What is it about?
This article discusses Axel Honneth's recent theory of recognition, as exposed in his book Freedom's Right(2001). The argument defended here is that Honneth's approach does not apprehends the normative implications of political conflicts, for it relies on what some critics have called normative history. Against that approach, this paper defends a model of social theory that is not committed to normative presuppositions of analysis. Rather, it seeks to understand how political struggles strive for normative authority. As an illustration of forms of recognition that are alternative to the ones Honneth calls normative, the paper builds up on an example from Brazilian society.
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Why is it important?
It discusses an alternative explanation for social discomforts within the framework of recognition theory.
Perspectives
A criticism of Axel Honneth's theory's explanatory power, and yet an attempt to remain within this theory.
Dr Luiz Gustavo da Cunha de Souza
Institut fur Sozialforschung an der Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universitat Frankfurt
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This page is a summary of: Recognition, disrecognition and legitimacy, Thesis Eleven, June 2016, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/0725513616646017.
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