George Steinmetz, "The Colonial Origins of Modern Social Thought: French Sociology and the Overseas Empire" (Princeton UP, 2024)

Dec 6, 2024

George Steinmetz, Charles Tilly Collegiate Professor of Sociology at the University of Michigan, dives into the intertwining of colonialism and French sociology. He explores how colonial experiences shaped major thinkers like Pierre Bourdieu and the influence of sociologists in shaping colonial policies. Steinmetz discusses the concept of 'disciplinary amnesia', revealing the neglect of anti-colonial voices, and examines the role of sociology in healthcare and education during colonial rule. This thought-provoking conversation highlights the lasting impact of colonial legacies on social thought.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

French Sociology and Colonialism

French sociology was deeply shaped by colonialism, with roughly half the field being "colonial sociologists".
This colonial focus became central, especially during post-WWII empire consolidation efforts.

INSIGHT

Disciplinary Amnesia in Sociology

Sociology's "disciplinary amnesia" about its colonial past stems from a generalized repression of colonialism in collective memory.
This amnesia is also due to the stigma attached to studying "unworthy objects" and a shift back to metropolitan focus.

INSIGHT

Contributions of Colonial Sociology

Colonial sociology contributed key concepts like Balandier's "dynamic sociology" and Aron's geopolitical imagination.
It fostered interdisciplinary research, questioned American positivism, and explored diverse subfields like the sociology of religion.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

It is only in recent years that sociologists and historians of the social sciences have given empire the attention it deserves in histories of the discipline. In this context, George Steinmetz’s The Colonial Origins of Modern Social Thought: French Sociology and the Overseas Empire (Princeton University Press) is likely to be a touchstone text in these debates. Providing a new history of the French national discipline inspired by a ‘Neo-Bourdieusian Historical Sociology of Science’, Steinmetz highlights the centrality of ‘colonial sociology’, work centered on and/or created in the French overseas colonies and protectorates to the discipline’s development.

The French state, eager to consolidate its empire after World War II, were eager to draw on the expertise of sociologists in pursuing this goal; as Steinmetz shows therefore, during this period, a focus on ‘the colonial’ became central to French sociology to the extent that roughly half the French sociological field could be considered ‘colonial sociologists’. Despite this entanglement with the French state these colonial sociologists became strong critics of imperialism. Alongside the many stories he uncovers Steinmetz explores in depth the case of four such colonial sociologists: Raymond Aron, Jacque Berque, Georges Balandier and Pierre Bourdieu, seeking to show not just the centrality of colonialism to each writer but how their experiences of empire formed their basis for their future work; for example, how Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, capital and field can be traced to his experiences in colonial Algeria.

In our discussion, which also marks the imminent release of the text in paperback, George takes us through this hugely enlightening text, including reflections on why there may have been some ‘disciplinary amnesia’ in sociology’s unwillingness to confront empire, the relations between sociology and other imperial disciplines, how sociologists from the colonies developed their own work, the lessons from his text about how we should confront colonial sociologists and whether Durkheim had an ‘imperial gaze’.

Your host, Matt Dawson is Professor of Sociology at the University of Glasgow and is the author of G.D.H. Cole and British Sociology: A Study in Semi-Alienation (2024, Palgrave Macmillan), among other books.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology