No such thing as sociological excuses? Performativity, rationality and social scientific expertise in late liberalism

Bacevic, Jana

Abstract

This article examines a frequent assumption of sociological accounts of knowledge: the idea that knowledge acts. The performativity of knowledge claims is here analysed through the prism of ‘sociological excuses’: the idea that sociological explanations can act as ‘excuses’ for otherwise unacceptable behaviour. The article builds on Austin’s distinction between illocutionary and perlocutionary effects to discuss the relationship between sociological explanation, sociological justification and sociological critique. It argues that understanding how (and if) sociological explanations can act requires paying attention to social and political conditions of performativity and their transformation in late liberalism.

Citation

Bacevic, J. (2021). No such thing as sociological excuses? Performativity, rationality and social scientific expertise in late liberalism. European Journal of Social Theory, 24(3), 394-410. https://doi.org/10.1177/13684310211018939

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 1, 2020
• Online Publication Date: May 31, 2021
• Publication Date: 2021-08
• Deposit Date: Jun 19, 2021
• Journal: European Journal of Social Theory
• Print ISSN: 1368-4310
• Electronic ISSN: 1461-7137
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 24
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 394-410
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/13684310211018939