Discourse is a perennial river of experiences, expectations and ecstasies of life, the history of humanity rests upon the accordance and discordance upon the axiological, epistemological and ontological considerations that shape our worldview, along with the critical engagements that their ascriptions espouse through questions and contradictions that stretch the limits of reason and inspire a more nuanced investigation on the aspirations and abilities of denoting, demarcating and deliberating upon truth of existence and essence.
Epistemic Vigilance as the Vanguard of Justice: Examining the Relationship between ‘Thing in Itself’ and ‘Social as a Category’
This essay advocates Epistemic Vigilance to be a pivotal interface in the sociology of knowledge because it unmasks the social construction of all assertions or seemingly axiomatic statements and reflects the progressive and perpetually dynamic nature of knowledge. Examining the relationship between ‘thing in itself’ (the object/world as it is) and ‘thing as we know it’ (the understanding of the object/world as we know it) unfolds the ‘social construction of reality’ and in the process it enables one to question the legitimation of the grounds on which such social construction stands and the epistemological and ontological assumptions it banks on. This paper engages with dialectics between the principles and problems of ‘reason’ by highlighting that the utility driven ‘instrumental form of reason’ holds the possibility of being exclusionary and oppressive when it is employed to claim that a certain assertion is a ‘thing in itself’ without acknowledging social construction of such assertions.
Elliptical Solipsism: The Circular and Spiral paths of Mobility
This essay aims to examine the state of moral and axiological predicament instated in the backdrop of postmodernity and post-truth. It engages with the narrative and plot analysis of Arvind Adiga’s White Tiger (2008) for contemplating over the discourse concerning ‘social mobility’ undertaken therein, as a case study to substantiate arguments with incidents from its fictitious narrative. The point of contention this instrument paper tries to amplify is the drift between self-realisation and self-actualization in the face of moral absolutism and nihilism, wherein, the character’s life trajectory is categorised in cyclical and spiral movements. ‘Cyclical movements’ are composed of instances in the character’s life which are responded with passivity (whereby, the narrator/protagonist is able to garner an epiphanic realisation about himself and his surroundings but isn’t able to make any substantial changes to his life circumstances). On the other hand, the spiral movements are characterised as instances that are remarked by active application of the character’s agency which alter the way in which he is perceived and advances his social positioning. This advancement is largely premised on acts of “defiance or crime”, which poses a pressing question on the ability of existing institutional structures which regulate and are alleged to be governed by conventional ‘moral and axiological understanding of society’ to instate appropriate channels for social mobility. Hence, negating all forms of metanarratives which advocate value fundamentalism and acknowledgement of how those metanarratives are closely tied to perpetuating status quo, remark the need of reevaluating the core values on which all social interactions rest.
Conceptualizing Intragenerational Social Mobility through the ‘Politics of Recognition’ Debate
‘Self’ is constantly striving for the realization of its own freedom, wherein, all individuals are in a perpetual struggle to rid themselves from external determination and instate the ability to determine their relationship with the world. Considering that ‘self’ is embedded in society within which it is located through the notions of “class, status and power” actualizing such a proclamation is explicitly challenging (to say the least). Although, a broader conception of ‘Self’ transcends the barriers imposed by these notions of ‘class, status and power’ and exercises one’s ‘Self’ independent from the barriers of aforementioned sources of limitations. Though, this individuation is undertaken through the acknowledgement of relational nature of one’s self with one’s surroundings which have explicit social, economic and political underpinnings. This paper engages with the categories of ‘class’ (which is akin to Economics), ‘status’ (which is akin to Sociology) and ‘power’ (which is akin to Politics) as the primary dimensions defining the dynamism that ‘intragenerational social mobility’ is subject to, however, these categories are not watertight but rather intermingle because one’s sociological location and how one is perceived by the ‘other’ is largely determined by their class location (i.e., redistribution) , social status (i.e., recognition) as well as the political power (i.e., representation) that they hold. This paper attempts to highlight and advocate the rationale for engaging with the ‘Politics of Recognition’ debate in the attempt to conceptualize ‘Intragenerational Social Mobility’, through addresses the implications of the schism upon its core tenets which are on the lines of ‘recognition, redistribution and representation’ that hold the potential to aid and abet our understanding of how they can be employed in operationalizing an inquiry of the life chance, life course and life histories of different members of society. Such an inquiry can prove fruitful in analyzing people’s narrative concerning their social, economic and political locations, as well as, identifying what measures they intend or have been able to undertake for the sake of altering how they and fellow members of society recognize themselves.
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