What is ‘Human Society’?: A Response to Davetian
Year: 2005
Type: article
Abstract: Benet Davetian has responded to my recent work on the future of social theory (Gane, 2004; Gane and Beer, 2004) by suggesting that the future of sociology lies in the study of the 'emotional components of human society'. His main argument is that sociology still tends to work with a Cartesian dualism between mind and body, and because of this the 'immutable emotional needs of individuals and their social systems' have tended to slip from view. Davetian's answer is to reassert the need for an 'embodied social theory', one that need not be scared of 'psychologism' in its attempt to reconcile the '"micro" and "macro" realities' of social life. I would like to respond with a few brief reflections, first, on the history of sociology traced by Davetian in his account, and second, on the problems of formulating a theory of emotions in abstraction from analysis of the information communication technologies (ICTs) which increasingly structure life today. Finally, in light of this, I would like to raise some challenges posed to sociology (including a sociology of the emotions) by recent 'posthuman' approaches to the study of society and culture.
Source: Sociological Research Online
DOI: 10.5153/sro.1128
Author: Nicholas Gane
Institution: Brunel University of London
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2168550767