Standpoint theory and middle-range theorizing in international sociology

Krause, Monika ORCID: 0000-0002-8699-5496 (2023) Standpoint theory and middle-range theorizing in international sociology. British Journal of Sociology, 74 (3). pp. 336-344. ISSN 0007-1315

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Abstract

This paper responds to Julian Go's Lecture “Thinking against Empire. Anti-colonial Thought and Social Theory.” It proceeds in two parts: I first follow Go's invitation to read and reread Mabel Dove Danquah and Frantz Fanon and explore what their work contributes to our understanding of state-forms. I then examine the terms of Go's invitation more closely. I contrast Go's juxtaposition of imperial sociology on the one hand and anti-colonial sociology on the other hand, with the broader range of theoretical traditions and methods, which a practice-oriented sociology of sociology and an international history of sociology would highlight. I raise the question what “standpoint” adds to the authors Go discusses and the broader range of scholars who have engaged with post-colonial contexts in their research at this point in time. Calling for consideration of the anti-colonial standpoint is a particular choice, which has a distinctive heritage in Hegelian-Marxian projections of the social whole and is in tension with either deep exploration of particular thinkers or the middle-range theorizing that Go also seems to endorse. Defined at a level of abstraction that is “above” (or underneath) actual conversations in a range of fields and subfields, it can appear as a “test” for scholars who have long engaged with post-colonial contexts, which can have unintended consequences when coupled with the institutional power and asymmetric insularity of Anglo-American academia.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2023 The Author.
Divisions:	Sociology
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Date Deposited:	09 Mar 2023 17:03
Last Modified:	12 Dec 2024 03:38
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/118375

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