Comments for A (Budding) Sociologist's Commonplace Book

Comment on Postmodern Questions, Poststructuralist Methods by Drew

Drew — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:07:02 +0000

Well, I have to qualify that I only know Levi-Strauss through Derrida – so I’m quite open to being corrected! It wouldn’t be the first instance of disputing Derrida’s reading of someone.

I had in mind the description of bricolage in Structure, Sign and Play:

“The bricoleur, says Levi-Strauss, is someone who uses “the means at hand” [les moyens du bord], that is, the instruments he finds at his disposal around him, those which are already there, which had not been especially conceived with an eye to the operation for which they are to be used and to which one tries by trial and error to adapt them, not hesitating to change them whenever it appears necessary, or to try several at once” and so on. (Writing & Difference (2001), p.360.

Now, compare your Friedman quote: “the relevant question to ask [is] … whether they are sufficiently good approximations for the purpose in hand.”

The concern in both is for usefulness for the purpose “in hand” (interesting that they both use this expression), rather than a commitment to a set range of tools, concepts etc. Accordingly, Derrida suggests of Levi-Strauss that this is empiricism (somewhat pejorative in French), and it expresses the same criticism of past discourse that you had highlighted.

This fits with your description of the poststructuralist as one who asks questions of the postmodern. What’s interesting are the dates: Friedman 1953, Levi-Strauss 1962… not exactly the dates that people would necessarily set for ‘the postmodern’.

Comment on Michigan Social Theory Conference CFP by joshmccabe

joshmccabe — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:08:04 +0000

Looks like a great conference! Not sure if I have any non-rough papers just yet (at least ones that fall under the desired topics). I’ll pass it on though.

Comment on Postmodern Questions, Poststructuralist Methods by Dan Hirschman

Dan Hirschman — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:12:14 +0000

My knowledge of CLS is quite weak – we read some of The Savage Mind in a theory class a few years ago and that’s it. So, would you expand a bit on your question? My understanding of bricolage is that it refers to the way that new things (knowledge, tech, cultural forms, etc.) are usually composed of combinations of old things. I don’t quite see the connection between that and the idea that we should judge the production of science based on its ability to change the world rather than its truth content.

Comment on Postmodern Questions, Poststructuralist Methods by Drew

Drew — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:38:10 +0000

The way you describe the “performativity criterion” sounds a lot like Levi-Strauss’ bricolage…?

Comment on Michigan Social Theory Conference CFP by Dan Hirschman

Dan Hirschman — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:23:00 +0000

Tina, I think we’d be open to anything. We’re hoping folks have a bit more than just some thoughts on a theorist – something connected to an empirical project would be great – but I’m guessing some of it will be quite rough.

Comment on Michigan Social Theory Conference CFP by tina

tina — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:15:58 +0000

Dan, will this mostly be advanced graduate students, or do you expect some rougher papers from early grad students?

Comment on Postmodern Questions, Poststructuralist Methods by Carl

Carl — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:53:00 +0000

This is very well done.

Comment on Postmodern Questions, Poststructuralist Methods by Dan Hirschman

Dan Hirschman — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:48:27 +0000

I don’t know that I can answer that question satisfactorily, but I wonder if it has to do with how much they buy into the whole postmodern moment. Baudrillard, for example, seems to run with it – he sees the world moving a certain crazy way and he’s going to embrace it in the style of his own work. The Marxists have a strong tradition to hold on to, and so they are approaching this crazy set of new ways of knowing, producing, building, etc. with a very critical eye.

Although, it’s worth mentioning that Baudrillard started off as a Marxist, or at least very closely connected with Marxism. But I don’t know his story that well.

Comment on Postmodern Questions, Poststructuralist Methods by Jerry Davis

Jerry Davis — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:24:37 +0000

Very nice post. Here’s a question for someone who has recently read the whole gamut of works with “postmodern” in the titles: why is it that Marxists like Jameson and Harvey are so clear-eyed and hard-headed about postmodernism, while non-Marxists are like cotton candy? (This was Chuck Tilly’s term for Baudrillard. He did not mean it in a nice way.)

Comment on Postmodern Questions, Poststructuralist Methods by Christian

Christian — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:12:52 +0000

Thanks for this post. I found it quite insightful.