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Alijevova D.

Sociológia (Sociology)

2006

vol. 38

issue 5

367-398

The article is devoted to the co-existence of such different contemporary sociological approaches as the post-modern social theory and the mainstream sociology, represented by functionalism. Their thematic and conceptual differences are so significant that the metaphor of the 'parallel worlds' of the sociological theory seems to be adequate to describe the present situation. The analysis focuses on the late works of J. Baudrillard as the most important representative of the post-modern social theory. Baudrillard declares that the social theory is dead because the key social factors like class and ethnic differences have disappeared with the creation of an undifferentiated mass. This declaration leads Baudrillard towards creating a new way of sociologizing and a new sociological vocabulary, which sharply contrasts with the concepts of the mainstream sociology. The masses for him are a non-social category - a 'silent majority', a 'black hole' that absorbs all social characteristics of the system. It is their fatal strategies that are so crucial for the fate of the social world. The similar position in this respect is typical for another eminent French post-modern theorist M. Maffesoli. For him, the masses have lost their political and economical characteristics - they are not anymore the subject of the world history. Naturally, such 'antisocial theory' make the post-modern sociology unacceptable for the most mainstream sociologists in their research and theorizing. They live in their own sociological universe that had been created during the long sociological tradition. The core conception of mainstream sociology is represented by structural-functionalism, which has been recently revived in the works of neo-functionalists (J. Alexander, P. Colomy, S. N. Eisenstadt, F. Lechner, R. Munch). The functionalism survives not only in the sociological theory but also in the 'practical sociological reasoning'. It presents the sociological theory that is parallel to the post-modern social theory. The third parallel structure in the contemporary sociology is presented by the Marxist social theory. It has also survived in the works of the eminent modern (A. Giddens, P. Bourdieu) and post-modern (J. Baudrillard, M. Maffesoli, F. Jameson) sociologists. An outstanding example of the 'latent Marxism' in the recent years is the conception of the informational society by M. Castells. In comparison with the functionalism that embodies the consensual thinking, the Marxism presents a conflict-oriented critical position which makes it a popular ideology in contemporary globalizing world.

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PARALLEL WORLDS OF THE SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY