The Moral Turn in Recent Sociological Theory
The founding fathers of sociology in the XIX century were concerned not only with understanding society but with the moral preconditions of good society. They were openly embracing values. Sociology in the XXth century departed from this tradition and was pervaded with the idea of pure objectivity, detachment, freedom from valuations. Recent sociological theory in the XXI century is returning to its roots. Today the social theorists do not hesitate to take their own moral stand, putting forward arguments for the beneficial social arrangements and critically identifying social pathologies. They come close to moral philosophy, but not by means of purely rational, philosophical considerations or ethical precepts, but based on the unravelling of fundamental prerequisites and mechanisms of social life by cumulative sociological research.
The focus is on the network of social relations among the people, the inter-human space. The crucial fragment of such space are moral relations, making the moral space. Robust moral space is considered as the prerequisite of both the successful functioning of society and well-being of its members.
Three moral rules of inter-human relations come to the fore: solidarity, reciprocity and recognition. Beginning in the XIXth century they have found occasional expressions in the XXth century and have been elaborated into full-fledged theories only in the XXIth century. There are three lineages. On solidarity - from Emile Durkheim’s solidarism, through Robert Bellah communitarianism, to Jeffrey Alexander’s civic sphere. On reciprocity – from Bronislaw Malinowski’s principle do ut des and Marcel Mauss’ idea of the gift, through Alvin Gouldner’s norm of reciprocity, to Alain Caille’s anti-utilitarianism. On recognition - from Charles H. Cooley’s notion of mirror self, through Erving Goffman’s social drama, to Axel Honneth’s justice as recognition.