The main purpose of this paper is to examine the validity of the contention that, over the past decades, we have been witnessing the rise of the ‘posthuman condition’. To this end, the analysis draws on the work of the contemporary philosopher Rosi Braidotti. The paper is divided into four parts. The first part centres on the concept of posthumanism, suggesting that it reflects a systematic attempt to challenge humanist assumptions underlying the construction of ‘the human’. The second part focuses (...) on the concept of post-anthropocentrism, demonstrating that it articulates a desire to reject the twin ideas of ‘species supremacism’ and ‘human exceptionalism’, which it seeks to replace with ‘species egalitarianism’ and ‘monistic vitalism’. The third part is concerned with the concept of critical posthumanities, positing that its advocacy is based on the cross-fertilization of posthumanism and post-anthropocentrism. The fourth part offers an assessment of the ‘posthuman condition’ thesis, evaluating the extent to which it sheds new light on the ways in which our engagements with the world are shaped by the confluence of zoe-, geo-, and techno-based dimensions. The paper concludes with a brief summary of the key insights gained from the preceding inquiry. (shrink)

What is the relevance of Luc Boltanski’s ‘pragmatic sociology of critique’ to central issues in contemporary social and political analysis? In seeking to respond to this question, this book contains critical commentaries from prominent social theorists attempting to map out the influence and broad scope of Boltanski’s oeuvre.

Pierre Bourdieu is widely regarded as one of the most influential sociologists of his generation, and yet the reception of his work in different cultural contexts and academic disciplines has been varied and uneven. This volume maps out the legacy of Pierre Bourdieu in contemporary social and political thought from the standpoint of classical European sociology and from the broader perspective of transatlantic social science. It brings together contributions from prominent scholars in the field, providing a range of perspectives on (...) the continuing relevance of Bourdieu's oeuvre to substantive problems in social and political analysis. (shrink)

Rosa’s ambition to overcome the subject–object dichotomy is a laudable endeavour. Yet, his approach would benefit from spelling out what it has added to previous attempts at challenging and going beyond traditional dichotomies, which are deeply ingrained in large parts of Western intellectual thought. To this end, it needs to provide a meticulous examination of the multiple ways in which our immersion in everyday life rises above traditional dichotomies, which are problematic in that they portray clear-cut conceptual distinctions as entirely (...) separate ontological realms. (shrink)

The main purpose of this paper is to shed light on Pierre Bourdieu’s conception of language. Although he has dedicated a significant part of his work to the study of language and even though his analysis of language has been extensively discussed in the literature, almost no attention has been paid to the fact that Bourdieu’s account of language is based on a number of ontological presuppositions, that is, on a set of universal assumptions about the very nature of language. (...) This article aims to fill this gap in the literature by offering a detailed overview of 10 key features which, from a Bourdieusian point of view, can be regarded as inherent in language. On the basis of this enquiry, the study seeks to demonstrate that—contrary to common belief—there is not only a Bourdieusian sociology of language but also a Bourdieusian philosophy of language, which provides a useful theoretical framework for examining the unavoidable conditions of the real speech situation. The paper draws to a close by reflecting on the flaws and limitations of Bourdieu’s approach to language. (shrink)

Focusing on the work of Hartmut Rosa, this book provides an in-depth account of the extent to which we, as humans, are obliged to face up to the uncontrollability of the world. Rosa is widely regarded as one of the most original contemporary European social theorists. Along with the concepts of ‘acceleration’, ‘alienation’, and ‘resonance’, the notion of ‘uncontrollability’ [Unverfügbarkeit] ranks among the most important reference points in Rosa’s critical theory, especially in his recent work. It is no accident, then, (...) that – following his extensive inquiries into ‘acceleration’ and ‘alienation’ and the publication of his magnum opus on ‘resonance’ – Rosa has found it necessary to offer a brief, but powerful, account of the place occupied by the concept of ‘uncontrollability’ in his critical theory. The first half of this book comprises a detailed outline of Rosa’s central arguments on ‘uncontrollability’, before moving, in the second half, to a thorough assessment of the most significant limitations of his approach. This book will appeal to students and scholars of the social sciences and humanities – particularly to those interested in social theory, social philosophy, and the history of ideas. (shrink)

