Družboslovne razprave 83 (XXXII)
The Europeanisation of Sociology? A Bibliometric Comparison of Družboslovne Razprave and Österreichische Zeitschrift für Soziologie
Barbara Hoeing
ABSTRACT: This paper investigates the impact of Europeanisation dynamics on the formation and development of sociology in Slovenia and Austria. Compared are problem choice in research areas, topics, and the language of citations of sociological knowledge published in two sociology journals, Družboslovne razprave and Österreichische Zeitschrift für Soziologie over a 30-year period (1986–2015). Methodologically, the bibliometric analysis of journals was undertaken as a study entailing two distinct phases and methods of comparison. The empirical findings indicate that society’s structural change, political transformation and European integration have been subject to much more research among Slovenian sociologists than among their Austrian colleagues.
KEY WORDS: comparative sociology, bibliometrics, Slovenia, Austria, Europeanisation
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The Disciplinary Society and the Birth of Sociology: A Foucauldian Perspective
Dušan Ristić, Dušan Marinković
ABSTRACT: This paper is genealogical research that aims to present one of the historical ways that led to the emergence of sociology as a modern science. We discuss how and why this kind of genealogical research is important for explaining the emergence, transformation and regionalisation of power/knowledge. By following the arguments developed by Michel Foucault, we argue that the disciplinary practices emerging in European societies during the 18th and 19th centuries strongly influenced the upsurge of power/knowledge that would be transformed in sociology. We conclude that the appearance of the institutions – elements of what Foucault called the disciplinary society – led to the rise of new discourses of their legitimisation and to the birth of sociology.
KEY WORDS: discipline, Foucault, genealogy, power/knowledge, sociology
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Examining Sociology’s Position in an Increasingly Interdisciplinary Environment
Krešimir Žažar
ABSTRACT: The perspective of growing interdisciplinarity implies the need to establish sociology’s position within an even more ‘interdisciplinary environment’ of contemporary science. Sociology’s relationship with other sciences is intimately intertwined with several types of issues scrutinised here: a) the modalities of interdisciplinary conjunctions; b) the attributes of levels at which interdisciplinary cooperation may appear; c) what sociology can provide to and what it may require from other disciplines; and d) potential advantages of participation in interdisciplinary scientific ventures, as well as their possible hazards. Further, the preference for multidisciplinarity as a ‘softer’ variant of interdisciplinary connection is emphasised. Finally, the urgency pertaining to the disciplinary uniqueness of sociology, due to its capability to adequately answer a vast number of social challenges today, is underlined.
KEY WORDS: contemporary science, disciplines, forms of interdisciplinary conjunctions, fragmentation of sociology, role of sociology
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Teaching Society? Looking for New Ways to Teach Sociology in Contemporary Hungary
Miskolczi Péter, Gábor Király
ABSTRACT: Sociology’s possible roles of producing knowledge and shaping society can suggest several different approaches to teaching. In our article, we conduct a macro-level review of sociology’s role in society. We touch upon the issue of value-free sociology (stressing scientific neutrality) and then refer to Burawoy’s programme of public sociology (advocating involvement in civil society) and its criticism. We connect this with the Hungarian experience which shows that while sociology was historically involved, to various extents, in shaping society by either legitimating or challenging the status quo, nowadays this function seems to be superfluous for the architects of political power. In such a social context, even the goals of improving students’ reflexivity and critical thinking might be seen as a political act.
KEY WORDS: sociology’s social role, knowledge production, shaping society, CEE sociology, Hungarian democracy, critical thinking, reflexivity, teaching sociology
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An Outline of Selected Indicators of the Retraditionalisation of Slovenian Society
Urban Vehovar, Jernej Tiran
ABSTRACT: The article describes selected indicators of the retraditionalisation of Slovenian society. Special attention is paid to the last 25 years. At the outset, key terms are defined, such as tradition, modernity and retraditionalisation. The Slovenian traditional subsistence model is presented as the foundation of the retraditionalisation of the country’s society. The authors claim that Slovenian society remains overly politically integrated in the area of the economy, the state, and at the level of local self-government. Since, amongst other factors, the level of trust in democratic institutions is very low, integration into the local environment is being reinforced, as is the importance of the family. The level of social capital is low. The value system and culture are dominated by egalitarianism, authoritarianism, and “low culture”, along with xenophobia. The outline of the selected indicators reveals that the trends of modernisation in Slovenia, especially in the last 25 years, have now at least partially halted.
KEY WORDS: tradition, modernity, retraditionalisation, traditional subsistence-business model, social integration and regulation
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Book reviews
ABSTRACT: Gregor Moder: Komična ljubezen: Shakespeare, Hegel, Lacan. Ljubljana: Društvo za teoretsko psihoanalizo, 2015. Kaja Poteko Michel Foucault: »Družbo je treba braniti«. Predavanja na College de France (1975–1976). Ljubljana: Studia Humanitatis, 2015. Ana Pavlič Michel Foucault: Rojstvo biopolitike: kurz na College de France: 1978–1979. Ljubljana: Založba Krtina, 2015. Lea Kuhar Anja Koletnik, Ana Grm in Martin Gramc: Vsi spoli so resnični – transspolnost, transseksualnost in cisspolna nenormativnost. Ljubljana: Društvo informacijski center Legebitra, 2016. Nina Perger Ilan Pappe: The Idea of Israel: A History of Power and Knowledge. London, New York: Verso. 2014. Marko Hočevar