Aesthetics and Social Theory
Simmel, Benjamin, Adorno, Bourdieu

Area 14 – Scienze politiche e sociali

Sociology has entered a post-disciplinary age: cultural boundaries are being transgressed and shifted; science is undergoing many previously only conceivable, and now necessary, transformations. Even if we live in an age of epistemological freedom and creativity, the social sciences run the risk of closing themselves off in an illusory disciplinary conformism, or to conceive of themselves as a mere assemblage of techniques. The response to this contemporary—though not new—situation may be twofold. On the one hand, sociologists may be tempted to think that the solution to this state of affairs lies in one word: “method”. On the other hand, another way forward is possible: accept the challenge that comes from the current “epistemological insecurity” of the postmodern age and try to re-think sociology as a form of knowledge. In this sense—as has always happened in the history of human thought—the realm of art and aesthetic sensibility can provide a fertile ground for freshening up our “sociological imagination”. Building on the bases established by the many greats of sociology who have had, in one way or other, to come to terms with “aesthetics”, each of the contributions to this book will seek to focus on some specific aspects of the complex relation between sociology and aesthetics in four different authors: Georg Simmel (1858–1918), Walter Benjamin (1892-1940), Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969) and Pierre Bourdieu (1930–2002).

SINTESI