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Sociology in The Twenty First Century Key Trends Debates and Challenges Simon Susen All Chapter
Sociology in The Twenty First Century Key Trends Debates and Challenges Simon Susen All Chapter
Simon Susen
Sociology in the Twenty-First Century
Simon Susen
Sociology in the
Twenty-First Century
Key Trends, Debates, and Challenges
Simon Susen
City, University of London
London, UK
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Foreword
News of the demise of sociology comes regularly across my desk, and if not of
its death, then at least reports of life-threatening epidemics.1 In the social sci-
ences, sociology is peculiarly afflicted by the instability of its paradigms, con-
flicts over methods, and disagreements about the most basic issues. What is
the social? Are we to study individuals or whole societies? The problem is not
that sociology is a relatively new discipline. We can trace its origins to at least
the 1820s. One can identify various causes that underpin its dilemmas.
Sociology is more driven by fashions in theory than other academic disci-
plines. In the 1970s the fashions came from Germany—notably with Jürgen
Habermas, Niklas Luhmann, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Arnold Gehlen, among
others. Later we had a ‘French period’—with Michel Foucault, Jean-François
Lyotard, Jacques Derrida, Pierre Bourdieu, and Luc Boltanski. Perhaps one
peculiarity of contemporary British sociology is the absence of commanding
figures, with the exception of Anthony Giddens. By contrast, we can readily
count the many foreign academics who have brought intellectual brilliance to
our shores—Zygmunt Bauman, Norbert Elias, Ernest Gellner, Hermínio
Martins, John Rex, and more. Simon Susen draws attention to this peculiarity
of British sociology in his discussion of ‘canonicity’, illustrating how British
universities were able to recruit a generation of displaced academics, especially
(albeit not exclusively) those who were fleeing from fascism in continen-
tal Europe.
These fashions are, to some extent, fuelled by the demands of publishers for
new ideas, titles, and authors. In this regard, there is arguably at least one
more positive reason that may explain these fashion-driven episodes of insta-
bility. Over time, there are—unsurprisingly—major changes to society; soci-
ologists have to re-tool to make sense of wholly new phenomena. Technological
v
vi Foreword
changes—such as the role of social media, the use of drones in warfare and
domestic surveillance, or cloning—have demanded new concepts, theories,
and methods. Susen correctly draws attention to aspects of such changes—for
instance, in his analysis of ‘metric power’ and the transformations brought
about by the ‘digital age’. The sociological understanding of new forms of
communication and their consequences required radical changes in sociologi-
cal theories. Susen considers both problems and possibilities in his discussion
of advanced digital technologies, which are powerful research tools employed
largely outside the academic world by corporations to gather and to process
data sets for commercial and strategic reasons. Such research technologies
make traditional sociological methods look insignificant by comparison.
There are less obvious reasons for the constant fluctuations within sociol-
ogy. At least some of its problems appear to be associated with its connection
to social reform movements; hence, its concepts and theories seem to be as
much embedded in advocacy as they are in science. Through their engage-
ment with social movements and their commitment to critical and public
research and debate, sociologists have embraced working-class socialism, the
women’s movement, racial equality, decolonization, and—more recently
still—animal rights movements. These engagements brought on to the scien-
tific agenda a more or less endless cycle of commitments to good causes that
have the unintended consequences of critiques that reformulate and disrupt
existing paradigms. For example, the central concern for class, status, and
power—as basic ingredients of social structure—has been displaced by atten-
tion to gender, sexuality, and identity in contemporary sociology. One result
is a new discourse of intersectionality and positionality that displaced more
conventional approaches.
Against this background, it is perhaps only to be expected that the sociol-
ogy curriculum is constantly challenged and changed. From my own experi-
ence of teaching in North America, there was some agreement of what
constituted the foundations—Karl Marx, Max Weber, Émile Durkheim, and
Georg Simmel—but almost no agreement about what was accepted as ‘mod-
ern sociology’. Was the lecture course to be made up, for instance, of the work
of Robert N. Bellah, C. Wright Mills, Robert K. Merton, Talcott Parsons, and
Charles Tilly? Or was it constituted around European social theorists such as
Habermas, Foucault, Giddens, and Boltanski? What about W. E. B. Du Bois,
Frantz Fanon, and E. Franklin Frazier to question the ‘whiteness’ of the socio-
logical canon? What about recruiting women to challenge this array of elderly
men? My department never came up with a satisfactory solution to these
questions. There was little comfort in the realization that adjacent disciplines
(in particular, anthropology) were confronted with similar problems.
