Fin de Siecle Social Theory - Relativism, Reduction, and the Problem of Reason (Paperback)

In four interwoven studies, the book identifies the central dilemma that provokes contemporary social theory, and proposes a new way to resolve it. The dream of reason that marked the previous "fin de siecle" foundered in the face of the cataclysms of the 20th century, when war, revolution and totalitarianism came to be seen as themselves products of reason. In response, there emerged the profound scepticism about rationality that has so starkly defined the present fin de siecle. From Wittgenstein through Rorty and postmodernism, relativism rejects the very possibility of universal standards, while with both positivism and new-marxists like Bourdieu, reductionism claims that ideas simply reflect their social base. This book presents an argument which develops the alternative of a "neo-modernist" position which defends reason from within a culturally-centred perspective, while remaining committed to the goal of explaining, not merely interpreting, contemporary social life. On the basis of a sweeping reinterpretation of post-war society and its intellectuals, the author suggests that both antimodernism radicalism and postmodernist resignation are now in decline; a more democratic, le

General

Imprint:	Verso Books
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Release date:	July 1995
First published:	July 1995
Authors:	Jeffrey C Alexander
Dimensions:	236 x 152 x 20mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	240
ISBN-13:	978-1-85984-091-7
Categories:	Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > General Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Interdisciplinary studies > Cultural studies > General
LSN:	1-85984-091-4
Barcode:	9781859840917

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