An outline of a pragmatic sociology of 'violence

Bibliographic Data

ID4354598
AuthorsAlexandre Vieira Werneck (0000-0002-7529-7633, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro), Cesar Pinheiro Teixeira (0000-0002-8517-0281, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro), Vittorio Talone (0000-0003-4939-201X, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro)
Year2020
Volume22
Issue54
Pages286-326
Publication date2020-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociologias (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1517-4522 • E-ISSN: 1807-0337
PublisherFapUNIFESP (SciELO) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1590/15174522-96338
OpenAlexW3045076361
SCIELO_PIDS1517-45222020000200286
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited38

In this article we propose a model for a pragmatic sociology of violence. Based on a semiotic analysis of a primordial cognitive operation deployed in people's definition of situations, namely qualification, the essential characterization of things, the paper maps the meanings attributed to what both ordinary social actors and academic analysts treat as violence. Our analysis shows that this operation imbues a concrete object with meaning, the disproportionate use of force, whose resignifications compose a typology of five 'sociologies of violence,' both native and academic. These are: substantivist, constructivist, political, critical, and praxiological. To this gallery, we suggest the addition of another item: a pragmatic sociology. Taking the sign 'violence' as an interpretant, this sociology seeks to understand how, in people's qualifications, it functions as a connection between moral metaphysics (worldviews in which the deployment of disproportionate force makes sense) and devices capable of effectuating them

Criminology · Epistemology · Meaning (existential · Metaphysics · Political science · Politics · Semiotics · Sign (mathematics · Social science · Sociology · Sociology of law · Typology · Anthropology · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Law · Philosophy · Social Representations and Identity · Sociology and Norbert Elias