Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orientale

Journal | Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orientale
Journal issue | 55 | 2019
Research Article | Rethinking the Concept of ‘Society’ in the Age of Globalisation

Rethinking the Concept of ‘Society’ in the Age of Globalisation

Society as a Whole, the Social, and Sociological Traditions

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to take issue with the opinion that, in sociology, the concept of ‘society’ was equated with the nation-state. Firstly, a diachronic analysis of the term ‘society’, as used by the general public, shall be attempted: ‘society as a whole’ and ‘the social’. Secondly, the article shall illustrate that sociology has developed its own analytical concept of society within the space between the two lay terms. Thirdly, the fact that the process of globalisation yet again problematizes the distinction between ‘society as a whole’ and ‘the social’ shall be shown. The conclusion of the paper is that, by yet again, becoming aware of the three dimensions of the concept of ‘society’, we can provide cues for a theoretical reconstruction of the sociological concept of ‘society’ that will contribute to research on ‘society’ in the age of globalisation.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Submitted: Jan. 29, 2019 | Accepted: May 28, 2019 | Published June 27, 2019 | Language: en

Keywords Civil society • Nation-state • Market economy • Society • Globalisation • The social • Society as a whole • The state

Copyright © 2019 Hirofumi Utsumi. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/AnnOr/2385-3042/2019/01/021


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