Toward a New Materialism in Sociology: Sketching a Post-Cultural Framework for Explaining Social Behaviour

• In Event: 352 - Theory Section Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 07. Social Behavior and Social Interaction

Abstract

Following Durkheim, sociology has traditionally divided the social world into three analytic spheres: objective social structure, subjective human consciousness, and inter-subjective culture. This “three-part analytic” has led to seemingly endless debates over whether particular phenomena are “structural” or “cultural”, and whether or not culture can be considered “real”. In this presentation, I explore Durkheim’s formulation of the three-part analytic and argue that it is based on two false premises that are still widely accepted in contemporary sociology: First, that social facts are distinct from other facts. And second, that human cognition occurs only postperceptually through an abstract cultural framework of concepts and categories. Rejecting these premises brings us closer to a “two-part analytic” that dispenses with the need for an inter-subjective sphere distinct from the objective structures of the material world and the cognitive structures of human consciousness. I call these perspective the “new materialism” and argue that its roots can be found in the sociology of culture and related paradigms such as neo-institutionalism, Bourdieusian theory, and cognitive sociology.

Author

• Matt Patterson, University of Toronto