{"title":"The Bourdieusian Unconscious: The Scientific and Political Significance of the Sociological Treatment of a Psychoanalytic Concept","authors":"Gergely Csányi","doi":"10.1111/jtsb.12437","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12437","url":null,"abstract":"<p>From the very beginning of Pierre Bourdieu's oeuvre, but with increasing intensity, one can find expressions that are either explicitly taken from psychoanalysis, or at least have a psychoanalytic meaning. This paper aims to contribute to the existing discourse on Bourdieu's relation to psychoanalysis by examining the meaning of Bourdieu's most frequently used term, unconscious, which is also a key one in psychoanalysis, in Bourdieu's writings. In a brief introduction, I outline Bourdieu's relationship to psychoanalysis based on the literature and Bourdieu's texts, and argue that although Bourdieu's relationship with psychoanalysis remained controversial over the years, there is a growing integrative tendency, with psychoanalysis playing an increasingly important—even if sometimes hidden—role in his texts. In the main body of the paper, I argue that this tendency does not fully cover Bourdieu's approach to the unconscious, and that although his approach to the unconscious is not independent of the tendency discussed in the previous section, a dichotomy can be observed from the beginning to the end of the oeuvre, namely the parallel use of the unconscious in the sociological and psychoanalytic sense, and the lack of clarity regarding the relationship between the two. Finally, in the last section, I point out that socioanalysis, as an emancipatory project, should have clarified its position on the unconscious, because it marks the limits of the actors' potential for self-reflexivity, which can also shape political strategies.</p>","PeriodicalId":47646,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour","volume":"55 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2024-11-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jtsb.12437","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143114654","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Myth of Agreement","authors":"Michal Roch Kaczmarczyk","doi":"10.1111/jtsb.12438","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12438","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Contemporary ontological constructivism often rests on the belief that social reality emerges from tacit agreements, underpinning mutual expectations and trust. In social theory, the concept of agreement has evolved from explicit social contracts to normative consensus and the idea of tacit knowledge that subtly binds social actors. This article challenges this prevailing approach by dissecting various constructivist positions and exposing the implications of agreement-based ontological constructivism on our understanding of culture, norms, and society. The author revisits an alternative perspective, claiming that human society is equally a structure of disagreement. Emphasizing disagreement advocates for a realistic social theory and highlights the vital role of fiction in shaping social life.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47646,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour","volume":"55 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2024-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143114216","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Paradox of Situated Knowledge: Toward an Existential Embedment Theory of Perceptual Truth","authors":"Shanyang Zhao","doi":"10.1111/jtsb.12436","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12436","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Truth is a thorny issue for the sociology of knowledge. In emphasizing social influence on knowledge production, sociologists tend to disavow the objectivity of truth and slide down the slope of the consensus theory and the nihilism of post-truth. In fighting science denial, on the other hand, sociologists often find themselves aligning with the correspondence theory and the naïve notion of naked truth. The aim of this article is to advance a position that recognizes social influence on knowledge attainment without obviating the objectivity in truth. The key to this argument lies in the concept of existential embedment that unifies objectivity and subjectivity in human struggles for survival and prosperity, from which truth originates and to which truth contributes. Existential embedment also anchors knowledge by providing the foundation for truth validation. Depending on the modalities of knowledge attainment, truth is divided into four types with varying degrees of veridical certitude, each having its own criterion for validity assessment. Knowledge that passes the validation test is accepted as truth within the horizon of the given realm of existential embedment, which may change as the existential activity of the knower changes.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47646,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour","volume":"54 4","pages":"632-644"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2024-11-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143111435","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Is happiness independent of income? Set point theory à la Kahneman","authors":"Elias L. Khalil","doi":"10.1111/jtsb.12434","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12434","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The income–happiness nexus is paradoxical. One dataset shows that happiness tracks income, while another shows that, in rich countries, happiness does not. This paper focuses on the limits of set point theory (known also ‘hedonic treadmill’ or ‘hedonic adaptation’) to solve the income–happiness paradox. To keep it manageable, it focuses on Daniel Kahneman's attempt to solve the paradox. He first employs his distinction between ‘the experiencing self’ and ‘the remembering