From Rosa’s perspective, one of the key tasks of a sociology of our relationship of the world is to study society by combining the analysis of structural constituents (from a third-person perspective) with the analysis of cultural constituents (from a first-person perspective). On this view, the interplay between structures and institutions, on the one hand, and cultural forces, on the other, is central to the constitution, development, and functioning of any social formation. The validity of Rosa’s distinction between ‘structural’ and (...) ‘cultural’ dimensions of social existence, however, is questionable—not least because all cultures have socio-structural dimensions, just as all social structures have cultural dimensions. (shrink)

The main purpose of this article is to provide an in-depth review of Andrew Feenberg’s Technosystem: The Social Life of Reason. To this end, the anal...

Drawing on my article “Bourdieusian reflections on language: Unavoidable conditions of the real speech situation”, this paper provides a detailed response to the above commentaries by Lisa Adkins, Bridget Fowler, Michael Grenfell, David Inglis, Hans-Herbert Kögler, Steph Lawler, William Outhwaite, Derek Robbins and Bryan S. Turner. The main purpose of this “Reply to my critics” is to reflect upon the most important issues raised by these commentators and thereby contribute to a more nuanced understanding of key questions arising from Bourdieu’s (...) analysis of language. (shrink)

In all forms of life, desire is a major motivational driving force. Modernity is geared towards rendering the world—including our desires—(1) visible, (2) reachable or accessible, (3) manageable, (4) useful, (5) malleable, (6) manipulable, and (7) controllable. And yet, desire is not everything. We are driven, partly, by the impulsive power of our desires and, partly, by the attitudinal (and, in many respects, ideological) power of our strong evaluations. Desire is a paradoxical affair: the more we realize that we desire (...) something we cannot have, the more we desire it. To desire what we cannot have (or at least what we cannot have immediately or entirely) means to desire something we cannot control (or at least something we cannot control momentarily or completely). Ultimately, every desire is an expression of our need for resonance. The instrumentalization of this need is one of capitalism’s greatest weapons. (shrink)

The main purpose of this article is to demonstrate the enduring relevance of the concept of ideology to contemporary sociological analysis. To this end, the article draws upon central arguments put forward by Pierre Bourdieu and Luc Boltanski in ‘La production de l’idéologie dominante’ [‘The Production of the Dominant Ideology’]. Yet, the important theoretical contributions made in this enquiry have been largely ignored by contemporary sociologists, even by those who specialize in the critical study of ideology. This article intends to (...) fill this gap in the literature by illustrating that useful lessons can be learned from Bourdieu and Boltanski’s critical investigation, as it provides crucial insights into the principal characteristics and functions of ideologies, including the ways in which they develop and operate in advanced capitalist societies. The article is divided into two main parts: the first part examines various universal features of ideology; the second part aims to shed light on several particular features of dominant ideology. The paper concludes by arguing that the ‘end of ideology’ thesis, despite the fact that it raises valuable sociological questions, is ultimately untenable. (shrink)

This book offers an unprecedented account of recent and future developments in the sociology of intellectuals. It presents a critical exchange between two leading contemporary social theorists, Patrick Baert and Simon Susen, advancing debates at the cutting edge of scholarship on the changing role of intellectuals in the increasingly interconnected societies of the twenty-first century. The discussion centres on Baert's most recent contribution to this field of inquiry, The Existentialist Moment: The Rise of Sartre as a Public Intellectual (2015), demonstrating (...) that it has opened up hitherto barely explored avenues for the sociological study of intellectuals. The authors also provide an overview of various alternative approaches that are available for understanding the sociology of intellectuals, such as those of Pierre Bourdieu, Randall Collins and Neil Gross. In doing so, they grapple with the question of the extent to which intellectuals can play a positive and empowering role in shaping the current and future development of society. This insightful book will appeal to students and scholars of the humanities and social sciences, particularly to those interested in social theory and the history of intellectual thought. (shrink)

