In this Palgrave Pivot, Duane Rousselle aims to disrupt the hold that pragmatist ideology has had over American sociology by demonstrating that the social bond has always been founded upon a fundamental and primordial bankruptcy. Using the Lacanian theory of capitalist discourse, Rousselle demonstrates that most of early American sociology suffered from an inadequate account of the symbolic within the mental and social lives of the individual subject. The psychoanalytic aspect of the social bond remained theoretically undeveloped in the American context. Instead it is the image, a product of the imaginary, which takes charge over any symbolic function. This intervention into pragmatic sociology seeks to recover the tradition of grand theory by bringing psychoanalytical and sociological discourse into fruitful communication with one another.

Provides a critical introduction to early American sociology
Suggests fundamental points of departure to rethink the psychoanalytic contribution to American sociology
Calls for a return to the tradition of "Grand Theory"

Autorentext
Duane Rousselle is Visiting Professor of Sociology at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, USA. He is the author of Lacanian Realism: Clinical and Political Psychoanalysis and Post-Anarchism: A Reader. He maintains a private practice in Lacanian psychoanalysis.

Inhalt

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: On Names

Freud's Proper Name

From Proper Name to Name as Prop

Chapter 3: Perverse America

American Wisdom

Perverse Discourse and Capitalism Chapter 4: Early American SociologyGeorge Herbert MeadCharles Horton Cooley & Erving Goffman
Chapter 5: On StrangersTwo Strangers: Georg Simmel & Ibn KhaldunGeorg SimmelIbn Khaldun
Chapter 6: Ways ForwardAlain Badiou's ChoiceParsing Talcott Parsons