Politics and Existence
Totems, Dispositifs and Some Striking Parallels between Durkheim and Foucault
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2404597 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ronjon Paul Datta (0000-0002-6439-9749, Mount Allison University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2008 |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 283-305 |
| Publication date | 2008-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Classical Sociology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1468-795X • E-ISSN: 1741-2897 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1468795x08088875 |
| OpenAlex | W2000114686 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 13 |
| References cited | 38 |
This article discusses theoretical parallels between Durkheim's concept of the totem and Foucault's concept of ' dispositif ' (social apparatus) and draws attention to the respective attempts by these theorists, in which these concepts play a substantial role, to move beyond Kantian conceptions of reality. It is argued that both concepts refer to historically specific structures constitutive of human existence, and to politics as an irreducible feature of such structures. In particular, Durkheim provides an understanding of the truly exceptional potential of politics to constitute meaningful human existence, attaching 'words and things'. Hence, his discussion of religion is not simply about reproducing relations of domination. Comparing the concepts of totem and dispositif can aid in developing a richer conception of the contingent manner in which the existential structure of social life is formed by the effects of 'politics'. In this light, Durkheim offers a plausible resolution to a lacuna in Foucault by providing an account of the causal force of politics in constituting collective existence. Foucault's attention to contingent causality does similar work to remedy an obscurantist expressivism which subtends Durkheim's account of totem-creation
Epistemology · Existentialism · Parallels · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Totem · Emile Durkheim and Sociology · Law · Marxism and Critical Theory · Philosophy · Philosophy, Sociology, Political Theory
Durkheim and After
Catcher in the lie
The Market Totem
The Elementary Forms of Religious Life
The contingencies of power
Roots and resilience
Poder, autoridad moral y emociones en la perspectiva sociológica de Émile Durkheim
Foucault, Genealogy, Emergence
Getting real about nominalism again
Modern Democracy as the Cult of the Individual
The social fact in Durkheim's late work
Tradition and innovation in classical sociology
Liminal practice
The lives of Michel Foucault
Durkheim Reconsidered
The sacred and the French Revolution
Embodiment, emotions, and the foundations of social order
From Foucault’s Genealogy to Aleatory Materialism
From Durkheim to Managua
What Is Critique
Sociology and the Social Sciences (1903)
Influences upon Durkheim’s View of Sociology (1907)
Questions of Method
The Radical Durkheim
Durkheimian sociology
On the Division of Labor in Society
The Rules of Sociological Method
The Order of Things
Foucault Contra Foucault
A Modest Companion to Durkheim
Montesquieu/Quid Secundatus Politicae Scientiae Instituendae Contulerit
Modern Social Theory
Durkheim, Bernard and Epistemology
The Dualism of Human Nature and its Social Conditions
Modern Social Theory
The Sacred Difference in the Elementary Forms
Althusser's Theory of Ideology and Durkheim's Account of Religion
Sociology and the Social Sciences
The Elementary Forms of Religious Life
Security, Territory, Population
Durkheim et le politique
Durkheim, Bernard and Epistemology
Durkheim
Off with their heads
Foucault's new functionalism
| Unique citing works | 13 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,81 |
| Citation span | 2010 - 2025 (16) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 13 |