It is hard to overstate the growing impact of the works of Andreas Reckwitz and Hartmut Rosa on contemporary social theory. Given the quality and originality of their intellectual contributions, it is no accident that they can be regarded as two towering figures of contemporary German social theory. The far-reaching significance of their respective approaches is reflected not only in their numerous publications but also in the fast-evolving secondary literature engaging with their writings. All of this should be reason enough (...) to take note of their collaborative work, which, most recently, has culminated in the publication of their co-authored book Spätmoderne in der Krise: Was leistet die Gesellschaftstheorie? (Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2021). The main purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the latest exchange between Reckwitz and Rosa contains valuable insights into recent and ongoing trends in society in general and social theory in particular. The first part comprises an outline of the central matters at stake in, and the core lessons learnt from, the constructive dialogue between Reckwitz’s critical analytics and Rosa’s critical theory, before moving, in the second part, to an assessment of the most significant limitations of their respective views and propositions. (shrink)

This paper explores Pierre Bourdieu’s conception of social science. In particular, it aims to show that the common assumption that Bourdieu remains trapped in a positivist paradigm does not do justice to his multifaceted account of social science. In order to illustrate the complexity of Bourdieu’s conception of social science, this study scrutinises ten epistemological tensions which can be found in his writings on the nature of systematic forms of knowledge production. In view of these epistemological tensions, a more fine-grained (...) picture emerges which demonstrates that Bourdieu compels us to reflect upon the complexity of the various tasks intrinsic to the pursuit of a critical social science. The paper concludes by discussing the limitations and shortcomings of the epistemological presuppositions that underpin Bourdieu’s reflexive sociology. (shrink)

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of critique in Habermasian thought. Given that the concept of critique is a central theoretical category in the work of the Frankfurt School, it comes as a surprise that little in the way of a systematic account which sheds light on the multifaceted meanings of the concept of critique in Habermas's oeuvre can be found in the literature. This paper aims to fill this gap by exploring the various meanings (...) that Habermas attributes to the concept of critique in 10 key thematic areas of his writings: (1) the public sphere, (2) knowledge, (3) language, (4) morality, (5) ethics, (6) evolution, (7) legitimation, (8) democracy, (9) religion, and (10) modernity. On the basis of a detailed analysis of Habermas's multifaceted concerns with the nature and function of critique, the study seeks to demonstrate that the concept of critique can be considered not only as a constitutive element but also as a normative cornerstone of Habermasian thought. The paper draws to a close by reflecting on some of the limitations of Habermas's conception of critique, arguing that in order to be truly critical in the Habermasian sense we need to turn the subject of critique into an object of critique. (shrink)

The main purpose of this paper is to explore Pierre Bourdieu’s conception of social science. To this end, the paper sheds light on the main epistemological presuppositions that undergird Bourdieu’s defence of reflexive sociology as a scientific endeavour. The predominant view in the literature is that, in most of his writings,Bourdieu has a tendency to embrace a positivist conception of social science. When examining Bourdieu’s conception of social science in more detail, however, it becomes clear that the assumption that he (...) remains trapped in a positivist paradigm does not do justice to the complexity of his multifaceted account of social science. In order to illustrate the complexity of Bourdieu’s conception of social science, the following analysis scrutinises ten epistemological tensions which can be found in Bourdieu’s writings on the nature of knowledge production. In view of these epistemological tensions, a more fine-grained picture emerges which demonstrates that Bourdieu invites,and indeed compels, us to reflect upon the complexity of the various tension-laden tasks posed by the pursuit of a critical social science. (shrink)

The main purpose of this paper is to provide a critical overview of the key contributions made by Luc Boltanski and Arnaud Esquerre in Qu’est-ce que l’actualité politique? Événements et opinions aux XXIe siècle. Whereas Enrichment: A Critique of Commodities is essentially a study in economic sociology, Boltanski and Esquerre’s latest book reflects a shift in emphasis towards political sociology. As demonstrated in this paper, their inquiry into the ontologie de l’actualité – that is, the ontology of contemporary reality – (...) contains valuable insights into the relationship between the production, circulation, and consumption of news, on the one hand, and the emergence of processes of politicization, on the other. The first half of this paper comprises a summary of the central arguments developed in Boltanski and Esquerre’s investigation, before moving, in the second half, to an assessment of its most significant limitations. (shrink)

While Rosa rightly insists on the essentially anti-instrumentalist nature of resonance, his justification is fraught with difficulties. (1) There may be a noteworthy discrepancy between first-person and third-person accounts of resonance. (2) The pursuit of controllability via the mastering of certain techniques is not always antithetical but often conducive to the emergence of resonant experiences. (3) Some forms of adaptive transformation may make our relationship to the world less, rather than more, resonant and more, rather than less, alienating. (4) Arguably, (...) it is possible to experience what may be described as ‘negative’ resonance. (shrink)

In the context of modernity, the world is, to a large extent, experienced as a point of aggression by those who inhabit it. In accordance with the functionalist logic inherent in systemic imperatives (such as rationalization, optimization, growth, expansion, competition, and profit-maximization), the modern world is dominated by the structural principle of dynamic stabilization and the cultural principle of the expansion of humanity’s reach. A society that can stabilize itself only dynamically—and seeks to achieve this through constant economic growth, technological (...) acceleration, and cultural innovation—is bound to generate pathological levels of desire for endless escalation. (shrink)

Rosa provides a powerful diagnosis of the pathological features of modern—including late-modern—formations. It is hard to avoid noticing, however, that his diagnosis—with its emphasis on modernity’s ubiquitous attempts at making the world engineerable, predictable, available, accessible, and disposable in all its aspects—is just another, albeit highly sophisticated and insightful, version of the well-rehearsed critique of instrumental reason.

The concept of power plays a pivotal role in Rosa’s discussion of the interplay between different forms of controllability, semicontrollability, and uncontrollability in social life. It is surprising, therefore, that his conceptualization of power remains remarkably underdeveloped. This limitation is reflected not only in the absence of a systematic account of power but also in several contentious statements concerning its very nature.

Rosa’s inquiry into the constitution of control as an institutional necessity is based on the assumption that, paradoxically, a society driven by the principle of dynamic stabilization both rejects and requires uncontrollability. Some matters arising from this proposition need to be carefully examined, notably the following: (1) the extent to which existential tensions can be regarded as sources of human self-fulfilment; (2) the extent to which humans need to exert a certain amount of control over the objective, normative, and subjective (...) conditions of their existence; (3) the extent to which the pursuit of power can be considered a quest for Verfügbarkeit; (4) the extent to which the obsession with controllability in teleological ideologies has resulted in numerous historical tragedies; (5) the extent to which the demand for transparency and documentation is a central feature of all forms of modernity; (6) the extent to which resonance can, or cannot, be commodified; (7) the extent to which modern pathologies govern our lives in a dialectical fashion; (8) the extent to which the fact that entering into a resonant relationship with human, sentient, and/or living entities is fundamentally different from entering into a resonant relationship with nonhuman, non-sentient, and/or non-living entities can be explained by reference to different axes of resonance; (9) the extent to which actors are capable of experiencing the full phenomenological complexity of reality; (10) the extent to which Rosa’s sociology of our relationship to the world would benefit from drawing a distinction between the noumenal and the phenomenal realms of our existence. (shrink)

A noticeable limitation of Rosa’s inquiry into uncontrollability is that it lacks a systematic account of agency. Arguably, among the most significant—interrelated and overlapping—types of agency are the following: (1) human, (2) nonhuman, (3) natural and evolutionary, (4) socio-structural and extended, and (5) transcendental. In order to grasp the interplay between different forms and degrees of controllability, semicontrollability, and uncontrollability, a sociology of our relationship to the world needs to provide a comprehensive theory of agency.

The tension between our attempts to develop a sense of agency by rendering the world controllable (proactive mode), on the one hand, and our yearning for a life in which we let things happen and take everything as it comes (reactive mode), on the other, is reflected in our different modes of dealing with key stages of life. These are (1) birth, (2) child-rearing and education, (3) life planning, relationships, and careers, (4) the digitalization of our relationship to the world, (...) (5) ageing and elder care, and (6) death. Our key stages of life can be understood in terms of ‘existential milestones’, which, while shaping our relationship to the world in a profound manner, are pervaded by the conflict between controllability and uncontrollability. (shrink)

Arguably, Rosa’s interpretation of modernity suffers from a hidden degree of fatalism. Rosa’s tendency to attribute a moment of constitutive uncontrollability to the ways in which the world presents itself to us is in danger of understating the important civilizational achievements that have allowed humans to make significant progress of different types and in numerous respects throughout their evolutionary history as a species. There is a considerable amount of historical and empirical evidence to suggest that our species-distinctive attempt at making (...) more and more aspects of the world controllable has had, and continues to have, both negative and positive, disempowering and empowering, repressive and emancipatory consequences. A balanced approach needs to account for this ambivalence, which appears to be built into the human condition. (shrink)

The main purpose of this paper is to reflect on processes of translation. To this end, it is divided into two parts. The first part provides an in-depth analysis of the central claims made by Walter Benjamin in his seminal essay “The Task of the Translator” (1986 [1968/1955/1923]), also known as “The Translator’s Task” (1997 [1923] & 2021 [2000/1923]), originally published in 1923 under the title “Die Aufgabe des Übersetzers” (1992 [1923]). The paper argues that these claims can be presented, (...) and partially revised, in the form of twenty-five theses. The second part examines some controversial issues arising from the preceding theses. As demonstrated in this section, the careful evaluation of Benjamin’s perspective permits us to shed new light on key issues faced by philosophical and sociological approaches to translation. The paper concludes by suggesting that the critical engagement with the task of the translator illustrates that “trans-ineffability” (that is, the fact that not everything can be expressed “in” language just as not everything can be rendered intelligible “across” languages) is a challenging, but ultimately enriching and empowering, part of the human condition. (shrink)

A striking feature of Rosa’s analysis of modernity is a latent degree of conservatism, which manifests itself in a form of socio-ontological romanticism about the past, notably in relation to premodern societies. This tendency is reflected in Rosa’s focus on the various negative features of modernity, notably those associated with experiences of alienation. Arguably, Rosa pays insufficient attention to the far-reaching implications of the ambivalence that is built into modernity: (1) on the ontological level, in terms of the tension between (...) ‘modernity in itself’ and ‘modernity for itself’; (2) on the normative level, in terms of the tension between ‘dark modernity’ and ‘bright modernity’; (3) and, on the spatiotemporal level, in terms of the tension between ‘backward-looking modernity’ and ‘forward-looking modernity’. (shrink)

In his attempt to develop a sociology of our relationship to the world, Rosa offers a highly original perspective on the species-constitutive significance of resonance. One of the main problems with his approach, however, is that it is so broad and all-encompassing that resonance is presented as too elastic a concept. For the concept of resonance to serve as a solid normative ground for critical theory, it has to be both sufficiently broad and elastic to include a wide range of (...) actors, activities, and arrangements and sufficiently narrow and categorical to exclude those living and non-living elements of the world that are incapable of triggering, let alone experiencing, resonance. (shrink)

In his reflections on the uncontrollability of desire and the desire for the uncontrollable, Rosa makes several important points. Some of his arguments concerning this subject, however, deserve to be examined in further detail, especially with regard to the following issues: (1) the relationship between structure and agency; (2) the relationship between multiple motivational forces; (3) the relationship between exogenous and endogenous forces; (4) the relationship between humanity and autonomy; (5) the relationship between desire and control; (6) the relationship between (...) the right life and the wrong life; and (7) the relationship between determinacy and indeterminacy. (shrink)

Rosa convincingly argues that the modern pursuit of making the world controllable involves rendering it (1) visible, (2) physically reachable or accessible, (3) manageable, and (4) useful. It is noticeable, however, that—in relation to this matter—Rosa fails to make reference to Habermas’s influential theory of knowledge-constitutive interests. Knowledge-constitutive interests are permeated by the simultaneous presence of different forms and degrees of controllability, semicontrollability, and uncontrollability. Cross-fertilizing Habermas’s tripartite account of Erkenntnis und Interesse (technical–practical–emancipatory) with Rosa’s tripartite account of Weltbeziehung (controllability–semicontrollability–uncontrollability) (...) permits us to grasp the extent to which the pursuit of knowledge-constitutive interests is marked by the tension between Verfügbarkeit and Unverfügbarkeit. (shrink)