Foreword vii
the foibles of sociology, while at the same time offering new possibilities of
developing sociology in the context of global interconnectedness. He wants to
treat the crises of the discipline of sociology as opportunities for development
and growth. Postcolonial sociology and subaltern studies represent attempts
to come to grips with global interconnectedness. National sociologies (espe-
cially British and Anglo-American sociology) fail adequately to reflect these
fundamental changes to the modern worlds in which we live. Some of these
concerns were articulated by Ulrich Beck, notably in his criticisms of ‘meth-
odological nationalism’ and his notion of ‘world risk society’,8 and developed
in collaboration with the Korean sociologist Chang Kyung-Sup.9
Many attempts have been made to overcome the war of paradigms to stabi-
lize sociology around an agreed set of theories, concepts, and concerns. Yet, at
the end of the day, sociological scholarship revolves around ‘making social
science matter’.10 In the light of that goal, the quest for normality may be a
false endeavour. It is crucial to illuminate the structure of human societies in
a manner that engages us with issues that are significant and provides us with
clarity of understanding to improve the way we live. Simon Susen’s kaleido-
scopic overview of such sociological endeavours to describe important sub-
jects offers a perspective that is both challenging and rewarding. Established
scholars, as well as both undergraduate and postgraduate students, will find
the clear development of his argument, the comprehensive coverage of issues,
and the cornucopia of references an indispensable resource for further study.
ACU (Sydney, Australia) and CUNY (New York, USA) Bryan S. Turner
Notes
1. See Susen (2020).
2. Kuhn (2012 [1962]).
3. Cf. O’Neill and Turner (2001) as well as Susen and Turner (2011a).
4. See Connell (2007).
5. See, for example, Eisenstadt (2000). Cf. Susen and Turner (2011b) as well as
Turner and Susen (2011).
6. See Skinner (1951).
7. Weber (1976 [1924/1909/1896]).
8. Beck (1999).
9. Kyung-Sup (2010).
10. Flyvbjerg (2001).
x Foreword
References
Beck, Ulrich (1999) World Risk Society, Cambridge: Polity.
Connell, Raewyn (2007) Southern Theory: The Global Dynamics of Knowledge in
Social Science, Cambridge: Polity.
Eisenstadt, Shmuel Noah (2000) ‘Multiple Modernities’, Daedalus 129(1): 1–29.
Flyvbjerg, Bent (2001) Making Social Science Matter: Why Social Inquiry Fails and
How It Can Succeed Again, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kuhn, Thomas S. (2012 [1962]) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 4th Edition,
with an introductory essay by Ian Hacking, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Kyung-Sup, Chang (2010) ‘The Second Modern Condition? Compressed Modernity
as Internalized Reflexive Cosmopolitization’, The British Journal of Sociology
61(3): 444–464.
O’Neill, John and Bryan S. Turner (2001) ‘Introduction—The Fragmentation of
Sociology’, Journal of Classical Sociology 1(1): 5–12.
Skinner, G. William (1951) ‘The New Sociology in China’, The Far Eastern Quarterly
10(4): 365–371.
Susen, Simon (2020) Sociology in the Twenty-First Century: Key Trends, Debates, and
Challenges, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Susen, Simon and Bryan S. Turner (2011a) ‘Tradition and Innovation in Classical
Sociology: Tenth Anniversary Report of JCS’, Journal of Classical Sociology
11(1): 5–13.
Susen, Simon and Bryan S. Turner (2011b) ‘Introduction to the Special Issue on
Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt’, Journal of Classical Sociology 11(3): 229–239.
Turner, Bryan S. and Simon Susen (eds.) (2011) Special Issue: Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt,
Journal of Classical Sociology 11(3): 229–335.
Weber, Max (1976 [1924/1909/1896]) The Agrarian Sociology of Ancient Civilizations,
trans. Richard Iva Frank, London: NLB.
Contents
xi
xii Contents
Conclusion343
References351
Index of Names445
Index of Subjects477
About the Author
xiii
Introduction
The main purpose of this book is to examine key trends, debates, and challenges in
twenty-first-century sociology. Interrogations regarding the nature of sociology
(‘What is sociology?’), the history of sociology (‘How has sociology evolved?’), and
the study of sociology (‘How can or should we make sense of sociology?’) have been,
and will continue to be, essential to the creation of conceptually informed, method-
ologically rigorous, and empirically substantiated research programmes in the disci-
pline. Over the past years, however, there have been numerous disputes and
controversies concerning the future of sociology. Particularly important in this respect
are recent and ongoing discussions on the possibilities of developing new—and,
arguably, post-classical—forms of sociology. The central assumption underlying most
of these projects is the contention that a comprehensive analysis of the principal chal-
lenges faced by global society requires the construction of a sociology capable of
accounting for the interconnectedness of social actors and social structures across
time and space. Exploring the significance and relevance of such an ambitious ven-
ture, this book aims to provide an overview of crucial past, present, and possible
future trends, debates, and challenges shaping the pursuit of sociological inquiry. To
this end, it is structured as follows:
xv
xvi Introduction
normative implications of this concurrence are, let alone how they should be
conceptualized and problematized. As maintained in this chapter, the rise of
postcolonial studies in the late twentieth century is indicative of the need to
grapple with these implications. Postcolonial approaches are confronted with
a twofold challenge: first, to provide a comprehensive critique of the multilay-
ered impact of colonialism on world history; and, second, to take on the task
of crafting viable visions of a genuinely postcolonial world. The chapter sug-
gests that, faced with this twofold challenge, the field of postcolonial studies
has made substantial—and, in several respects, indispensable—contributions
to the development of contemporary sociology.
