This book has two aims: to clarify the meaning of C. Wright Mills's depiction of the sociological imagination; and to use this to develop a sociological framework that assists in understanding the process by which communal violence has ended in Northern Ireland and South Africa. The contrast between these two societies is a familiar one, but the book is novel by developing an explanatory framework based on Mills's 'sociological imagination'. This model merges developments in the two countries at the individual, social structural and political arenas in order to account for the emergence of their peace processes.
Autorentext
JOHN D. BREWER is Professor of Sociology at the Queen's University of Belfast. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 1998. Visiting appointments have been held at Yale University, St John's College, Oxford, Corpus Christi College Cambridge, and the Australian National University in Canberra. This is his thirteenth book.
Zusammenfassung
Why has communal violence more or less ended in Northern Ireland and South Africa? What enabled peace settlements to be negotiated and to be accepted by large sections of the population? Why is Northern Ireland's peace process more fragile than South Africa's? This book argues that it is possible to develop a sociological framework to explain the emergence and progress of the peace process in these two ethnically structured societies that began at roughly the same time to dismantle centuries-old division and conflict. The framework is drawn from C. Wright Mills's account of the 'sociological imagination', and is distinguished by the view that a sociological understanding must demonstrate the intersection between individual biographical experience, social structural changes, historical forces and developments and events in the political process. This case is used to clarify Mills's use of the term and to outline his amibtions for a re-imagined sociology. It addresses itself to readers who wish to know more about the potential of Mills's sociology and to those interested in the ending of violence in Northern Ireland and South Africa.
Inhalt
Preface and Acknowledgements Introduction: Conflict, Violence and Peace C. Wright Mills and the Sociological Imagination The Historical Specificity of the Peace Process Individual Biographical Experiences and Peace The Intersection of Politics and the Social Structure Conclusion: The Sociological Imagination and the Peace Process Bibliography Index