The impasse of European critical theory: Attempts at a pragmatic sociology renewal

Many significant intellectual developments have taken place in 20th century European social theories. Notably the first Frankfurt School and Bourdieu’s work have successfully shown how workers, social actors, etc. are alienated or dominated by capitalist social structures. But according to Habermas, neither perspective successfully allows for the possibility that people could contribute to their own emancipation. The emergence of new forms of social resistance to domination such as those embodied by the Indignados, Anonymous, Femen, the practitioners of alternative economy, movements of unemployed people or illegals compels us to envisage the possibility for emancipation, but how?

In this paper we explore opportunities for accounting for this by considering the work of a range of other European social theorists, more specifically Boltanski whose critical intent is embodied in his pragmatic sociology, and evident in his coining and use of the concept of the world. In addition we will consider Latour’s own pragmatic stance as we believe that despite his disinterest in new social movements, his work, informed by pure immanence, might offer potential solutions.

But we would argue that even in these innovations there is either a persistent tendency to imagine emancipation primarily as a return to some ideal state or a lack of critical engagement with alienation. In response, we propose a materialist renewal, which will lead us to ponder on the political role of sociologists.