The Sociology of Theodor AdornoTheodor Adorno is a widely-studied figure, but most often with regard to his work on cultural theory, philosophy and aesthetics. The Sociology of Theodor Adorno provides the first thorough English-language account of Adorno's sociological thinking. Matthias Benzer reads Adorno's sociology through six major themes: the problem of conceptualising capitalist society; empirical research; theoretical analysis; social critique; the sociological text; and the question of the non-social. Benzer explains the methodological and theoretical ideas informing Adorno's reflections on sociology and illustrates Adorno's approach to examining social life, including astrology, sexual taboos and racial prejudice. Benzer clarifies Adorno's sociology in relation to his work in other disciplines and the inspiration his sociology took from social thinkers such as Marx, Weber, Durkheim, Kracauer and Benjamin. The book raises critical questions about the viability of Adorno's sociological mode of procedure and its potential contributions and challenges to current debates in social science. |
Contents
| 1 | |
1 Nothing under the sun | 15 |
2 Sociological material | 51 |
3 Sociological reflection | 86 |
4 The sociocritical dimension | 125 |
5 The sociological text | 162 |
6 Sociology and the nonsocial | 197 |
Conclusion | 231 |
Adornos sociology in chronological perspective | 243 |
| 248 | |
| 262 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Adorno argues Adorno emphasises Adorno's sociology Amorbach anti-Semitism articulation aspects Auschwitz Authoritarian Personality Benjamin capitalist Chapter cognition commodity exchange configurative confronts consciousness constellation contemporary content analysis critical decipher double character Durkheim empirical material empirical research encounters exchange relations exchange society expression facts factual genuine experiences German highlights historical Horkheimer human ical ideas identification individual intellectual interpretation Kracauer labour logical material's means mediation metaphysical experience metaphysics method-guided methodological methods mimesis mimetic Minima Moralia nature negation NLII notion objective observations passages perspectives PETG petrifaction possibility potential praxis problems production question radio reflection reified resistance sexual social conditions social critique social dimension social integration social phenomena social reality social relations social research social whole socialised society's socio socio-critical sociological material sociological writings sociologists sociology's specific suffering superego Theodor Adorno theoretical analysis theory theory-praxis thought tion transformation utopia VSII