The Problem of Teleology: Returning to the Theoretical Foundations of Culture in Action

• In Event: 3551 - Section on Sociology of Culture Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: 11. Interrogating Analytic Constructs

Abstract

A theoretical tension lies at the heart of contemporary sociological research on culture in action. This tension pertains to the question of the role of culture in motivating what people do. On the one hand, contemporary pragmatist theory understands motives as arising within situations, adopting what Hans Joas (1996:148) articulates as a “non-teleological interpretation of the intentionality of action.” We might fairly describe this as a situationist account of motivation in action. On the other hand, research in the burgeoning field of culture and cognition understands action at least in some cases as motivated by culture broadly conceived as inclusive of values and beliefs that transcend particular situations (e.g., Vaisey, 2009). While those working in this field have not explicitly theorized action in its own right, implicit in this work, as it does not restrict the genesis of motives to particular situations, is what we might fairly characterize as a teleological account of cultural motivation in action. With the intellectual excitement generated by the evident influence and recognized potential of both contemporary pragmatism and research in cultural cognition, scholars have neglected to recognize that on a core issue both lines of thinking cannot be correct. A situationist account of motivation that explicitly rejects the validity of the concept of teleology stands in contradiction to an account of action as capable of being teleologically motivated by culture. The purpose of this paper is to intervene in the current of sociological theorizing and research about culture in action by highlighting this theoretical tension about the nature of cultural motivation that lies at its core and by suggesting that the concept of teleology is necessary to an account that would resolve it.

Author

• Bridget J. Ritz, University of Notre Dame