Introduction

Abstract

The title of this volume is a deliberate paraphrase of Louis Althusser's defense of a specific form of discourse, which he calls philosophy, and which I, like Bob Antonio, call social theory. Like Antonio, I use the term to distinguish this discourse, these discourses, from sociological theory; to insist on its critical potential; to insist on its public significance. I also use the term to insist on its necessarily conflictual character; and to insist on its ubiquity in all discourses, from the most esoteric to the most banal, as well as its articulation by all subjects, from the most “expert” to the most “vulgar.”

Citation

Lehmann (Cedar EK Woman), J. (2005), "Introduction", Lehmann, J.M. (Ed.) Social Theory as Politics in Knowledge (Current Perspectives in Social Theory, Vol. 23), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. xi-xv. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0278-1204(05)23008-6