Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-xm8r8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-02T16:51:05.164Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

10 - Postmodern anxiety: the politics of epistemology

from Part III - Democratic prospects: the politics of knowledge and identity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2010

Steven Seidman
Affiliation:
State University of New York, Albany
Get access

Summary

Chapter 2 of this book, “The End of Sociological Theory”, was the basis of a symposium in Sociological Theory. It initially received four critical responses. Lemert (1991) and Richardson (1991) responded as friends of “the postmodern turn.” I did not directly respond to their comments. Instead I focused my reply on clarifying the social meaning of postmodernism and further articulating its significance for sociology. I did this by means of responding to at least the key objections raised to my position by Alexander (1991) and Antonio (1991). I reprint this reply, edited and somewhat revised, because it states, as clearly as I have been able to, my perspective on the social sources of postmodern theory in the US and defends a strong notion of discursivity from a “postmodern” standpoint.

The new social movements, postmodern and democratic pluralism

I begin on a personal note. Lemert (1991) rightly points out that my views on theory have changed between Liberalism and the Origins of European Social Theory (1983) and my current writing. In the late 1970s, I believed in the notion of science as truth and in general theory as a type of social reason that must be defended as part of the defense of a democratic society. I sought to legitimate a particular sociological project: a comparative historical sociology of modernity. I was greatly influenced by my teacher, the late Benjamin Nelson, as well as the commitment to general theory I found in Habermas and in the postpositivism of my friend Jeff Alexander (1982).

Type
Chapter
Information
Difference Troubles
Queering Social Theory and Sexual Politics
, pp. 198 - 211
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×