Libertarian Socialism: The Genesis of an Idea

Abstract

Sociology often prides itself on its ability to raise questions; a critical sociology (Bauman 1976a) of emancipation (Boltanski 2011) aims to question what is and to show its specificity across time and space, rather than consider the social world as taken for granted or ‘natural’. This is not simply a task of justifying a field of study but is also seen as a greater good since, ‘whatever else the “science of society” might do, it ought to be conducted for the benefit of society and not for the applause and self-aggrandisement of other “scientists of society” ’ (Bauman and Beilharz 1999:337). To fulfil this task ‘the twin roles we, sociologists, are called on to perform … are those of the defamiliarizing the familiar and familiarizing (taming, domesticating) the unfamiliar’ (Bauman 2011a:171). This can then lead to sociology becoming a normative pursuit; not only is the specificity of the social shown but its unfairness or inequality can then be criticized.