Against Essentialism

"Against Essentialism" presents a sociological theory of culture. This interdisciplinary and foundational work deals with basic issues common to contemporary debates in social theory, including society, culture, meaning, truth, and communication. Stephan Fuchs argues that many mysteries about these concepts lose their mysteriousness when dynamic variations are introduced. Fuchs proposes a theory of culture and society that merges two core traditions - American network theory and European (Luhmannian) systems theory. His book distinguishes four major types of social "observers" - encounters, groups, organizations, and networks. Society takes place in these four modes of association. Each generates levels of observation linked with each other into a "culture" - the unity of these observations. "Against Essentialism" aims to present an alternative approach to the construction of society, culture, and personhood. The book invites both social scientists and philosophers to see what happens when essentialism is abandoned.