Chapter 2—entitled ‘Postcoloniality and Decoloniality’—gives a brief
overview of prominent approaches associated with postcolonial studies and,
more recently, decolonial studies. The former have been profoundly shaped by
diasporic scholars from the Middle East and South Asia. The latter have been
developed, above all, by diasporic scholars from South America. Despite sig-
nificant points of divergence, the numerous frameworks situated within these
two currents of analysis are united by the ambition to take issue with
Eurocentric conceptions of history in general and of modernity in particular.
In order to demonstrate that valuable insights can be gained from these two
traditions of thought, the chapter elucidates significant contributions made
by the following thinkers: in relation to postcolonial studies, Edward Said,
Gayatri Spivak, Homi K. Bhabha, Raewyn Connell, and Boaventura de Sousa
Santos; and, in relation to decolonial studies, Aníbal Quijano, Walter
D. Mignolo, and María Lugones.
which aim to make sense of key societal developments on a global scale: (1)
the paradigm of multiple modernities, (2) the paradigm of multiculturalism,
and (3) the paradigm of cosmopolitanism. Upon closer examination, however,
it becomes apparent that these currents of thought fall short of acknowledg-
ing the role that connected histories have played, and continue to play, in
shaping the constitution of modern societies. As illustrated in this chapter, the
emergence of ‘postcolonial sociology’ and ‘subaltern studies’ reflects a serious
effort to account for the global interconnectedness of social realities.
Chapter 4—entitled ‘Globality and Connectivity’—makes a case for a con-
nectivist sociology, insisting that modernity can be regarded as a product of
multiple interconnections across the world. To the extent that we recognize
both the existence and the significance of ‘connected histories’, it becomes
possible to take seriously those ‘other histories’ that are commonly ignored by,
or relegated to the margins of, ‘Western’ collective memories. Such a connec-
tivist approach requires us to face up to the fact that the numerous behav-
ioural, ideological, and institutional patterns of functioning associated with
the historical condition called ‘modernity’—far from possessing a monolithic
origin in the cradle of European civilization—stem from a transcontinental
confluence of human practices and social structures. A truly global sociology,
while rejecting the assumption that civilizations constitute distinct and self-
sufficient entities, subverts the mainstream historical narrative according to
which, in the context of modernity, the European continent represents the
principal driving force behind, and the crucial reference point for, civiliza-
tional developments across the world. A connectivist approach, in other
words, takes issue with the separation, isolation, and hierarchization of civiliza-
tions as building blocks of human existence. Furthermore, it calls into ques-
tion (1) the historical assumption that modernity has existed as ‘only one
experience’ and (2) the sociological assumption that modernity, insofar as it is
portrayed as a largely European affair, can make a legitimate claim to ‘unique-
ness’ and ‘progressiveness’. Having exposed the fragile foundations of such an
ethnocentric perspective, it becomes feasible, if not imperative, to pursue the
methodological strategy of ‘provincializing’ Europe by deconstructing its epis-
temic claims to universality. Arguably, such an undertaking contributes to the
creation of a ‘global social science community’.
works that have shaped its disciplinary identity from the beginning of its exis-
tence. Notwithstanding the question of whether or not Karl Marx, Émile
Durkheim, and Max Weber deserve to be regarded as the ‘founding figures’ of
sociology, the far-reaching significance of their legacy is undeniable. It appears,
however, that classical sociology is characterized, at best, by a deficient engage-
ment with or, at worst, by the almost complete neglect of the wide-ranging
impact of colonialism on historical developments across the world. This omis-
sion is especially problematic to the degree that Marx, Durkheim, and Weber
have acquired the quasi-religious status of a ‘holy trinity’ in the history of
sociology. A key question that arises in this context is why some scholars have
been more successful than others in setting the agenda and shaping the canon
of their discipline. One of the most remarkable features of canon formation
in British sociology is that—to a large extent—it has been, and continues to
be, based on the works of non-British scholars. More specifically, it is charac-
terized by a curious paradox: non-Anglocentric Anglocentrism. While it has
offered a domestic framework to an impressively large number of non-British
scholars, it has greatly contributed to the hegemonic influence of Anglophone
sociology—not only in Europe, but across the world. Canon formation in
sociology is marked by an asymmetrical distribution of power, as is particu-
larly evident in the field of social theory, which suffers from the ‘white-theory-
boys syndrome’. In mainstream sociology, theoretical debates tend to be
dominated by privileged, white/Western, male, middle- or old-aged, and
highly educated experts. Irrespective of this socio-epistemic inequality, sociol-
ogy still provides a safe home for scholars from adjacent disciplines.
