On the Social Conditions for the International Circulation of (Grand) Theory
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19047741 |
|---|---|
| Authors | G Sapiro (0000-0003-3160-984X, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-05-14 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Journal of Social Theory (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1368-4310 • E-ISSN: 1461-7137 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/13684310261447428 |
| OpenAlex | W7161156062 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 43 |
This paper offers a theoretical framework to study the circulation of (grand) theory, based on the hypothesis that theory does not circulate on its own but is mediated through social agents (individuals and institutions), and that its circulation follows certain regular patterns. This framework furthers Bourdieu's analysis of the social conditions for the international circulation of ideas, as well as the sociology of translation developed by the author. The article first addresses importation strategies and types of theory appropriation. Five types are distinguished: paradigm shift; creation of a new (sub)field; resolving scientific questions related to controversies; appropriation as a “research program” (Lakatos); and creation of new concepts. The second section focuses on the role of intermediaries, translators, and mediators in the making of world authorship, through translations, commentaries, and citations. The final section analyzes a set of factors that favor or impede the circulation of theory: linguistic asymmetries in the translation market; unequal power relations within the transnational academic field and the disciplinary fields; unequal power relations within the transnational publishing field; social properties and symbolic capital of the author; and properties of the book itself. Most examples are drawn from sociology, but other disciplines are also evoked
Appropriation · Circulation (fluid dynamics) · Discipline · Field (mathematics) · Power (physics) · Social capital · Social theory · Symbolic power · History, Culture, and Diplomacy · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Translation Studies and Practices
Bourdieu et les Amériques
Dependency Theories in Latin America
Translatio
Bibliography and the Sociology of Texts
The Rise of the Social Sciences and Humanities in France
What Factors Determine the International Circulation of Scholarly Books? The Example of Translations Between English and French in the Era of Globalization
A Theory of Fields
Les sciences humaines et sociales, entre national et international
Ideas on the Move in the Social Sciences and Humanities
Reassembling the Social
The production of belief
Theorizing Diffusion
Une opposition structurante pour l'anthropologie structurale
A conservative revolution in publishing
Functional and Conflict Theories of Educational Stratification
Social Factors in the Origins of a New Science
The Iron Cage Revisited
Translating Bourdieu into the American context
Les sciences sociales françaises entre ancrage local et visibilité internationale
French Connections
Toward a transnational history of the social sciences
Circulation internationale et formation d'une "ecole de pensee" latino-americaine (1945-2000)
The relative (in)visibility of sociologists in the French, American, British, and German national fields (1970-2018)
Le prophète, le pèlerin et le missionnaire
Social Class Differences in Family-School Relationships
Culture As (And After) Production
From the South to the North
The marginalization of the Arab language in social science
The globalization of social sciences? Evidence from a quantitative analysis of 30 years of production, collaboration and citations in the social sciences (1980-2009)
Bourdieu in American Sociology, 1980-2004
Domains of Diffusion
How to Become a Dominant French Philosopher
Taste and DominationDistinction
Social class and arts consumption
Rethinking classical theory
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |