Interlude II
ideologies of habitus
pp. 197-201
in: Martin Middeke, Christoph Reinfandt (eds), Theory matters, Berlin, Springer, 2016Abstract
Differentiation, we argued at the end of Interlude I, provides opportunities for mutual observation both within theory and between theory and other discourses. While metatheory has a tendency to absorb these differences into subtle discussions of epistemological problems, cultural theory addresses the frictions between different cultures of reflexivity much more explicitly, moving from, for example, an acknowledgement of "The Literariness of Theory' (Sedlmayr in Part I) to an acknowledgement of what literature can do that theory cannot (Hotz-Davies's "When Theory Is Not Enough' in Part II), or from a discussion of "the construction of "Latourian literary studies" (Noys in Part I) to "The "Literary Turn' in Organization Studies' (Glaubitz in Part II). Less philosophical and more pragmatic, cultural theory is marked by a more explicit political awareness (cf. Hotz-Davies, Eckstein and Reinfandt, and Wiemann in Part II) and thus adds a different dimension to the cultural capital accrued by metatheory with its emphasis on epistemology: It is not only about "knowing', but also about "doing', as it were, and the question is how the "knowing' based on "inward' processes of making sense relates to the "outward' cultural realms of "doing'. As doing theory is a cultural practice as well, the effects of "outward' culture on "inward' processes of making sense would also have to be addressed within the remit of reflexivity.