Chapter 6—entitled ‘Canonicity and Exclusivity’—contends that intellec-
tual canons in mainstream sociology have systematically excluded, and effec-
tively silenced, non-white scholars. A salient example of academic
marginalization processes based on ethnicity is the sidelining of ‘African American
Pioneers of Sociology’—notably W. E. B. Du Bois, E. Franklin Frazier, and
Oliver Cromwell Cox. Through processes of canon formation, it is decided
who is, and who is not, allowed to set the (implicit or explicit) rules underly-
ing social mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion at work in the academic
field. As posited in this chapter, the broadening of a canon may require its
deconstruction, thereby exposing the relatively arbitrary criteria by means of
which scholars and research traditions are included in, or excluded from,
hegemonic processes and structures of knowledge production. It is, to say the
least, an irony that Western discourses of emancipation gained intellectual
currency in the ‘Old World’ at the same time as slavery was being instituted
in the ‘New World’. The serious implications of this matter are hardly ever
explored, let alone problematized, by mainstream Western sociologists. The
Introduction xix
be defined as the belief that the current era constitutes a historical stage that
is not only fundamentally different from previous ones, but also qualitatively
unique and unprecedented, reflecting a radical break with prior forms of soci-
etal existence. The chapter draws attention to central issues arising in the face
of epochalism, particularly with regard to its reductionist implications—such
as the simplistic juxtaposition between ‘past’ and ‘present’, the proliferation of
sweeping statements concerning allegedly ‘new’ developments, and the incon-
gruity between theoretical and empirical accounts of temporality. The chapter
defends the claim that, as critical sociologists, we need to distinguish between
objective, normative, and subjective dimensions influencing both realities and
narratives of development in general and of change in particular. Informed by
the preceding reflections on the nature of historical analysis in sociological
inquiry, the chapter goes on to give an overview of both the merits and the
pitfalls of Parsonian versions of evolutionism and neo-evolutionism. Parsonian
sociology has been largely sidelined in the contemporary social sciences. Given
its influence on the development of sociology, this seems hardly justified,
especially when considering the question of whether or not it is possible to
provide a non-Eurocentric understanding of modernity. The chapter discusses
the possibility of developing a ‘middle position’ between Eurocentric univer-
salism and anti-Eurocentric relativism, focusing on the epistemic benefits
gained from such a venture.
both negative and positive trends affecting the discipline’s development. The
chapter concludes by proposing a tentative outline of the crucial issues upon
which contemporary sociologists can, and should, focus when defending the
value and importance of their discipline.
realities in the national contexts of both ‘the colonized’ and ‘the colonizers’—
that is, in a global universe characterized by a profoundly asymmetrical divi-
sion of power. Notwithstanding the question of which particular stance in
relation to this issue one may wish to defend, a key challenge consists in
exploring the actual (or at least the potential) usefulness of postcolonial stud-
ies ‘for reorienting sociological theory and research’.3 Before fleshing out the
main facets of this task, it is imperative to scrutinize the motivational back-
ground to this endeavour, by reflecting on the historical context in which
sociology emerged and succeeded in establishing itself as one of the most
prominent disciplines in the social sciences.
In this respect, two events that took place in the past centuries are of para-
mount significance:
1. The ‘violent imperial expansion of the European and Anglo-American
states’4 across the world in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, particu-
larly in Africa and Asia, constitutes a large-scale conglomerate of historical
processes generally described as colonization and associated with the era of
colonialism. The acquisition, establishment, and maintenance of colonies
entail the systematic exploitation of territories and populations by foreign
powers. By definition, colonialism represents a form of imperialism, to the
extent that it sets up an unequal relationship between ‘the colonizers’ and
‘the colonized’—that is, between an exogenous and oppressive force and an
indigenous and oppressed population. ‘Beginning in the late nineteenth and
continuing through the early twentieth century, powerful states like
England, France, Germany, the USA, Belgium, Italy, and others mounted
new territorial assaults upon Africa and Asia, creating what has become
known as the period of “high imperialism”.’5 Indeed, it took only a few
decades for ‘modern colonial empires’6 to rule almost ‘all of the globe’7 and
thereby spread their imperial wings to exercise their hegemonic power over
the political, cultural, ideological, linguistic, economic, military, demo-
graphic, and territorial organization of foreign lands and regions.