While Rosa’s analysis of stages of life is broadly convincing, it contains several problematic elements, some of which are worth examining in more detail. (1) The pursuit of existential milestones can trigger both profound experiences of resonance and profound experiences of alienation. (2) Irrespective of the significant differences between forms of life, there are no societies in which pregnancies are either entirely uncontrollable or entirely controllable. (3) The interplay between different modes of controllability, semicontrollability, and uncontrollability permeates different spheres of (...) our existence in different ways and to different degrees. (4) The relationship between processes of commodification and the transformation of the educational sector in late-modern societies is more complex than Rosa appears to suggest. (5) Rosa’s aggression-focused understanding of modernity overstates the negative and understates the positive dimensions of this distinctive historical era. (6) There are many ways to extend one’s reach beyond one’s death, some of which are more enduring than others. (7) To the degree that a ‘strategy’ may be defined as a utility-driven plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim, it seems incompatible with Rosa’s conception of resonance. (shrink)

The concept of modernity is central to Rosa’s critical theory in general and his analysis of uncontrollability in particular. In the context of modernity, making the world controllable involves rendering it (1) visible, (2) physically reachable or accessible, (3) manageable, and (4) useful. These four components are firmly embedded in the institutional arrangements by which modern societies are sustained: (1) science, (2) technology, (3) the economy, and (4) law and the state. While Rosa’s approach is largely persuasive, it could have (...) been more fine-grained in terms of elucidating the main differences and similarities between ‘modern’ and ‘late-modern’ societies—notably with regard to their (1) economic, (2) epistemic, (3) political, (4) organizational, (5) cultural, and (6) philosophical dimensions. (shrink)

The quality of some parts of Rosa’s inquiry suffers from a tendency to rely on (over)generalizations, meaning that, in various respects, his argument falls into the trap of what may be labelled catch-all reductionism. This issue is particularly pronounced in cases in which Rosa makes bold claims about the allegedly ubiquitous nature of specific trends and developments in late-modern societies.

Rosa makes a persuasive case for a relational—if not, relationalist—understanding of social reality. Having said that, his theoretical framework contains a residual degree of anthropocentrism. To do justice to the agential multiplicity that permeates reality, it is imperative to replace a ‘sociology of our relationship to the world’ with ‘sociologies of multiple relationships to multiple worlds’. Arguably, such a post-anthropocentric (and, by implication, polycentric, if not centreless) approach is committed to exploring a wide range of multi-agential Weltbeziehungen and Weltbezüge.

Modernity is marked by five noteworthy dimensions: (1) the compulsion to optimize, (2) the logic of bureaucracy and the demand for justice, (3) the demand for transparency and documentation, (4) commodification and legalism, and (5) identity thinking. These five dimensions are firmly embedded in modernity’s two defining principles—that is, the structural principle of dynamic stabilization and the cultural principle of the expansion of humanity’s reach. The dynamism that is built into the fabric of social life is generated by the ever-changing (...) frontlines in the conflict between the controllable and the uncontrollable aspects of human existence. (shrink)

Several problems, tensions, and contradictions arise from Rosa’s conception of resonance, notably in relation to the following issues: (1) the relationship between the inherent uncontrollability of resonance and the fundamental controllability of things; (2) the conditions of possibility for resonance as ideal-typical constructions; (3) resonance as a bilateral movement vs. resonance as a multilateral movement; (4) milestones of resonance and milestones of alienation; (5) the relative (in)determinacy of resonance; (6) the interdependence of resonance and alienation; (7) a sociology of our (...) relationship to the noumenal and phenomenal world; (8) the resonance of Heimat and the Heimat of resonance; (9) resonance and the ambivalence of the self; (10) resonance and the taken-for-grantedness of the world; (11) resonance as unilateral, bilateral, or multilateral transformation; (12) (un)controllable sources of resonance; (13) grey zones of resonance and alienation; (14) resonance between ‘positive thinking’ and ‘negative thinking’; (15) resonance as a product of positions and dispositions; (16) the struggle for resonance through various conflicts of modernity; (17) the conditioning of resonance by symmetrical or asymmetrical relationships; (18) the possibility of engineering resonance. (shrink)

