Université de Strasbourg

Public seminar: Issues in Sociology

September 7, 2022
From 14:00 until 16:00
MISHA, Strasbourg

What is sociology and what makes a sociologist? What is social interaction really about? In this seminar, two visiting sociologists discuss fundamental questions about sociology as a discipline and a practice. The seminar will be moderated by David Le Breton, Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Strasbourg and USIAS Chair of Anthropology of Contemporary Worlds.
 

Fieldwork in social theory

By Frédéric Vandenberghe, Professor of Sociology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Director of the Sociofilo Laboratory of Social Theory  

Can one be a sociologist if one has not done any fieldwork? And if one has done fieldwork, but as a philosopher, can one call oneself a sociologist? What are the boundaries between sociology, anthropology, philosophy and the humanities? These thorny questions will serve as a starting point for an open reflection on the past, present and future of sociology as a discipline. Professor Vandenberghe will take advantage of his stay in Strasbourg, a border city, to answer these questions of fundamental epistemology. Drawing on his experiences in Europe and Brazil, he will defend a cosmopolitan theory of society in dialogue with the Studies and moral & political philosophy.
 

The hermeneutics of interaction games between participants

By Denis Jeffrey, Professor at the Faculty of Education at Laval University in Quebec City, Canada, and Director of the Centre de recherche interuniversitaire sur la formation et la profession enseignante (CRIFPE). 

As Irving Goffman well saw, a social interaction is a complex universe of affect, meaning, values, norms and beliefs. During an interaction, all these dimensions are constantly being re-read so that the participants can understand each other and comprehend what is going on. The hermeneutics of interaction games is concerned with this effort, on the part of the participants, to understand themselves, others and what is happening during the interaction. Professor Jefffrey will present some of the issues inherent in the hermeneutics of interaction, which aims in fact at maintaining bonds of trust between participants.

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