The French Tradition of Sociology of International Relations: An Overview

Meszaros, Thomas

doi:10.1007/s12108-017-9339-z

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Building on these insights, we go a step further by asking how multiple obligations to give, to receive, and to give in return contribute to the reproduction and evolution of international society. This project is in line with Mauss’ own interest in international politics and his largely unfulfilled ambition of producing a new sociology of international (or intersocietal) relations (Meszaros, 2017). Mauss believes that the purpose of gift exchange between societies is not so much the redistribution of resources but rather the creation and maintenance of relationships.…”

Section: What Makes the World Hang Together?supporting

confidence: 58%

Gift-giving and reciprocity in global society: Introducing Marcel Mauss in international studies

Heins

Unrau

Avram

2018

Journal of International Political Theory

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How do multiple obligations to give, to receive, and to reciprocate contribute to the evolution of international society? This question can be derived from the works of the French anthropologist and sociologist Marcel Mauss, in particular from his classic essay The Gift, published in 1925. The aim of this article is to introduce Mauss’ theory of the gift to international political theorists, to develop a general theoretical argument from his claim about the universality of gift-giving, and to lay out the plan of the Special Issue. First, we explore the basic concepts of gift-giving and reciprocity and how they highlight a type of exchange that differs from market exchange and from other forms of quid-pro-quo interactions. Second, we consider the Marshall Plan as an iconic and controversial example of international gift-giving. Third, we use Martin Wight’s division of international political thought into realism, rationalism, and revolutionism to locate the work of Mauss and neo-Maussian scholars within the tableau of modern international thought. Fourth, we take a look at the interplay between analytical and normative aspects of Mauss’ works and assess the theoretical purchase of these works for international studies. Finally, we introduce the contributions of the Special Issue.

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Section: What Makes the World Hang Together?supporting

confidence: 58%

Gift-giving and reciprocity in global society: Introducing Marcel Mauss in international studies

Heins

Unrau

Avram

2018

Journal of International Political Theory

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“…Anyone who attends an American college or university and takes a sociology, history, philosophy, education, literature, or political science course would most likely study Montesquieu (Charles Louis de Secondat) of Europe's Enlightenment Period. The academic community has credited Montesquieu as the first person to study groups of people based on his deliberate emphasis on group identity and political character in different regions of the world, which may be the basis of today's academic-intense subject of sociology (Callanan, 2014;Meszaros, 2017). Nonetheless, Montesquieu…”

Section: Montesquieumentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With these erratic beliefs about human activity, Locke incorporated the views of European theologians who had rationalized that Africans were condemned and put on earth to be servants for Europeans (Olsthoorn, 2019). Although Locke was anti-African or anti-Black, many Western educators would argue that learners of African descent must study racist Enlightenment thinkers like Montesquieu and Locke to understand sociological, sociopolitical principles and conditions of the modern world (Meszaros, 2017;Rahe, 2012;Samuel, 2009).…”

Section: John Lockementioning

confidence: 99%

The intelligence concept and racial classification as sociological products of Western education

Cook

2021

Sociology Compass

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This article is a historical examination of how Western theorists created and utilized the intelligence concept and aligned it with racial classification to determine cognitive abilities. By the 1900s, Western theorists, without evidence, declared that intelligence exists as an inheritable, unchangeable mental condition. Influential Western theorists have exploited the intelligence concept to categorize the cognitive abilities of European descendants above that of non‐Whites, particularly African‐descended people as incessant deliberations emerged regarding the value of either cognitively superior or inferior racially defined groups. By interrelating geographical location with shared physical characteristics, Western theorists non‐scientifically divided the human family based on physical similarities among people and referred to them as races. These theorists incorporated the intelligence concept with racial classification as a sociological principle for educational development. According to the Theory of Multiple Intelligences, however, everyone has one or more forms of several intelligences. Although this theory appears to portray a different understanding from the original intelligence concept, it categorizes racial groups and individuals as having fixed levels of cognitive ability. Emphasizing intelligence as a descriptive factor to determine cognitive ability is an unscientific, unequitable characterization that has been employed to explain levels of social awareness and academic performance in Western education.

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“…For those readers who are more interested in historical analyses, we can only refer to the plethora of thorough investigations that addressed the works of Durkheim and his legacy (see for instance Heilbron 2015). Some of the featured papers do include historical perspectives (in particular Meszaros 2017;Mucchielli 2017) cognitive sociology (Sepulvado and Lizardo 2017), social network analysis (Penalva-Icher and Eloire 2017), sociology of gender (Kabile and Lefaucheur 2017), sociology of ethnicity (Brahim 2017).…”

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confidence: 99%

Guest Editor’s Introduction: French Sociology, French Sociologies

Larrègue

2017

Am Soc

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From Montesquieu to Piketty, French intellectuals have been a major source of inspiration for American academics. This is particularly true of sociology and social theory, where scholars such as Durkheim, Bourdieu or Latour have had a decisive influence on past and present research (Ollion and Abbott 2016). Yet, partly because of the language barrier, French sociology somewhat takes time to travel to the other side of the Atlantic. But it is not just a matter of translation or, for what it's worth, French people's terrific English accent (and vice versa). As Etienne Ollion and Andrew Abbott underlined, lack of familiarity with each other's field, diverging scientific norms of research and writing style, as well as differences in trending methods and topics can also explain difficulties to incorporate French sociology into its US counterpart (2016, pp. 345-348). In order to answer this time lag, The American Sociologist has decided to publish a special issue about the present situation and future prospects of sociology in France and French-speaking countries/territories. 1 We are very pleased to present to the American readership twelve papers shedding light on French sociology or, as I should rather say, French sociologies. While the papers that we were able to gather are rich and varied, they can roughly be grouped in threeoverlappingcategories. I will begin by giving a brief outline of the papers, before mentioning some future research avenues and current controversies surrounding French sociology's scientific authority. The first category, that comprises seven papers, deals with particular subfields or research questions: sociology of deviance and criminology (Mucchielli 2017), sociology of international relations (Meszaros 2017), sociology of aging (Burnay et al. 2017),

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The French Tradition of Sociology of International Relations: An Overview

Cited by 3 publications

References 76 publications

Gift-giving and reciprocity in global society: Introducing Marcel Mauss in international studies

Gift-giving and reciprocity in global society: Introducing Marcel Mauss in international studies

The intelligence concept and racial classification as sociological products of Western education

Guest Editor’s Introduction: French Sociology, French Sociologies

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