Sociology for Durkheim was by no means a knowledge closed in its specificity. It was rather an open science, permeable to contributions coming from other disciplines. For him, the task of sociology was to study what held societies together, giving place to reflective change and progressive development. This is an epistemological and political model that still retains all its relevance today: an example to be rediscovered against any reductionist conception of the vocation and object of social sciences; an encouragement to see sociology as an indispensable protagonist for an authentic interdisciplinary dialogue in the field of humanities. It is one of the best legacies Durkheim left us, that this book attempts to illustrate.
Massimo Pendenza, Ph.D. in Sociology (Napoli, 1998), is full professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for European Studies (CES) at the University of the Salerno (Italy). He is the author of several articles, monographs, and edited books on Classical Sociology (Classical Sociology Beyond Methodological Nationalism, Brill, Leiden and Boston, 2014).
List of Tables
Introduction Reversing the Canon of Durkheimâs Sociology
ââMassimo Pendenza and Giovanni Paoletti
part 1 A Crossover between Disciplines: The Elementary Forms of Religious Life
1âReason as a Social Faculty The Elementary Forms of Religious Life and the Sociological Critique of Philosophical Enlightenment
ââNicola Marcucci
2âDurkheim and the History of Religions The Strange Case of the Camelâs Sacrifice
ââGiovanni Paoletti
3âLittle Skeleton and the Rubber Duckie Durkheim and the Invisible Religion
ââFabio Dei
4ââFusing Morals and Aestheticsâ The Aesthetic Foundations of the Cosmopolitan Social Bond in Durkheimâs Vision of Ritual and Religious Life
ââDario Verderame
5âDurkheim, the Durkheimian and the Sociology of Festivities
ââPhilippe Steiner
part 2 Beyond Conservative Durkheim: Society, Solidarity, and Politics
6âElevating Human Dignity as a Universal Frame of Reference Durkheim on the Moral Sources of Solidarity in Modern Societies
ââMassimo Pendenza
7âTowards a Model of Reflexive Solidarity
ââAmbrogio Santambrogio
8âThe Government of Society Durkheim on the Political, the State and Democracy from a Sociological perspective
ââFrancesco Callegaro
9âDurkheim, âEuropeâ and Brexit
ââDavid Inglis
Index
Researchers, students and post-graduate students in the fields of sociology, political sociology, cultural anthropology and political theory.