About the Lecture: 

The Civil Sphere  as a new general macro-sociological theory of contemporary democratic societies. It combines cultural and institutional levels. Comparison with the instrumentalization of political science and political sociology, on the one hand, and the idealism of Habermas on the other. The role of "the binary discourse of civil society." The centrality of solidarity, but one that is exclusive as well as inclusive. Regulatory and Communicative institutions. The contradictions and dynamics of real existing civil spheres. 

About the Speaker:

Jeffrey C. Alexander is the Lillian Chavenson Saden Professor of Sociology at Yale University. He is the founder and Co-Director of the Center for Cultural Sociology (CCS). Jeffrey Alexander works in the areas of theory, culture, and politics. An exponent of the “strong program” in cultural sociology, he has investigated the culture codes, narratives, performances and icons that inform diverse areas of social life.