2. Shortly after the end of World War II in 1945, a historically significant
process commenced, which continued through the 1960s: decolonization.
This tension-laden dynamic was characterized by ‘imperial retrenchment
and decline’8 and, consequently, by ‘the dismantling of those very same
colonial empires that had been expanding previously’.9 To be sure, this
period did not necessarily signal the end of imperialism; rather, it indicated
the transformation of the international division of power into a global
system in which the label ‘colony’ and the reality of ‘colonialism’ were no
longer ideologically defensible, but in which transnational structures of
1 Postcoloniality and Sociology 5
• In relation to the former point, it is worth stressing that sociology came into
existence ‘during the first moment—the age of high imperialism—in the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries’.14 In fact, given the allegedly
Eurocentric outlook of its classical variants, one may claim that sociology
was largely complicit in fostering the spirit of epistemic imperialism.
Notwithstanding the question of whether the ‘founding figures’ of the dis-
cipline reinforced or undermined, reproduced or transformed, advocated
or criticized, supported or subverted, sympathized with or distanced them-
selves from Western forms of imperialism, large parts of social-scientific
research—especially to the extent that it involved comparative historical
analysis—‘depended on knowledge of the Other’15 acquired through
European expansion across the world. Some of the central issues with
which classical sociology was grappling were inextricably linked to the mul-
tiple material and symbolic manifestations of imperialism that were present
6 S. Susen
in both the colonizing and the colonized countries in the nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries.16
• In relation to the latter point, it is hard to deny that ‘sociology’s engagement
with the issues surrounding the second moment of postcoloniality remains
obscure’.17 Indeed, while sociology has produced an eclectic body of research
on both the constitution and the various normative implications of ‘the
new imperialism’,18 it is far from obvious to what degree it has provided an
adequate analysis, let alone a comprehensive assessment, of both the reality
and the consequences of decolonization, epitomized in the historical condi-
tion of postcoloniality and expressed in the rise of postcolonial studies. Owing
to this deficient engagement with one of the most fundamental aspects of
the modern world, the concern with the role of postcoloniality in shaping
the course of history has been taken more seriously in recent years, leading
to fruitful debates and controversies in contemporary sociology.19
• The ‘first wave’ of postcolonial studies emerged in the 1950s and 1960s,
shaped by intellectuals such as Aimé Césaire (1913–2008),21 Albert Memmi
(1920–),22 Frantz Fanon (1925–1961),23 and Steven Biko (1946–1977).24
• The ‘second wave’ of postcolonial studies emerged from the 1970s onwards,
shaped by intellectuals such as Edward Said (1935–2003),25 Gayatri Spivak
(1942–),26 and Homi K. Bhabha (1949–).27
dominant ideologies, they run the risk of being defused in a way that renders
them toothless, implying that they may be reduced to serving a decorative,
rather than transformative, function in the construction, and constant recon-
struction, of interconnected and interdependent societies.
Hence, postcolonialism faces a twofold normative challenge:
1. Agency
In modern social theory, the concept of agency has been a key issue of conten-
tion, illustrating the impact of underlying epistemic presuppositions on con-
temporary understandings of the human subject. In a traditional sense, agency
may be regarded as a privilege of human beings, given that, presumably, they
are the only creatures in the world capable of speech, reflection, and self-
justification. As such, they are able to engage in symbolically mediated
1 Postcoloniality and Sociology 11
interactions and to provide reasons for their actions, as illustrated in the pur-
posive power of their Verstand, the normative power of their Vernunft, and the
evaluative power of their Urteilskraft.64 What traditional social theory has
failed to deliver, however, is a typology of agency.65 Such a conceptual endeav-
our would need to take on the investigative challenge of identifying and
examining crucial forms of agency, such as the following:
that these (and other) capacities are conditioned by people’s unequally distrib-
uted access to socially relevant resources, by means of which they manage, or
fail, to take control of their own destiny.
Far from being reducible to a scholastic exercise of intellectual speculation,
the point of rendering subaltern forces ‘agentic’68 is to demonstrate that such
an endeavour ‘does offer insights on questions of agency’69—notably in terms
of postcolonial subjects’ ability to liberate themselves ‘in the face of perpetual
Western power’,70 by emancipating themselves from their putative depen-
dence upon exogenous forces that appear to determine the scope of the pos-
sibilities, and limitations, of their everyday lives.
