Explanations and excuses in French sociology. (August 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Brandmayr, Federico
• Other Names: Brandmayr Federico guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: European journal of social theory. Volume 24:Number 3(2021)
• Page Start: 374
• Page End: 393
• Publication Date: 2021-08
• Subjects: Epistemology -- excuse -- field -- France -- sociology -- terrorism -- free will; Social sciences -- Philosophy -- Periodicals; 301.01
• DOI: 10.1177/1368431021989269
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1368-4310

Abstract

The terrorist attacks that struck France in 2015 had reverberations throughout the country's intellectual fields. Among the most significant was a widespread polemic that turned around whether sociological explanations of the attacks amounted to excuses and justifications for terrorists. When prominent politicians and pundits made allegations of this nature, sociologists reacted in three main ways: most denied the allegations, others reappropriated the derogatory label of excuse, while others still accepted criticism and called for a reformation of sociology. These epistemological stances can be properly understood only by studying the long history of debates around 'sociological excuses' in France and by analysing French sociology as a field of forces and struggles.