TY - JOUR
T1 - Public political thought
T2 - bridging the sociological-philosophical divide in the study of legitimacy
AU - Abulof, Uriel
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© London School of Economics and Political Science 2016.
PY - 2016/6/1
Y1 - 2016/6/1
N2 - The study of political legitimacy is divided between prescriptive and descriptive approaches. Political philosophy regards legitimacy as principled justification, sociology regards legitimacy as public support. However, all people can, and occasionally do engage in morally reasoning their political life. This paper thus submits that in studying socio-political legitimation - the legitimacy-making process - the philosophical ought and the sociological is can be bridged. I call this construct 'public political thought' (PPT), signifying the public's principled moral reasoning of politics, which need not be democratic or liberal. The paper lays PPT's foundations and identifies its 'builders' and 'building blocks'. I propose that the edifice of PPT is built by moral agents constructing and construing socio-moral order (nomization). PPT's building blocks are justificatory common beliefs (doxa) and the deliberative language of legitimation. I illustrate the merits of this groundwork through two empirical puzzles: the end of apartheid and the emergence of Québécois identity.
AB - The study of political legitimacy is divided between prescriptive and descriptive approaches. Political philosophy regards legitimacy as principled justification, sociology regards legitimacy as public support. However, all people can, and occasionally do engage in morally reasoning their political life. This paper thus submits that in studying socio-political legitimation - the legitimacy-making process - the philosophical ought and the sociological is can be bridged. I call this construct 'public political thought' (PPT), signifying the public's principled moral reasoning of politics, which need not be democratic or liberal. The paper lays PPT's foundations and identifies its 'builders' and 'building blocks'. I propose that the edifice of PPT is built by moral agents constructing and construing socio-moral order (nomization). PPT's building blocks are justificatory common beliefs (doxa) and the deliberative language of legitimation. I illustrate the merits of this groundwork through two empirical puzzles: the end of apartheid and the emergence of Québécois identity.
KW - Public political thought
KW - deliberation
KW - doxa
KW - legitimacy
KW - moral agentation
KW - moral reasoning
KW - nomization
KW - public conscience
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85027952755&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/1468-4446.12192
DO - 10.1111/1468-4446.12192
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AN - SCOPUS:85027952755
SN - 0007-1315
VL - 67
SP - 371
EP - 391
JO - British Journal of Sociology
JF - British Journal of Sociology
IS - 2
ER -