Everyday utopianism: Lefebvre and his critics

The strategy of sociocultural critique through the ‘problematization’ or ‘defamiliarization’ of the habitualized character of everyday life is one that is well-established in the literature, especially for adherents of various neo-Marxisms. However, in recent years, several prominent critics have taken issue with the concept of defamiliarization, arguing that the habit-bound, ‘distracted’ and routinized character of the everyday cannot be easily contrasted with, or superceded by, the exceptional or the extraordinary. Such a position, it is suggested, both denigrates the integrity of daily life and promotes a kind of incipient transcendentalism. The work of Henri Lefebvre is often taken to be representative in this regard, and various phenomenologies or pragmatisms are promoted in his stead. In this article, I take issue with such critics, by analyzing Lefebvre’s writings on such key points as his treatment of routine in everyday life, as well as his concepts of totality, dialectics and critique. I end up asserting that, contrary to what is often said, Lefebvre does not promote a dualistic transcendentalism in which daily life is denigrated, but rather an ‘everyday utopianism’ in which routine and creativity, the trivial and the extraordinary, are viewed as productively intertwined rather than opposed. As such, I seek to defend the notion of ‘critique’ vis-à-vis the everyday, and to demonstrate the on-going relevance of Lefebvre’s work, as well as that of the ‘counter-tradition’ that is loosely associated with his name.     

Seymour Martin Lipset: The social uses of anomaly

Let me preface my remarks by saying that we are here to honor a living, breathing colleague. My great concern, and in this I am sure that I speak for my colleagues as well, is that any imputation of a postmortem be avoided. Indeed, I would like to believe that Marty will review these various contributions and make his own assessments-critical or approvingly. The fact that he is not present in this conference hall should not deter us from speaking frankly and forthrightly. Marty merits nothing less. What binds us all is the sure knowledge that the work of Lipset speaks to us in personal as well as professional ways. That he has touched so many of us in both the private and public realms is itself a testimonial of the magnitude of his contribution to the field of political sociology. So it is in that spirit of a collégial dialogue that I offer these remarks. Let us hope that a year from now a session of one person can be held, at which S. M. Lipset will provide rebuttals and responses to those of us herein gathered. His most recent work in the field is Behemoth: Main Currents in the History and Theory of Political Sociology. The two major sources for traching the written works of Seymour Lipset are contained in Reexamining Democracy: Essays in Honor of Seymour Martin Lipset, edited by Gary Marx and Martin Diamond. Newberry Park, California: Sage Publishers. 1992, especially pp. 332–355. For work done by Lipset after 1991; as embodied in his later work, see Lipset's essay on “Steady Work: An Academic Memoir,” Annual Review of Socialogy: Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1996, pp. 1–27. My reference to works mentioned in the narrative can be found in either of these bibliography sources.     

Ethics Beyond the IRB: An Introductory Essay

Qualitative sociologists confront thorny ethical issues, many of which are beyond the scope of institutional review board procedures and protocols. This essay presents the broad themes of this special issue by reviewing major approaches to scholarly ethical practice, offering a set of orienting propositions, and introducing the contributions of and connections among the articles that follow.     

Beyond I-You-Me: An Empirically Supported Formulation of the Triadic Self

This applied semiotics intends to show that the richness and complexity of Charles S. Peirce need not be lost through an empirical application to psycholinguistics, but instead enables the latter to make better informed hypothesis testing. It is proposed that Peircean semiotics can be used to ground a taxonomy of linguistic representations of the self in English, which is parsed not on the basis of semantics, but rather according to the triadic structure of the self as formulated by Peirce. This taxonomy was implemented by a language analysis computer program, SSWC (Sundararajan-Schubert Word Count), and applied to an analysis of language use in emotionally expressive writings. Results of two studies are reported to demonstrate the heuristic value of this applied approach to semiotics.