From sociology to social theory: Critical cosmopolitanism, modernity, and post-universalism

Abstract

This article focuses on the critical cosmopolitan aim of transcending sociology’s provincial outlook, which mistakenly universalizes Western societies’ historical experiences and normative aspirations. The authors argue that a change in perspective, from sociology to social theory, is crucial in this regard. While a sociological inflection carries a primary investment in the analysis of changes cosmopolitanism brings to the social world, social theory addresses the ontological and epistemological features that these changes precipitate. To demonstrate this, the authors offer a condensed reconstruction of critical cosmopolitan sociology, presenting Beck’s foundational formulation, outlining three main criticisms it faces and alternative programs stemming from them, and demonstrating how Delanty’s immanent-transcendent approach overcomes these limitations. To conclude, the authors address a crucial onto-epistemological challenge facing contemporary cosmopolitan scholarship, namely, how to mediate between the particular and the universal.

Hotel Naming in Russian Cities: An Imprint of Foreign Cultures and Languages between Europe and Asia

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The Mondragon Case: Companies Addressing Social Impact and Dialogic Methodologies

“…The methodological change in qualitative research emerges when the study’s objective is focused on identifying the transfer of Successful Cooperative Actions (SCAs), characterised by being universal and transferable to different contexts. This type of research is possible when mediating between the particular and the universal, grasping the translocally and transnationally shared experience of global contingencies (Bosco & Harris, 2020). Accordingly, the qualitative research methodologies that mainly contribute to better capturing the social impact of research integrate egalitarian dialogue and democratic participation as their key features.…”