Reflexivity of the subject in selected contemporary social theories

  • Krzysztof Wielecki Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw
  • Dorota Leonarska Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw
Keywords: civilizational crisis; modernity; reflexivity; sociology

Abstract

The subject of this article is the question of human reflexivity, where the individual is understood as the subject of social relations. We are interested in individual and collective subjectivity. The paper begins with an attempt to depict the theoretical field, on the grounds of which the problem of reflexivity appears in sociology. Next, we present the main concepts in the subjectivity theory found in sociological and philosophical literature. This allowed us to prepare an interpretational basis that is helpful in analysing specific subject reflexivity concepts. The presented theories arise from the views of M.S. Archer, P. Bourdieu, A. Giddens and C. Taylor. These views serve as the basis of our discussion concerning reflexivity, its meaning and interpretational challenges encountered in contemporary social theories of the subjectivity orientation. As a conclusion, the authors consider the main problems placed before the field of humanities concerning the further development of subjectivity theories.

References

Archer M., Making our Way through the World: Human Reflexivity and Social Mobility, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2007.

Archer M., The reflexive Imperative in Late Modernity, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2012.

Beck U., Giddens A., Lash S., Reflexive Modernization: Politics, Tradition and Aesthetics in the Modern Social Order, Stanford, California: Stanford University Press 1994.

Giddens A., Modernity and Self-Identity. Self and Society in the Late Modern Age, Cambridge: Polity 1991.

Mead G.H., Mind Self and Society from the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist, Chicago: University of Chicago 1934.

Taylor C., Hegel and Modern Society, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1979.

Taylor C., Philosophical Papers, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, v. II, 1985.

Taylor C., Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1992.

Wielecki K., European Social Order Transformation, Mass Culture and Social Marginalisation Processes, „Yearbook of Polish European Studies Warsaw University Centre for Europe” 9, 2005, pp. 115-133.

Wielecki K., Paradygmat wielkiej dialektycznej syntezy i jego obecność w polskiej socjologii [The Paradigm of Great Dialectical Synthesis], „Rocznik Lubuski” 37 (1), 2011, pp. 107-117.

Wielecki K., Kryzys i socjologia [Crisis and Sociology], Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego 2012.

Published
2020-05-14
Section
Articles