Mary Douglas, egalitarianism, grid/group theory

Abjection, Impurity, Self-identity

by Robbie Duschinsky

Draft only; under review

Kristeva describes abjection as ‘the repugnance, the retching that thrusts me to the side and turns me away from... more Kristeva describes abjection as ‘the repugnance, the retching that thrusts me to the side and turns me away from defilement, sewage, and muck.’ Her account of the ‘abject’ has received a great deal of attention since the 1980s, due to high demand for an account of the topic of purity and impurity, which remain important themes in contemporary society. Yet Kristeva herself has noted that ‘my investigation into abjection, violence and horror... picks up on a certain vacuum’, and other scholars have agreed that there is need for further work on this ‘under theorized’ topic. This article will begin by exploring the central line of criticism that has been made of Kristeva’s concept of abjection, before then considering an exciting new attempt by Goodnow to address these concerns through a re-reading of Kristeva. Goodnow’s re-reading of Kristeva will point the way towards a rethinking of ‘abject’ phenomena. I shall contend that Kristeva’s work hits upon a regularity, which greater conceptual precision will be able to revise into an explanation of when and why themes of purity and impurity are invoked.

Ideal and unsullied: Purity, subjectivity and social power

by Robbie Duschinsky

Draft only; Published in Subjectivity

There has been a good deal of empirical social scientific research which has addressed the theme of purity and has... more There has been a good deal of empirical social scientific research which has addressed the theme of purity and has indicated its social importance. However, few theoretical resources are available to scholars which explicitly attempt to analyse purity, besides Mary Douglas’s structural-functionalist model. This model has many insights, but is not well-adapted to considering issues of subjectivity or social power in contemporary Western societies. This article will attempt to take some steps towards filling this gap. It will be claimed that, through the way they appeal to an imputed essence and origin, purity discourses are often complicit in the consecration and occlusion of relations of power and processes of subjectivation. The argument will focus in particular on the operation of purity discourses in the discursive construction and practical negotiation of female adolescence.

Judging and Constructing Self-Identity

by Robbie Duschinsky

Draft only; currently under review

In Purity and Danger, Douglas theorises purity and impurity in terms of the instantiation and disruption of a shared... more In Purity and Danger, Douglas theorises purity and impurity in terms of the instantiation and disruption of a shared symbolic order. Purity/impurity discourses act, according to Purity and Danger, as a homeostatic system which ensures the preservation of this social whole, generally encoding that which threatens social equilibrium as impurity. There have been calls for new social theory on this ‘under theorised’ topic. Presenting such further reflections, I argue that Douglas’ account is less a full explanation than a regularity. Representations of purity are only secondarily symbols of the social order. Rather, purity/impurity discourses are only associated with ‘matter out of place’ when phenomena are assessed for their relative deviation from an imputed state of ‘self-identity’: qualitative homogeneity and correspondence with their essence. Purity and impurity do more than judge self-identity however. They can play a fundamental role in its performative construction; they are well adapted for smuggling assumptions into our discourses regarding the essence of particular phenomena and forms of subjectivity, simplifying a complex world into a stark contrast between the dangerous and the innocent, the valuable and the valueless, the necessary and the contingent, the originary and the prosthetic, the real and the apparent, and the unitary and the fragmented.

Managing the Tensions of Essentialism - draft (with Sue Lampitt)

by Robbie Duschinsky

Draft only; forthcoming in Sociology

This article will propose a new interpretation of Pierre Bourdieu, as a theorist of purity and impurity. Bourdieu’s... more This article will propose a new interpretation of Pierre Bourdieu, as a theorist of purity and impurity. Bourdieu’s writings indicate that through the adjudication of things or people as relatively impure or pure an image is constructed of their essential truth. Building from Bourdieu, we will show how themes of purity and impurity can be used to manage the tensions associated with attempts to impute an essence to human nature or to reality, ensuring that moral and epistemological significance of complexity is masked. This is the reason why themes of purity and impurity so often attend polarised worldviews, and why they are frequently mobilised for justifying and operating biopolitical processes of social stratification and regulation.

Getting dirty: Psychology's history of power.

by Peter Hegarty

This introduction to the special issue on the history of power forwards the anthropological
concept of... more This introduction to the special issue on the history of power forwards the anthropological
concept of “purification” as a means of drawing together disparate
histories of psychology that invoke notions of power. Drawing on the work of Mary
Douglas, Bruno Latour, Michel Foucault, and Donna Haraway, I argue for a history
of psychology that links the carving up of people up into their properly natural and
enculturated parts with keeping people in their place, the purification of interpretation
by scientific representation, the maintenance of the body politic of the discipline,
and the role of psychology in making up power in modern nation states.

Unreinheitsvorstellungen als Spiegelbild für die Ordnung einer Gesellschaft.

by Jörn Heise

2006

Symbole w działaniu. Akademickie konteksty nurtu symbolicznego w antropologii

by Jarema Drozdowicz

The construction of corruption, or rules of separation and illusions of purity in bourgeois societies

by Peter Bratsis

Committed: Teachers’ level of group membership, effectiveness and reform

by Sarah Howard

Presented at AARE 2010

Recently, the report on teachers’ work from the Grattan Institute was released. The report has identified serious... more Recently, the report on teachers’ work from the Grattan Institute was released. The report has identified serious problems with teacher evaluation and effectiveness (Jensen, 2010). While this news is always startling, the desire to improve teacher effectiveness is not a new conversation in school reform. The report goes on to mention that school principals will need support to recognize “effective teachers and addressing under-performing teachers” (p. 27). It has been widely proven that teachers are motivated to change and engage in change when they are part of a positive and supportive school culture. For individuals to be motivated by their culture, they must be committed to the values and beliefs of that cultural group (Douglas, 1992). This discussion examines the dynamic between individual teachers, commitment to school culture, and their influence on teachers’ engagement in change and school reform. Findings from this work could provide school leadership with a way to identify motivating factors in their school cultures to help teachers improve and maintain an effective teaching practice.