Such a project, however, rejects ‘any naïve romanticization of subaltern
agency’71 by acknowledging the tension-laden—and, in many ways, contradic-
tory—nature of all individual and collective processes oriented towards the
construction of emancipatory life forms. An undertaking of this kind aims to
provide a comprehensive picture of global society by ‘excavating non-Western
voices and perspectives so as to give voice to voices which had been previously
repressed or ignored’.72 The corresponding paradigmatic shift from a ‘history
from above’ to a ‘history from below’73 is motivated by the conviction that it is
essential to conceive of ‘the subaltern as the maker of his [or her] own des-
tiny’,74 thereby shedding light on, and taking seriously, ‘the contributions made
by the people on their own, that is, independently of the elite’.75 Such a profound
shift in emphasis can be realized only by moving away from the ‘universalist
histories of capital’,76 the nation-state, the rational subject, and other forces
whose presumed significance is captured in specific metanarratives.
‘Refusing to reduce difference to historical time (i.e. rendering peasants
“backwards”) or Orientalist categories (the peasant as “irrational”), it sought
alternative ways of thinking about, and representing, subaltern subjects.’77 On
this account, subaltern agency has to be recognized, and scrutinized, in terms
of its historical specificity, without reducing it to an epiphenomenon of a
teleologically determined history. Following this approach, the subaltern is
not only able to speak but also, crucially, able to speak for itself—that is, on its
own behalf and, thus, without being patronized by exogenous voices legiti-
mized to represent, or to misrepresent, it. This horizon-broadening endeavour
permits us to render visible the limits of subaltern agency as well as ‘the limits
of the West’s own agency’.78 Even if one comes to the conclusion that—owing
to its complexity, heterogeneity, and irreducibility, which can hardly be cap-
tured by Western categories of objectifying scrutiny—the subaltern cannot be
adequately represented,79 a critical sociology of both local and global struggles
needs to contribute to equipping marginalized actors with a sense of material
and symbolic re-empowerment. In order to accomplish this, it has to draw
1 Postcoloniality and Sociology 13
2. Binaries
In contemporary social theory, the role of binaries has been a central issue of
controversy, implying that even those who are highly critical of them acknowl-
edge their impact upon concept-formation and system-building in modern
intellectual thought. Irrespective of whether one focuses on ‘relations between
colonizer and colonized, metropole and colony, center and periphery’,89
debates on both colonial and postcolonial societies are profoundly marked by
binaries, which are referred to as ‘dichotomies’, ‘antinomies’, ‘oppositions’, or
‘dualisms’.90 Undoubtedly, the question of the extent to which conceptual
divisions in the social sciences serve a useful function remains a subject of
contention.91 From a Bourdieusian point of view, ‘[o]f all the oppositions that
artificially divide social science, the most fundamental, and the most ruinous,
is the one that is set up between subjectivism and objectivism’.92 From a post-
colonial perspective, of all the oppositions that erroneously divide social sci-
ence, the most crucial, and the most damaging, is the one that is constructed
between ‘the West’ and ‘the Rest’. In both theoretical and practical terms, this
antinomy is detrimental in that it prevents not only critical researchers but
also ordinary actors from comprehending the degree to which ‘identities,
institutions, spaces, or places that might be deemed separate were in fact con-
nected, intertwined, and mutually constituted’.93
3. Hegemony
In the contemporary social sciences, the power of hegemony has been exam-
ined and discussed from different perspectives and in relation to diverse his-
torical contexts. The question of which individual or collective actors have the
upper hand in setting behavioural, ideological, and institutional agendas
remains a concern of paramount importance in critical sociology. The ques-
tion of the extent to which sociology has taken, and continues to take, an
imperial standpoint—thereby reinforcing, rather than undermining, the hege-
mony of ‘the West’—remains controversial. Regardless of whether or not one
comes to the conclusion that sociology, in one way or another, takes an impe-
rial standpoint, the accusation stands that it is guilty of a substantial degree of
complicity in terms of stabilizing, rather than subverting, the hegemonic influ-
ence of Western powers across the globe.
16 S. Susen
a. that ‘the understanding of the world by far exceeds the Western under-
standing of the world’,111 implying that symbolically mediated horizons of
vocabularies, grammars, and pragmatics must be grasped, and studied, in
terms of their particularity, heterogeneity, and irreducibility;
b. that ‘there is no global social justice without global cognitive justice’,112
meaning that issues of rightness, fairness, and integrity constitute funda-
mental aspects of everyday normativity, whose socio-ontological centrality
is expressed in the quotidian exchange of value-laden claims to validity;
c. that ‘the emancipatory transformations in the world may follow grammars
and scripts other than those developed by Western-centric critical theory,
and such diversity should be valorized’,113 suggesting that processes of
empowerment and mechanisms of disempowerment are embedded in local
contexts, whose sociohistorical specificity is irreducible to the overarching
logic of species-constitutive universality.
