Figurational sociology and the rhetoric of post-philosophy

Abstract

Norbert Elias's early work -specifically Idea and Individual -offers a positive account of philosophy's potential contribution towards a historically-oriented concrete sociological investigation. His later work, on the other hand, characterises philosophical investigation as little more than a distraction from the myth-exposing vocation of the (figurational) sociologist. This later 'post-philosophical' account of figurational sociology predominates today. Within this article, however, I suggest it has come to prominence through a series of dubious rhetorical strategies, most notably sub-textual hearsay and disingenuous caricature.

Response to Kilminster

“…Initiative-taking enemies of sloppiness know that I have previously drawn upon the original version of the text for different purposes (Dunne, 2009). For the present purposes, Elias’s intellectual autobiography is, as Kilminster calls it, ‘highly significant for our understanding of the nature of philosophy and Elias’s attitude towards the tradition’ only in the sense that it provides us with yet more examples of the regrettably caricatured accounts of philosophy I discussed from ‘The arrogance of misrepresentation’ section of my article onwards (2014: 89–92). What immediately follows the passage Kilminster quotes at me provides yet another case in point:It was certainly not easy to break free from the constraints of this highly ritualized philosophical idiom of thought, with its compulsory reduction of processes to states, and its tightly knit system of argumentation.…”

“…Where is the airbrushing? I needed to textually represent what I claimed to be Kilminster’s and Elias’s argument that ‘individual works…are largely determined by the broader sociological context within which they are embedded’ (2014: 83–4) and in order to do so I excised the inappropriate, clearly marking the fact of my having done so and elaborating upon it both before and after this citation. As for the accusation that I omit his ‘crucial point about power’ in my account of his work, again, let the textual evidence evoke my sense of bewilderment.…”

Norbert Elias and Figurational Sociology: Interview With Stephen Mennell

“…Invited to assist in the translation of Introduction to Sociology into English, he says he was then "sucked" by the brilliance of Game Models, a chapter in which interdependence is presented as a central notion for sociological analysis. Having lived very closely to Elias since then, his most audacious editorial venture was publishing Norbert Elias's collected works in English, which included translating previously unpublished texts and carefully revising previous translations (Collected Works of Norbert Elias, 18 volumes, UCD Press, 2005to 2014. Stephen Mennell was also a board member of the Norbert Elias Foundation from 1997 to 2017, when the three members then decided to "pass the torch," using Elias's own metaphor, to members of a new generation.…”

Back to Hegel? On Gillian Rose's critique of sociological reason

“… Chernilo has company in this critique. Other recent ‘philosophical turns’ include: discussions about the relationship between sociology and philosophy (Dunne ; Walsh ); calls for the development of a ‘moral sociology’ (Hitlin and Vaisey ); and the recent philosophically oriented works by Christian Smith (), Axel Honneth (), and Vincent Descombes ().…”