The temporal dimension of reflexivity

Linking Reflexive Orientations to the Stock of Knowledge

Bibliographic Data

ID8091804
AuthorsJulius Elster (0000-0001-5255-8266, University of Birmingham, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume18
Issue3
Pages274-293
Publication date2017-09-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueDistinktion Journal of Social Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1600-910X • E-ISSN: 2159-9149
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1600910x.2017.1397527
OpenAlexW2769767568
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited65

Although attempts to complement the concept of reflexivity with social embeddedness have been made by many sociologists, theoretical tools for coming to grips with 'temporally embedded' aspects of reflexive activity have yet to make an entrance in the sociological arena. This paper intends to rectify this deficiency by spelling out how laypeople's reflexive orientations draw on past lived experiences in the social world. Margaret Archer's celebrated approach to reflexivity struggles to accommodate this dimension of reflexive agents since its clear 'subjective–objective distinction' is hostile to any talk of reflexivity as being historically constituted. A complementary account that allows us to map out and systematize temporal processes concerning reflexivity is, therefore, apt, an account that must address the fact that: reflexive activity does not start from scratch, in a vacuum, each time it operates; and, effects of previous lived experiences are at the heart of the mediatory process of reflexivity. By drawing on phenomenologically inspired sociology, and borrowing Schütz's notion of 'stock of knowledge', I intend to flesh out how my account of reflexivity can be reconciled with the durable effects of sociotemporal embeddedness without sacrificing the subjective and agentic qualities of reflexive activity. One immediate upshot of this 'reconciliation' is an empirical project that links a variety of reflexive orientations to multiple 'time points' (relevant lived experiences) and offers the prospect of penetrating deep into how socialization processes, identity formation and life trajectories actually transpire through temporality and reflexivity

Dimension (graph theory · Fourth Dimension · Geography · Physics · Pure mathematics · Reflexivity · Social science · Sociology · Stock (firearms · Critical Realism in Sociology · Management and Organizational Studies · Mathematics · Social and Cultural Dynamics