Sociological Imagination

OpenAlex · English

This chapter first critiques mainstream sociology for focusing excessively on the relation between individuals and society, rather than on what it takes for societies to be transformed in a way that favours the dominated. We critique methodological individualism in favour of developing a theory of social emancipation. We then search for the classical basis for such theory, also with the aid of the contemporary theoretical contributions of Erik Olin Wright. Our key argument is that, far from being antagonistic theorists, Karl Marx and Max Weber’s contributions can and should be combined. This has been done fruitfully by Antonio Gramsci, who creatively adopted Marx’s theory of exploitation and Weber’s sociology of domination, and developed a cultural theory of hegemony. This becomes our launching pad for our theory of collective empowerment.