Pragmatism and Democracy: Studies in History, Social Theory, and Progressive Politics

by Dmitri N. Shalin (Editor)

Overview

This volume examines the roots of pragmatist imagination and traces the influence of American pragmatism in diverse areas of politics, law, sociology, political science, and transitional studies. The work explores the interfaces between the Progressive movement in politics and American pragmatism. Shalin shows how early 20th century progressivism influenced pragmatism's philosophical agenda and how pragmatists helped articulate a theory of progressive reform. The work addresses pragmatism and interactionist sociology and illuminates the cross-fertilization between these two fields of studies. Special emphasis is placed on the interactionists' search for a logic of inquiry sensitive to the objective indeterminacy of the situation. The challenge that contemporary interactionist studies face is to illuminate the issues of power and inequality central to the political commitments of pragmatist philosophers. Shalin explores the vital link between democracy, civility, and affect. His central thesis is that democracy is an embodied process that binds affectively as well as rhetorically and that flourishes in places where civic discourse is an end in itself, a source of vitality and social creativity sustaining a democratic community. The author shows why civic discourse is hobbled by the civic body that has been misshapen by past abuses. Drawing on the studies of the civilizing process, Shalin speculates about the emotion, demeanor, and body language of democracy and explores from this angle the prospects for democratic transformation in countries struggling to shake their totalitarian past. View Table of Contents

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781351497220
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	09/08/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	412
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Dmitri N. Shalin

Table of Contents

1: Empowering the Self: Romanticism, the French Revolution, and the Rise of Sociological Hermeneutics; 2: Reforming American Democracy: Socialism, Progressivism, and Pragmatic Reconstruction; 3: Envisioning Pragmatist Sociology: Philosophical Sources, Methodological Principles, and Political Underpinnings of Social Interactionism; 4: Challenging Critical Theory: The Frankfurt School, Communicative Action, and the Pragmatist Revival; 5: Reading Text Pragmatically: Modernity, Postmodernism, and Pragmatist Inquiry; 6: Signing in the Flesh: Pragmatist Hermeneutics, Embodied Sociology, and Biocritique; 7: Reframing the Law: Legal Pragmatism, Juridical Moralism, and the Embodied Democratic Process; 8: Cultivating Democratic Demeanor: Liberalism, Affect Control, and Emotionally Intelligent Democracy; 9: Becoming a Public Intellectual: Advocacy, National Sociology, and Paradigm Pluralism

Editorial Reviews

The author of Pragmatism and Democracy proves himself to be deeply informed about classical pragmatism but (of far greater importance) creatively inspired by the pragmatic heritage. The most important word in this title is likely the conjunctive, for the value of this probing, exciting work resides, as much as anywhere else, in the way the author shows in detail just how intimate is the link between the philosophical tradition of pragmatism and the various practices (not just narrowly political ones) constitutive of democratic forms of human life. Dmitri Shalin probes pressing contemporary issues in a manner at once theoretically deep-cutting and practically far-reaching. There are in these pages serious, nuanced, and insightful engagements with a variety of traditions and perspectives, including critical theory, interpretive sociology, legal pragmatism, hermeneutics, and postmodernism…. The author explores a range of issues … but always in an accessible way and from an integrated viewpoint. Such issues as these are ones in which Dmitri Shalin’s characteristic subtlety, rigor, unblinking candor, impressive erudition, and unfailing sense of what is humanly significant are everywhere evident…. [w]e find manifest in these pages … imagination, philosophical no less than sociological; passion, tempered by experience and learning but still luminous and intense; and a pragmatic sensibility no less than the deepest commitment to fostering a democratic life.” —Vincent Colapietro, Liberal Arts Research Professor, Department of Philosophy, Pennsylvania State University "Dmitri Shalin illuminates the meaning of pragmatism for democratic thought and culture by interrogating incisively a broad swath of classical and contemporary social theory in historical and political context. Written over a period of more than thirty years, these timely essays shed light on unfolding events and possibilities of the current historical and political moment.” —Robert J. Antonio, professor of sociology, University of Kansas “In this collection of essays, both wide-ranging yet focused on the pragmatist approach to democracy, Dmitri Shalin displays his admirable erudition in social theory, hermeneutics, and pragmatist philosophy and his critical yet tolerant pluralistic sensibility. His cosmopolitan voice is most welcome for current discussion of democracy in contemporary society and culture.” —Richard Shusterman, Dorothy F. Schmidt Eminent Scholar in the Humanities, Florida Atlantic University

From the Publisher