Solidarity, Justice, and Incorporation: Thinking through The Civil SpherePeter Kivisto, Giuseppe Sciortino Although many contemporary scholars have deepened our understanding of civil society through critiquing the limits of civil society discourse or seeking to offer empirical analyses of existing civil societies, none have attempted anything as bold or original as Jeffrey C. Alexander's 2006 book, The Civil Sphere. While consciously building on a three-centuries-long tradition of thought on the subject, Alexander has broken new ground by articulating a detailed theoretical framework that differs from the two major perspectives which have heretofore shaped civil society discourse. In so doing, he has sought to construct a model of what he calls the civil sphere, which he treats in Durkheimian fashion as a new social fact. In Solidarity, Justice, and Incorporation: Thinking through The Civil Sphere, six internationally recognized scholars comment on Alexander's civil sphere thesis. Robert Bellah, Bryan S. Turner, and Axel Honneth consider the work as a whole, while Mario Diani, Chad Alan Goldberg, and Farhad Khosrokhavar offer analyses of specific aspects of the civil sphere. In their substantive introduction, Peter Kivisto and Giuseppe Sciortino locate the civil sphere thesis in terms of Alexander's larger theoretical arc as it has shifted from neo-functionalism to cultural sociology. Alexander's concluding essay responds to their analyses by clarifying and elaborating on issues in the text while simultaneously addressing recurring misunderstandings of the thesis. Comprehensive and insightful, Solidarity, Justice, and Incorporation is an essential companion to The Civil Sphere. This compelling volume is a valuable resource for students and scholars of sociology, political science, and social philosophy. |
Contents
| 1 | |
A Global Perspective | 32 |
Critical Reflections on Alexanders Cultural Sociology | 57 |
Comments on Alexanders The Civil Sphere | 81 |
4 Social Movements Civil Repair and Social Movement Theory | 96 |
5 The Jewish Question and The Civil
Sphere | 119 |
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Common terms and phrases
actors Alexander 2006 Alexander’s American analysis anti-Semitism anticivil Arab Spring argues assimilation authoritarian autonomy Axel Honneth axial age Bellah binary Cambridge century Chad Alan challenge Christian citizens civic civil incorporation civil religion civil repair civil rights movement civil solidarity civil sphere movements claims codes concept contemporary critical cultural sociology defined democracy democratic developed Diani dignity discourse dominance Durkheim economic Egypt emergence Émile Durkheim empirical ethical European Facebook global civil society Goldberg Habermas historical Honneth human rights idea ideal identity institutions Islamic Islamist Jeffrey Jewish question Jews justice Kallen Khosrokhavar Mario Diani mode of incorporation moral multiculturalism Muslim Muslim Brotherhood narratives normative one’s particularistic political primordial protest public sphere radical regime religious repression Revolution ritual role secular social movements social theory specific structures struggle symbolic Tahrir Square theoretical tion tradition Tunisia Turner universalistic voluntary associations Western women York Zionism