Focusing on the work of Hartmut Rosa, the preceding inquiry has sought to provide an in-depth account of the extent to which we, as humans, are obliged to face up to the uncontrollability [Unverfügbarkeit] of the world. Rosa is widely regarded as one of the most original contemporary European social theorists—and rightly so. Yet, while his writings on the concept of resonance have received a considerable amount of attention, his engagement with the concept of uncontrollability has been largely ignored in (...) Anglophone circles. As the previous study has aimed to demonstrate, the latter is as central to Rosa’s oeuvre as the former. Indeed, along with the concepts of ‘acceleration’, ‘alienation’, and ‘resonance’, the notion of ‘uncontrollability’ ranks among the most important reference points in Rosa’s critical theory, especially in his recent work. Following his extensive inquiries into ‘acceleration’ and ‘alienation’ in the context of ‘late modernity’ and the publication of his magnum opus on ‘resonance’, Rosa has developed a relatively short, but thorough, outline of the place occupied by the concept of ‘uncontrollability’ in his critical theory. The foregoing investigation has attempted to illustrate the significance of this approach (in the first half) and to shed light on its main weaknesses and limitations (in the second half). (shrink)

Making the world controllable means (1) rendering it visible, (2) rendering it physically reachable or accessible, (3) rendering it manageable, and (4) rendering it useful. These four dimensions are embedded in the institutional arrangements by which modern societies are sustained: (1) science, (2) technology, (3) the economy, and (4) law and the state. Machtkämpfe are Kontrollkämpfe or, more precisely, Verfügbarkeitskämpfe: power struggles are struggles for control and, thus, for an individual or collective actor’s capacity to render the world (1) visible, (...) (2) reachable or accessible, (3) manageable, and (4) useful on their terms and in accordance with their interests, agendas, and desires. (shrink)

L’objet principal de cette réflexion est d’examiner de manière approfondie la conception bourdieusienne de la « distinction sociale ». À partir d’une analyse détaillée de La distinction. Critique sociale du jugement (1979), cet essai passe au crible les forces et les faiblesses des explications élaborées par Pierre Bourdieu à propos des processus de différenciation symbolique et matérielle. L’analyse montre que La distinction contient dix tensions épistémiques significatives, dont l’étude critique permet de comprendre les contradictions fondamentales qui se trouvent au cœur (...) de la conception bourdieusienne de la « distinction sociale ». (shrink)

The main purpose of this paper is to reflect on the concept of ‘time’ in general and the concept of ‘the future’ in particular. To this end, the analysis focuses on central issues raised by Gerard Delanty in his recent work on competing and conflicting ideas of the future in the contemporary world. To narrow the scope of the investigation, ten key issues are examined. Each issue is addressed in two steps: first, by elucidating the problem in question; and, second, (...) by discussing controversial matters arising from it. Rather than simply reconstructing Delanty’s position, this article critically engages with the most salient limitations of his account and puts forward constructive proposals for overcoming them. Building on the principal arguments scrutinized in the course of this inquiry, the final part of the paper sketches the contours of a critical theory of time, which is organized around the antinomy between ‘the timeless’ and ‘the temporal’. It posits that critical theory is viable only to the extent that it recognizes and explores the temporal constitution of the natural/objective, social/normative, and experiential/subjective dimensions of the human condition – and, by implication, commits to temporalizing the human condition itself. (shrink)

This article seeks to contribute to a critical understanding of the multifaceted nature of power, emphasizing its capacity to shape the development of society by permeating constitutive aspects of human reality. To this end, the article proposes an outline of a multidimensional approach to power. It does so by identifying and examining several - arguably universal - features and functions of power. On the basis of 15 theses, it is argued that, within the social world, the power of power derives (...) from the fact that it is ubiquitous, productive, relational, intangible, habitual, discursive, corporeal, polycentric, performative, normative, spatial, temporal, disciplinary, circular, and transcendental. By way of conclusion, the article provides a comprehensive summary of the main insights gained and challenges arising from such a multidimensional approach to power. nema. (shrink)

Drawing on Marx, Rosa offers a radical critique of alienation and defends the possibility of emancipation. Rosa’s critical theory may benefit from building on both Marx’s conception of labour and Habermas’s conception of language. When we work, we raise four fulfilment claims [Erfüllungsansprüche]: (1) purposiveness, (2) co-operativeness, (3) creativity, and (4) createdness [Erschaffenheit]. When we speak, we raise four validity claims [Geltungsansprüche]: (1) truth, (2) correctness, (3) sincerity, and (4) comprehensibility. When we resonate, we raise four self-actualization claims [Selbstverwirklichungsansprüche]: (1) (...) af←fection, (2) e→motion, (3) adaptive transformation, and (4) constitutive uncontrollability. (shrink)