The aforementioned dichotomy between ‘the West’ and ‘the Rest’ is con-
verted into a normative antinomy between ‘advanced’ and ‘backward’, thereby
establishing a hierarchy between ‘superior’ and ‘inferior’ players in the global
division of power. The result is the self-legitimizing construction of an
imperial(ist) standpoint, whose seizure of epistemic power is reflected in its
capacity to exercise hegemonic influence on the production and distribution
of knowledge across the globe by inferiorizing, trivializing, marginalizing, or
simply ignoring ‘non-Western’ modes of relating and attributing meaning to
reality.119
The question remains, then, what role sociology can, or should, play in
these local and global struggles for epistemic influence and recognition. In
this respect, two (diametrically opposed) options stand out:
Notes
1. Go (2013a), p. 3 (italics added). Cf. Go (2016).
2. Go (2013a), p. 3.
3. Ibid., p. 3.
4. Ibid., p. 3.
5. Ibid., p. 3 (italics added).
6. Ibid., p. 3.
7. Ibid., p. 4.
8. Ibid., p. 4.
9. Ibid., p. 4.
10. This view is forcefully expressed in the concepts of ‘neoimperialism’ and
‘neocolonialism’. On the concept of ‘(neo-) imperialism’, see, for instance:
Brewer (1990 [1980]); Bush (2006); Etherington (1984); Mommsen (1980
[1977]); Mommsen and Osterhammel (1986); Noonan (2017); Semmel
(1993). On the concept of ‘(neo-) colonialism’, see, for instance: Crozier
(1964); Jarrett (1996); Ngũgı ̃ (1986); Nkrumah (1965); Sartre (2001
[1964]); Vidyarthi (1988); Woddis (1967).
11. Go (2013a), p. 4.
12. Ibid., p. 4.
13. Ibid., p. 4.
14. Ibid., p. 4 (italics added).
15. Ibid., p. 4.
16. On this point, see, for example: Connell (1997); Giddings (1911); Go
(2013b); Steinmetz (2009). See also Go (2013a), p. 4.
17. Go (2013a), p. 4 (italics added).
1 Postcoloniality and Sociology 19
18. Ibid., p. 4.
19. On this point, see, for instance: Bhambra (2007a); Bhambra (2013);
Bhambra (2014a); Bhambra et al. (2014); Brisson (2008); Brisson (2018);
Chakrabarty (2003); Connell (2014); Cooper (2005); Dainotto (2007);
Decoteau (2013); Go (2013a); Go (2013b); Hoogvelt (2001 [1997]);
Kerner (2012); Kerner (2018); Lionnet and Shi (2011); McLennan (2013);
Mouzelis (1999); Patel (2014); Persaud and Walker (2015); Santos (2014);
Steinmetz (2009); Steinmetz (2013).
20. See Go (2013a), p. 4. See also, for instance: Young (2001); Young (2003);
Young (2004 [1990]). Cf. Go (2016), esp. Chapter 1.
21. See, for example, Césaire (1970 [1955]).
22. See, for example, Memmi (2003 [1957]).
23. See, for example, Fanon (2004 [1961]).
24. See, for example, Zephaniah (2001) [see poem entitled ‘Biko The Greatness’].
25. See, for example, Said (1978).
26. See, for example, Spivak (1988).
27. See, for example, Bhabha (1994).
28. On this point, see Go (2013a), p. 4.
29. For an excellent critique of this project, see, for example, Allen (2016). See
also, for instance, Wolff (1994).
30. Go (2013a), p. 5.
31. Ibid., p. 5.
32. On the concepts of ‘the Global North’ and ‘the Global South’, see, for example:
Blumberg and Cohn (2016); Chant and McIlwaine (2009); Chant and
McIlwaine (2016); Collyer (2018); Collyer et al. (2018); Confraria et al.
(2017); Farran and Hultin (2016); Green and Luehrmann (2017 [2003]);
Hooks (2016); Horner and Nadvi (2018); Jackson et al. (2016); Mahler
(2018); Mayer-Ahuja (2017); Miller (2013); Miraftab and Kudva (2014);
Pradella (2017); Rigg (2007); Wieringa and Sívori (2013).
33. Spivak (1990), p. 166 (quotation modified). See also Go (2013a), p. 6.
34. On this point, see Susen (2014c) and Susen (2016c).
35. Go (2013a), p. 6.
36. Ibid., p. 6.
37. Ibid., p. 6.
38. Ibid., p. 6.
39. Young (2003), p. 4 (quotation modified). On this point, see also Go
(2013a), p. 6.
40. Go (2013a), p. 6.
41. Ibid., p. 6 (italics added) (quotation modified).
42. On the relationship between postcoloniality and intersectionality, see, for exam-
ple: Banerjee and Ghosh (2018); Bartels et al. (2019); Brah and Phoenix
(2004); Kerner (2017); Mirza (2009); Mollett (2017); Radcliffe (2015), esp.
20 S. Susen
86. On this point, see, for example: Armitage (2007); Brisson (2018); Bush
(2006); Chakrabarty (2000); Chakrabarty (2003); Chatterjee (1993); Go
(2013a), esp. p. 13; Moraña et al. (2008); Skocpol (1979).
87. Go (2013a), p. 14 (italics added).
88. On this point, see Chaps. 3 and 4. See also, for example: Bhambra (2007a);
Bhambra (2013); Bhambra (2014a); Fanon (2004 [1961]); Memmi (2003
[1957]).
89. Go (2013a), p. 15.
90. On this point, see Jenks (1998).
91. On this point, see, for example, Susen (2007), esp. pp. 18 and 149.
92. Bourdieu (1990 [1980]), p. 25. See also original publication: Bourdieu
(1980a), p. 43: ‘De toutes les oppositions qui divisent artificiellement la sci-
ence sociale, la plus fondamentale, et la plus ruineuse, est celle qui s’établit
entre le subjectivisme et l’objectivisme’. On this point, see also, for example:
Mouzelis (2000); Susen (2007), pp. 149–157 and 239–240; Susen (2011a),
pp. 456–458; Susen (2011c), pp. 368, 374, and 394; Susen (2011e),
pp. 51–53 and 73–74; Susen (2014d), pp. 679, 690, and 763n569; Susen
(2016a), pp. 45–47 and 104; Susen (2017a), pp. 139–141 and 146.
93. Go (2013a), p. 15 (italics added).
94. Ibid., pp. 3, 10, 14, 15, 17, 22, and 23. On this point, see also Go (2013c).
95. Go (2013a), p. 15.
96. Ibid., p. 15.
97. Ibid., p. 15.
98. On this point, see also, for example: Bhambra (2007a); Bhambra (2013);
Bhambra (2014a); Bhambra (2015); Bhambra et al. (2014); Boatcă (2013);
Boatcă and Costa (2010); Boatcă et al. (2010).
99. See, for example: Craib (1997); Giddens (1996 [1971]); Hawthorn (1987
[1976]); Morrison (2006 [1995]); Sayer (1991). See also Susen (2015a),
pp. 11, 12, 236, and 248. In addition, see Susen and Turner (2011a).
100. Go (2013a), p. 15. On this point, see Seidman (2013).
101. Go (2013a), p. 15 (italics added). On this point, see also Go (2013b).
102. Go (2013a), p. 15. On this point, see also Stoler (1995). Cf. Foucault (1978
[1976]), Foucault (1979 [1975]), Foucault (1980), Foucault (1988),
Foucault (1988 [1984]), Foucault (1997 [1984]), Foucault (2001 [1961]),
Foucault (2002 [1966]), and Foucault (2002 [1969]).
103. Go (2013a), p. 16 (italics in original).
104. Ibid., p. 17.
105. Ibid., p. 17 (italics in original).
106. Ibid., p. 17.
107. Ibid., p. 17 (italics in original).
108. See, for example: Alexander et al. (2002); Alexander and Keiger (2002);
Windrow (1997).
109. See Go (2013a), p. 17.
1 Postcoloniality and Sociology 23
***
Korkealle kohottanut
lippunsa on Raittius.
Voimansa on osottanut
usko, toivo, rakkaus.
Talvi-illalla.
Mi mieltäni rohkaiseisi?
On sielläkin talvi-ilta.
Mi ruusujen maille veisi
sen oksilta huurteisilta? —
Oi, toivo se armas vie!
Immen tuska.
Luoman Herska.
Terveinä ne temmeltävät,
huoletonna hyppäjävät.
Viis, kuus vuotta vielä vois
viedä heitä — toistap' ois'!
Lääkärit on neuvottomat:
kuin näin oltiin huolettomat!
Miks' ei tultu ennemmin?
Nyt on myöhä koittaakin.
Ainahan on kristikansa
korjannunna kurjiansa.
Huolittaisko heist' ei nyt?
Loppuiko jo kristityt?
Kirkoss' on jo kuulutettu,
kappelissa kaiutettu,
että Luoman perhe on
myytävänä turvaton.
Tyytyös syömeni.
Iltakello.
Aamuhetki.
Taivas.
(Mukaelma Saksasta.)
Muutos.
Laula lintuseni.
Ilma-orpo.