The Social Foundations of Positivism: The Case of Late Nineteenth Century Italy

• In Event: 361 - Regular Session. Historical Sociology: Concepts Forged in History: Rethinking "Positivism," "Merit", "Women's Rights" and "Centralization"

Abstract

What is the connection between positivism, the claim that the social world can be studied like the natural world, and capitalism? The overwhelmingly dominant view common to both positivists themselves, and critical theorists is that positivism is a product of industrial capitalism or industrial society. In the light of this consensus our paper examines a "case" of positivism that clearly does not fit with these expectations. We show that positivism in Italy was widespread in the late nineteenth century, but was linked to Italy's perceived developmental failure not its success. The perceived failure of unification to achieve even development across the peninsula pushed northern intellectuals to theorize geographical differences as intrinsic, immutable, and at times racial. Even more paradoxically, this positivist wave began to break down when political solutions to the southern question appeared on both the right and left.

Authors

• Dylan John Riley, University of California, Berkeley

• Patricia Ahmed, Sourth Dakota State University--University Center

• Rebecca Jean Emigh, Univ of California-Los Angeles