Artikelen

Geciviliseerd of gestigmatiseerd? Afhankelijkheid en lichaamsbeheersing in de Nederlandse figuratiesociologie en Amerikaanse 'welfare'-debatten

Auteurs

  • Schalet,Amy T.

Trefwoorden:

United States of America, Welfare state, Figuration sociology, Netherlands, Sociological theory

Samenvatting

Civilized or Stigmatized? Dependency and Bodily Control in Dutch Figurational Sociology and American Welfare Debates. This article contrasts Abram de Swaan's theory of the collectivizing process with American welfare debates of recent decades. Following Elias, De Swaan and other Dutch figurational theorists have argued that citizens of modern welfare states are aware of their interdependencies and have a firm faith in the internal control of bodily impulses. The American welfare debates however celebrate the self-reliance of individuals and express a profound fear of bodies out of control. Theory and case inform one another: the American case suggests a more profound and consequential variation in political culture among modern welfare states than figuration sociology currently recognizes. Figurational theory, with its emphasis on the role of bodily control in political processes, in turn, draws attention to a crucial, yet seldom recognized feature of the post-1960s American political imaginary: the assumption that bodily self-restraint is a tenuous attainment, and one easily undone by the wrong external incentives. Together theory and case suggest cultural concepts of self and social relations that facilitate, and those that inhibit, the legitimation of government measures to ensure collective economic security. 77 References. Adapted from the source document.

Biografie auteur

Schalet,Amy T.

Gepubliceerd

2001-10-01

Nummer

Sectie

Artikelen