From Society to System

The Social Theory of Michel Freitag

Michel Freitag, Richard Hinton, Claude Leduc, Daniel Dagenais, Richard Hinton, Claude Leduc, Daniel Dagenais

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781032341309
• eBook ISBN: 9781000756081
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Cultural & Social Anthropology
• Index: Social Sciences

From Society to System presents sociologist Michel Freitag's (1935-2009) distinctive, multifaceted and interdisciplinary work. Elaborated within the grand sociological tradition, his dialectical sociology redefines sociality as the realm of the symbolic to pinpoint its ontological frailty. Such a perspective expands the borders within sociology to rejoin classical philosophical preoccupations, revisiting social ontology as a radical critique of contemporary society where not only life and planet earth is at stake as a result of capitalism but reflexivity as well.

This collection of essays touches on topics that have been of central concern for social theory since the end of the 20th century: the discussion about holism versus individualism and the dissolution of transcendental identity; the current state of the social sciences, both epistemologically and practically; the end-of-20th century debate over the nature of society along with its future in the context of globalisation.

These essays show how Freitag's sociology is part of a larger unified framework that integrates ontology, epistemology, anthropology and philosophy into a coherent vision of the world – testifying to the distinctiveness of Freitag's social theory, standing next to other great social theorists such as Margaret Archer, Jürgen Habermas, Murray Bookchin and Ulrich Beck.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half-Title Page
• Endorsements Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• Presentation: Situating Michel Freitag's Work In Contemporary Social Theory
• 1 The Sinking of the University
• 2 For a Critical Theory of Postmodernity
• 3 Overcoming the Opposition Between “Holism” and “Individualism” in Sociology
• 4 The Postmodern Dissolution of Transcendental Identity: Dialectics of the Relation Between Individual Identity and Forms of Social Participation
• Index