Reconsidering social forces
(2014) Changing Society. Conférence annuelle de la BSA - British Sociological Association, à University de Leeds. — Location: Leeds (23.April.2014)
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- Ecological radical movements have reinvigorated the critique of capitalism. Besides raising the arguments of exploitation and inequality, of subjugation and hegemony, which are still valid grounds for opposing capitalism, they now also question the very patterns of progressive thinking that still rely on growth, on development, and on various technical fixes or productive forces to move ahead. See the claims made by the degrowth, transition and dumpster divers’ movements, for example, which call for a more inventive theoretical imagination that unsettles the premises of our thinking. This paper argues that sociology should meet that call, re-explore the premises and, more specifically, reclaim the old concept of social forces. Rather than using the concept to emphasize the perseverance of the social order and the weight of society (which needed emphasizing at the time), sociology should now use the concept to bring out the forces that reside in collective action. Sociology, then, would be the discipline that concerns itself with collective intelligences. Such a change triggers others, for it means we would take sides, change sides. We would look for the people’s intelligence and the difference people make. We would move beyond heroic tales and become more technical, asking how the forces of the social persevere and how they bring about change. We would explore narrative moulds that are able to express the collective intelligence at play. In sum, we would turn today’s planetary ordeal into an opportunity for revitalizing our founding principles and our raison d’être.
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Zitouni, B. (2014). Reconsidering social forces. Changing Society. Conférence annuelle de la BSA - British Sociological Association, à University de Leeds., Leeds. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/170271