bernard Ouédraogo est directeur d’études à l’École des hautes études en sciences sociales où il occupe la chaire de Sociologie de l’Afrique contemporaine : savoirs, violences et arts ; il est également directeur de recherche au CNRS. Son cursus se caractérise par une forte internationalité : il a travaillé à Nantes (France), à Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) mais aussi en Suède, au Canada, en Allemagne et aux États-Unis. Ses thématiques de recherche sont aussi assez variées: de la classe ouvrière, à l’art, la photographie, les migrations, avec un grand intérêt pour la méthodologie et l’épistémologie des sciences sociales.

Alle origini della Sociologia. Una contronarrazione

2022-12-09T15:25:45+01:00

Nota critica a Aldon Morris, The Scholar Denied. W. E. B. Du Bois and the Birth of Modern Sociology, University of California Press, 2015.

Sovversione cognitiva e trasformazione sociopolitica. Sull’(in)attualità di alcune tesi bourdieusiane

2022-12-09T14:59:03+01:00

The essay discusses some of the theses developed by Pierre Bourdieu on the themes of socio-political transformations closely connected to the process of cognitive and thus symbolic subversion. In particular, we focus on writings relating to the religious field, which in some ways serves as the matrix of the political field, and on interventions focusing on the limits and conditions of effectiveness of political action, dating back to the 1970s and 1980s. They were taken up and continuously refined by Bourdieu in subsequent works. Then, according to recent (re)readings, it is illustrated how the Bourdieusian approach is widely characterised by reflections on the conditions that make change of the existing order possible (to which his analyses on systemic reproduction are subordinate). Subsequently, particular attention was paid to the theoretical (and practical) short-circuits that would emerge from the persuasive Bourdieusian theory of the practice and incorporation of domination, which, in spite of its premises and unlike Marx, would lead Bourdieu to entrust the linguistic-discursive dimension, and the word of the sociologist as a modern figure of the heresiarch, with radical political change. The conclusions we draw highlight a more complex trajectory with respect to this last evaluation, which sees in the political commitment of the late Bourdieu, closely linked to his scientific rigour, a fruitful and (in)current concrete exemplification of his theoretical postulates.

Pierre Bourdieu, Retour sur la réflexivité, éditions EHESS, Paris, 2022, pp. 129.

2022-12-09T15:34:04+01:00

Il 2022 è l’anno in cui si celebra il ventennale della morte di Pierre Bourdieu. Tra le diverse celebrazioni editoriali, un posto d’onore è occupato dal libretto Retour sur la réflexivité, pubblicato dalle edizioni EHESS e curato dal figlio Jérôme e da Johan Heilbron. Tra i meriti principali dei curatori, vi è quello di aver riunito in un unico volume quattro brevi saggi bourdieusiani sul tema della riflessività: due inediti, uno disponibile finora esclusivamente in lingua tedesca, uno edito sugli Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales. I quattro saggi possono essere recensiti come se formassero un’unica scrittura.

Nicoletta Stame, Tra Possibilismo e Valutazione. Judith Tendler e Albert Hirschman, Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli, 2022, pp. 198

2022-12-09T15:39:26+01:00

l Volume composto da Nicoletta Stame «Tra Possibilismo e Valutazione. Judith Tendler e Albert Hirschman», si presenta come una raccolta di saggi, redatti dall’Autrice in diversi momenti della sua vita, in risposta al tentativo di incanalare la Valutazione, e le pratiche di ricerca ad essa associate, all’interno del più vasto panorama del «possibilismo» di matrice hirschmaniana. È doveroso sottolineare che, per chi scrive, l’operazione di redigere una recensione degna della portata di questo testo è apparsa, sin da subito, un’«impresa» delicata, che si è commisurata con la necessità di cogliere il senso della relazione dialettica che lega la Valutazione di Nicoletta Stame ai lavori pionieristici di Hirschman e Tendler. Ciò che può essere sottolineato, in prima battuta, è che si tratta di un testo molto distante dalla manualistica della Valutazione, in cui al centro della riflessione scientifica portata a compimento da Nicoletta Stame si coglie il rapporto personale, umano, che l’ha legata ad Albert e Judith.

De Feo A., Giannini M. e Pitzalis M. (a cura di), Scienza e critica del mondo sociale. La lezione di Pierre Bourdieu, Milano-Udine, Mimesis, 2019, pp. 160.

2022-12-09T15:46:06+01:00

Il volume curato da Antonietta De Feo, Mirella Giannini e Marco Pitzalis (2019), edito da Mimesis per la collana Cartografie Sociali, propone una raccolta di saggi dedicati ai principali dispositivi teorici di matrice bourdieusiana e al loro utilizzo in una prospettiva di critica dei processi sociali. Come sottolineano i curatori nell’introduzione, Scienza e critica del mondo sociale fa parte di un itinerario intellettuale che, da oltre un decennio, vede numerosi studiosi impegnati in un’operazione di riscoperta e di valorizzazione dell’eredità bourdieusiana. È un testo che merita particolare attenzione in considerazione dell’originalità dei contributi che vi sono raccolti e della loro capacità di aprire nuove prospettive di riflessione teorica e di ricerca empirica. In particolare, il libro ha il pregio di riportare l’attenzione sull’opportunità di “rivitalizzare” la riflessività critica della sociologia, secondo un programma di chiara ispirazione bourdieusiana che ha il suo punto di forza nella costante ricerca di una sinergia tra il momento (meta-)teorico e il momento empirico dell’indagine sociologica.

Anna Lisa Tota, Ecologia della parola. Il piacere della conversazione, Torino, Einaudi, 2020, pp. 202.

2022-12-09T15:51:36+01:00

Perché le parole sono davvero importanti, e perché (e come) bisogna maneggiarle con cura: potrebbe essere questa la sintesi, o un lungo sottotitolo alternativo, del percorso proposto da Anna Lisa Tota in Ecologia della parola. Il piacere della conversazione. Un libro dedicato alla conversazione e al suo piacere, ma anche ai suoi limiti, patologie, confini (estesi), spazi e tempi.

Rein Raud, Being in Flux: A Post-Anthropocentric Ontology of the Self, Cambridge, Polity, 2021, 226 pp.

2022-12-09T15:56:12+01:00

During his career, the Estonian intellectual Rein Raud published on a remarkable array of topics. Spanning from pre-modern Japanese philosophy to cultural semiotics, he also authored poetry, novels, and plays – and translated classical works such as Dante Alighieri’s Vita Nova. In recent years, he has moved his interdisciplinary gaze toward the social sciences. After focusing on the practices through which selfhood is made and understood in Western modernity, Raud has offered a fascinating theory of culture that elegantly fuses the semiotics of Juri Lotman and Umberto Eco with sociological theories (Meaning in Action, Polity, 2016). His latest book reads like the natural consequence of this convergence. In Being in Flux, Raud presents a social philosophy aimed at radically rethinking both our relationship with the world we inhabit and how we can study it. He does so by developing a processual ontology which he then employs to reconceptualize the mind, selfhood, and agency.