Programme full

Theory
W323, HAMISH WOOD BUILDING
Friday 17 April 2015 11:00 - 12:30
PAPER SESSION 7
Social Movement Theory and the Frankfurt School: A Theoretical Synthesis Worth Pursuing?
Schlembach, R.
(University of Sussex)
The work of Frankfurt School authors, with the exception of that of Jürgen Habermas, is rarely mentioned in the
textbooks introducing students to theories of social movements and protest. This is maybe not surprising. The early
members of the Institute for Social Research did not explore protest in a way that would today withstand the scrutiny
of 'social movement research', nor did they develop an explicit theory of the why and how of movement mobilisation.
Nonetheless, this paper will suggest that this is a major omission from the standard literature. It outlines how the
Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School and the Horkheimer circle has influenced some key debates within social
movement studies. The impact of Habermas's sociology here is widely acknowledged, especially with regards to our
understanding of 'new social movements'. There have however also been several sustained attempts to bring the
concerns of Theodor Adorno's negative dialectics and Herbert Marcuse's critique of one-dimensional society to bear
on social movement research. For this reason, it makes sense to revisit the relevance of the 'first generation' members
of the Frankfurt School. Presenting a body of literature that often appears as fragmented or on the periphery of social
movement theory in this way reveals a number of common themes; such as negativity, prefiguration, spontaneity and
horizontality. This paper thus argues that contemporary social movement theory could engage in a rewarding dialogue
with Critical Theory.
Vivid Sociology
Gafijczuk, D.
(Newcastle University)
In its classical version, sociology was unimaginable without historical analysis. But this active use of time, especially
the past that defined the sociological paradigm, has all but disappeared. This paper explores the relationship between
history, sociology, and the notion of 'live methods' (Back, 2012), arguing that any re-invigoration of sociological
method, theory, and practice, must include duration as an essential component. The vitality of the social cannot be
maintained without such temporal element which not only solicits, but more significantly demands a response of the
concrete situation in which our current worldview is nestled. This means both, dispensing with the past as a dead
archive or a lifeless database and replacing it with an active past, a past that is a form of life, as Simmel already
observed, as well as triggering a present that responds to the future by steering society and by extension sociology
towards a utopia (Steven Fuller). Said in a different way, re-invigorated sociology must find new ways of making the
world we share vivid in its vitality. And that involves immersion in time because only time has the ability to trigger
'unpredictable attentiveness' (Back, 2012) necessary for a continually re-tuned and sharpened analytic perception.
Thus, my analysis revolves around two conceptual foci: (1) the 'vividness' of the past based on the old
historiographical concept of enargeia (clarity/vividness/palpability); (2) plasticity of the present which enables
formations that combine multiple temporalities into a complex, multidimensional amalgam that redefines the reach of
what we consider empirical.
Art, Aporia and Post-Secularism: From Habermas to Gadamer
Cruickshank, J.
(University of Birmingham)
Religion is often presented as a problem for western democracies. There is talk of a post-secular condition although
there is confusion about how to define this condition. However, the problem of having now to deal with religion in the
public sphere is something of a pseudo-problem because putatively secular societies always entailed compromises
with religion. Habermas responds to the post-secular condition by arguing for religious discourse to be translated into
secular discourse to facilitate a more inclusive dialogue. To explore why this is problematic the arguments of Rowan
Williams and Gadamer will be drawn upon. Williams argues that religious fundamentalism and 'programmatic
secularism', which is based on a purely instrumentally rational secular public sphere, are akin, in that both seek a
narrow certainty which is antithetical to the imagination and creativity. By contrast, art shows us the aporetic nature of
the human condition and the need for imagination. This leads Williams to argue that religious traditions, which he
defines as the antithesis of fundamentalism, embody this and represent a superior epistemic position because
secularist positions are always influenced ultimately by a lack of imagination. Drawing on Gadamer it is argued that
the case Williams makes for religious traditions is actually applicable to traditions in general. The task therefore is that
281 BSA Annual Conference 2015
Glasgow Caledonian University