The Political Durkheim (Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought)

✍ Scribed by Matt Dawson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2023
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 221
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This book presents Durkheim as an important political sociologist, inspired by and advocating socialism. Through a series of studies, it argues that Durkheim’s normative vision, which can be called libertarian socialism, shaped his sociological critique and search for alternatives. With attention to the value of this political sociology as a means of understanding our contemporary world, the author asks us to look again at Durkheim. While Durkheim’s legacy has often emphasised the supposed conservative elements and stability advocated in his thought, we can point to a different legacy, one of a radical sociology. In dialogue with the decolonial critique, this volume also asks ‘was Durkheim white?’ and in doing so shows how, as a Jew, he experienced significant racialisation in his lifetime. A new reading and a vital image of a ‘political Durkheim’, The Political Durkheim will appeal to scholars and students with interests in Durkheim, social theory and political sociology.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction: In Defence of the Political Durkheim
The Structure of the Book: Defending the Political Durkheim
Reading Durkheim Today
Part I: Socialism
1. Durkheim's Alternative: Curing the Malaise
Durkheim's Rules of Sociological Method and Critique
Durkheim's Critique: The 'Malaise'
Moral Malaise
Economic Malaise
Political Malaise
Durkheim's Alternatives
The Corporations
Banning Inheritance
Moral Education
Conclusion
2. Individualism Through Association: The Libertarian Socialism of Émile Durkheim and G.D.H. Cole
Durkheim and Socialism: Three Questions
Guild Socialism, Libertarianism and G.D.H. Cole
A Dialogue Between Durkheim and Cole
Excursus: Cole and Durkheim on Rousseau
The Shared Libertarian Socialism of Durkheim and Cole
Individualism
Guilds/Corporation
Democracy as Communication
State/Commune
The End Goal: Individualism Through Association
Conclusion
3. 'An Army of Civil Servants': Max Weber and Émile Durkheim on Socialism
Weber on Socialism
Durkheim on Socialism
Commonalities and Differences
Explanation for the Differences
Socialism and the Sociologist
Conclusion
Part II: Politics
4. Our COVID Malaise: The Failed Mission of Justice, Pseudo-Democracy and a Politics of the Future after the Pandemic
The Division of Labour in COVID Society
A 'Mission of Justice': Key Workers, Mutual Aid and the Post-COVID Settlement
Partygate: Pseudo-Democracy and the Failure of Collective Representation
'Getting Back to Normal'? The Politics of the Future After COVID
Conclusion: Durkheimian Lessons for a Post-COVID Society
5. Social Solidarity, Penal Evolution and Probation (with Fergus McNeill)
Punishment and Social Solidarity
Penal Evolution
Probation, Solidarity and Penal Evolution
Conclusion
6. 'An Apotheosis of Well-Being': Durkheim on Austerity and Double-Dip Recessions
Durkheim and the Credit Crunch
Durkheim on the Age of Austerity
Conclusion: Durkheim's Way out of Crisis
Part III: Legacies
7. A Salute to the Exegetical Giddens: Durkheim Scholar
Durkheim Before Giddens
Giddens on Durkheim's Political Sociology
Durkheim, Book Reviews and Academia
Conclusion: The Legacy of the Exegetical Giddens
8. Morality as Rebellion: Towards a Partial Reconciliation of Bauman and Durkheim
Bauman's Sociology of Morality: Turning Durkheim on His Head
Durkheim's Sociology of Morality: Socialising Actors to Be Moral Agents
Morality as Rebellion: Saying No in Order to Invoke a Higher Morality
Conclusion: Morality and the Oversocialised Conception of Individuals
9. The Elementary Forms of Sociological Knowledge: Durkheim in British Sociology Textbooks
The Sociology of Sociology Textbooks
Methodology
The Two Forms of the Two Durkheims
A 'New' Durkheim? The Presentation of Durkheim's Work
One of These Things Is Not Like the Other Two: The Representation of Durkheim's Politics
Conclusion: Would a Textbook Reader Read Durkheim?
Postscript: Was Durkheim White? Anti-Semitism and the Dangers of Binary Racialised Readings of the Canon
Durkheim and Judaism: An Enigmatic Question
French Jewry: Assimilation and Its Discontents
Durkheim Viewed as Jewish: The 'Grand Priest' of a 'Jewish Science'
Looking Back on Durkheim
Notes
Introduction
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Postscript
References
Index