Abstract
This essay offers an appraisal of the relationship between sociology and philosophy grounded in a critique of the former discipline’s failure to contend with the dominance of neoliberalism in the run up to the financial crisis. In the first instance, it considers the prevailing philosophical ethos after the end of the Cold War and what Francis Fukuyama (1992) called the ‘End of History.’ It observes the emergence of an increasingly unchallenged political monad around the conjoined principles of liberal democracy and neoliberal economics and its ascendance to the status of socio-historical universality despite becoming increasingly problematic. The second half of the essay then carries this political-philosophical analysis into an exploration of contemporary sociology and its approach to the intellectual critique of dominant ideas and structures. It proposes that an emergent strain of philosophical relativism has inadvertently moved us away from some of the critical responsibilities of the traditional intellectual and eroded our capacity to offer practical alternatives to overwhelmingly neoliberal governance. The article ends on the hopeful note that a slight change in tack might push us toward reclaiming responsibilities and revitalising the debate on social transformation.
Highlights
On Sunday 12 October 2008, Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequer, left the Washington headquarters of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and boarded a flight back to London
Unless a plan could be finalized before markets reopened the following morning the public might have headed out to work to find cash points inoperable, credit/debit cards unusable and the whole economy facing a terminal collapse of its monetary base
Hours from disaster, the highest echelons of government convened in a bid to prevent capitalism reaching crisis point
Summary
Article Horsley, Mark Horsley, M (2013) ‘Relativizing Universality: Sociological Reactions to Liberal Universalism’ International Journal of Criminology and Sociological Theory 6 (4) pp. 114-127 University of York International Journal of Criminology and Sociological Theory 02/11/2021 13:20:01 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://hdl.handle.net/10034/620904
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