self’ to solve the paradox. While the distinction is useful for the study of heuristics, it is irrelevant for the question at hand, the solution of the income–happiness paradox. Sensing such irrelevance, Kahneman turns his attention to the ‘life evaluation’ measure. This measure ironically shows that happiness tracks income. However, Kahneman disputes such tracking, arguing instead that happiness tracks income only if people, when they were teenagers, designate income as a life goal. The appeal to ‘goals’ or ‘life plans’, however, is an endorsement of a sophisticated version of set point theory. Kahneman argues that happiness varies with the variation of the designated goal or life plan, not with income per se. However, if happiness varies with the designated goals or life plans, it ultimately means that happiness cannot be conceived as a set point. Thus, Kahneman's argument effectively sends us back to square one, failing to solve the income–happiness paradox.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47646,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour","volume":"54 4","pages":"607-631"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2024-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jtsb.12434","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143115869","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Praxeological Status of Unintentional Speech Acts","authors":"Pavel Slutskiy","doi":"10.1111/jtsb.12433","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12433","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This paper explores the praxeological status of unintentional speech acts within the framework of speech act theory, examining the role of intention in defining speech acts. It contributes to the debate between internalist and externalist perspectives on whether internal conditions, particularly intentions, are essential for the occurrence of speech acts. The paper draws on praxeology, a methodological approach to studying human action, to argue that speech acts are inherently intentional and purposeful behaviours. It challenges the notion that unintentional acts can be considered speech acts, emphasizing that without intention, there can be no action. The analysis includes a discussion of classical speech act theory, the praxeological concept of action, and the implications of unintentional acts on the theory of communication. The paper concludes that speech acts must be intentional to be considered genuine acts of communication, aligning with the praxeological understanding of human action.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47646,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour","volume":"54 4","pages":"591-606"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2024-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143113851","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Social Character of the Unconscious. A Cross Reading between G. H. Mead and C. G. Jung","authors":"Lorenzo Bruni, Matteo Santarelli","doi":"10.1111/jtsb.12432","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12432","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The aim of this essay is to develop an original interpretative hypothesis concerning problematic aspects of Georege Herbert Mead's social theory of the Self in the light of Carl Gustav Jung's analytical psychology. First of all, we will try to unveil a link between the Meadian component of the Self defined I and the dimension of the unconscious. Discussion of this connection will open to the hypothesis that the Meadian <i>I</i> can be understood as both an instinctive, unconscious and <i>non-pre-social</i> component of the Self. We will support this interpretative hypothesis by establishing a dialogue with two of the central concepts of Jung's analytical psychology, namely, the collective unconscious and the archetype. As we shall see, the main point of contact between the two theories lies in the identification of a common <i>non-pre-social</i> declination of the instinctive and unconscious assumptions of the conscious Self. More narrowly, we will try to explore this hypothesis by arguing for an interpretative affinity between the Jungian archetype and the Meadian social nature of instincts. Along these lines, we will propose a functionalist approach to the interpretation of the instinctive dimension of archetypes, according to which archetypes function instinctively. Our hypothesis of convergence between Mead and Jung with regard to the social nature of instincts and the archetype will lead us to sketch a peculiar and innovative social conception of the unconscious.</p>","PeriodicalId":47646,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour","volume":"54 4","pages":"571-590"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2024-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jtsb.12432","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143112137","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Commensal Attraction: Eating Together as a Social Tool","authors":"Nicklas Neuman","doi":"10.1111/jtsb.12431","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12431","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Social and human sciences have demonstrated again and again how <i>commensality</i>—the practice of eating together—has substantial implications, across time and place, for how social life is configured. Closely related phenomena have also been explored in biologically oriented sciences focused on human behavior. Yet, there is still little dialogue between these and the mainstream social science analysis of food and eating, despite their shared interests in the role played by food and eating in the organization of social life. The paper strengthens this dialogue and proposes that eating together be analyzed as a <i>social tool</i>: an innovation for the organization of complex behavior. More precisely, the proposition is that the habitual, routinized, and ritualized communal eating we see today developed into a social tool for exercising a diverse set of biologically evolved social traits. Through in-depth analyses of food sharing, meal sharing, and feasting, I propose three distinct propositions of commensality as a social tool: social coordination of needs (mainly nutritional); social order and complex interaction (primarily conversations); and the symbolic display of stratified social relations. Understanding communal eating as a social tool thus opens up for a unified theory to explain seemingly disparate social phenomena, such as the underlying sociality displayed through different meal arrangements. For a thorough understanding of this, intensified conversations across the borders of scientific paradigms are required. Commensality is a social tool that satisfies both the social and biological appetites.</p>","PeriodicalId":47646,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour","volume":"54 4","pages":"556-570"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jtsb.12431","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143118278","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Meaning and the Commodity Form","authors":"Tad Skotnicki","doi":"10.1111/jtsb.12430","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12430","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Social scientists often treat the commodity form and commodity fetishism as concepts that reduce meaning to an economic base. The paper claims that this view is misguided and, furthermore, that these concepts enable us to formulate a dynamic approach to meaning in economic life. Building on recent discussions of commodity fetishism, I outline this dynamic approach to meaning and the commodity form. This approach demands attention to three issues: (1) the distinction between interpretations-in exchange and interpretations-of exchange; (2) how interpretations-of exchange relate to interpretations-in exchange; and (3) how status hierarchies can mediate this dynamic of meaning associated with the commodity form. In explaining these issues, I draw on a range of examples that illustrate their relevance to the organization of the capitalist world. The purpose is to illustrate that we can discuss meaning and the commodity form in a non-reductive manner, and in so doing draw distinct strands of social scientific investigation into conversation.</p>","PeriodicalId":47646,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour","volume":"54 4","pages":"537-555"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jtsb.12430","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143115264","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How Therborn's Theory of Ideology Enhances Bourdieus's Theory of Fields","authors":"Matthew Kearney","doi":"10.1111/jtsb.12429","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12429","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Pierre Bourdieu's theory of subjectivity is perhaps the most elaborate within the broad constructivist tradition, and Göran Therborn's is perhaps the most elaborate within the Marxist tradition. These traditions emphasize opposite components and tend to produce different explanations on micro-cognitive levels. But this article demonstrates a striking complementarity and ventures elements of synthesis. The two theorists are contrasted on four broad areas of social science: consciousness versus unconsciousness, identity formation, class, and discourse. Bourdieu emphasizes unconscious dispositions generally unamenable to individual control, whereas Therborn emphasizes formation of conscious beliefs. By bracketing the unconscious processes that Bourdieu captures, Therborn omits key mechanisms of social reproduction. Yet the mechanisms he does capture fit almost seamlessly into Bourdieuian theory on the mutual constitution of individual-level subjectivity and societal-level reproduction. Each theorist supplies what the other is missing for a theory of subjectivity with greater explanatory power than either offers alone.</p>","PeriodicalId":47646,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour","volume":"54 4","pages":"517-536"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2024-06-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jtsb.12429","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143115866","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Post-Legitimate Society","authors":"Will Charles, Ryan Gunderson","doi":"10.1111/jtsb.12428","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jtsb.12428","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We explore the role of moral, cognitive, and pragmatic legitimacy in reproducing the organization of two on-demand labor platforms for couriers. Labor platforms are ideal cases to explore questions of legitimacy and institutional reproduction because they aspire towards automaticity. Since the 1970s, with the emergence of new production technologies and organizational forms, labor and work scholars have predicted a shift from the use of direct, coercive controls as a method to coordinate activity to more indirect, hegemonic, and normative methods of control. However, we find that in the case of the gig economy, platform firms are refuting the predictions of Post-Fordist labor scholars, relying upon new forms of direct technological control as well as coercive, indirect market control, as opposed to shared norms and obligations, as methods for coordinating activity. We explore the implications of ‘post-legitimate’ institutions, as well as the latent moral economy of gig workers as revealed through their critiques of the platform economy.</p>","PeriodicalId":47646,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour","volume":"54 4","pages":"498-516"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2024-06-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141340755","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}