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Exit as Critique: Communes and Intentional Communities in the 1960s and Today
Rückzug als Kritik: Kommunen und intentionale Gemeinschaften in den 1960er Jahren und heute
[journal article]
Abstract While social scientists have traditionally confined their attention to practices of critique modelled on collective, publicly visible speech acts, this article draws attention to practices of critique which take the form of individual, private, and mute acts of withdrawal. First, drawing on the prag... view more
While social scientists have traditionally confined their attention to practices of critique modelled on collective, publicly visible speech acts, this article draws attention to practices of critique which take the form of individual, private, and mute acts of withdrawal. First, drawing on the pragmatic sociology of critique and its conceptualization of different “orders of worth,” it is argued that communards and inhabitants of intentional communities in the 1960s and today practice critique by withdrawing from conventional arenas of political participation and social interactions. Critique is performed through withdrawal because all legitimate channels towards the broad public appear blocked or useless. Second, this study points out differences within this “exit variety of critique” between the two time-periods. The transgressive withdrawal of communards in the 1960s was a radical critique of mainstream society and its values. In contrast, today’s communards withdraw from conventional arenas of social interactions to live in ways which more consistently put into practice their beliefs and hence practice a reformist critique of mainstream society’s unsustainability and individualism.... view less
Keywords
criticism; society dropout; sustainability; social criticism; mass society; Boltanski, L; political participation; historical development; shared housing; collective behavior; United States of America
Classification
General Sociology, Basic Research, General Concepts and History of Sociology, Sociological Theories
Free Keywords
Critique; exit; withdrawal; commune; intentional community; gesture; sociology of critique; Boltanski; USA; 1960s
Document language
English
Publication Year
2017
Page/Pages
p. 147-171
Journal
Historical Social Research, 42 (2017) 3
Issue topic
Critique and Social Change: Historical, Cultural, and Institutional Perspectives
DOI
https://doi.org/10.12759/hsr.42.2017.3.147-171
ISSN
0172-6404
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed