Transformation of politics into ethics: Michel Maffesoli on moral values of post-modern society
The article analyzes the ideas of the French sociologist, professor of the Paris V – Sorbonne University Michel Muffesoli, presented by him on the 29th of May, 2017 during the conference at the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine within the framework of the annual events during the Ukrainian School of Archetypes.
The issue of the correlation between political, moral and ethical in post-modern society is revealed. The subject of the authors’ observations as a part of the sociology of everyday life was socio-cultural processes of the present, which indicates the possibility of post-modern development in political, economic and social realities. It is established that according to Michel Maffesoli, the society develops not in a linear or cyclical way, but by spiral, returning to certain phenomena that seemed to have passed away already from the historical point of view, but they (phenomena) return in present in a different form of their existence, providing not transformation of the society in its pure sense, but its transfiguration – the different form of the known phenomena. Michel Maffesolli’s main thesis suggests the shift in post-modern society from individualism to tribalism, from progress to preasentheism, from rationalism to emotionalism, from social utilitarianism to aesthetics of the everyday life and from the universal morality to the ethics of tribes in the postmodern society.
The observations and the generalizations of the thinker help to rethink following traditional ethical categories: responsibility, freedom, moral choice in the context of prospects that reveal modern socio-political and cultural realities to morals and ethics.
Maffesoli, M. Vous avez dit la crise? URL: http://www.michelmaffesoli.org/articles/vous-avez-dit-crise
Zaiats, D. (2011). Indie-rock sociology of Michel Maffesolli. Sotsiologiya: teoriya, metody, marketing – Sociology: theory, methods, marketing, 3, 74-83 [in Russian]
Maffesoli, M. (2017). Open lecture in Institute of Sociology NASU ‘Transformation of political to ethical: moral values of postmodern scope’, 30.05.2017. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxEu2FjiRs0 [in Ukrainian]
Maffesoli, M. (2016). La crise est dans nos têtes. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ua9aJNMSnY [in French]
Tönnies, F. (2005). Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaf. Kyiv: Dukh I Litera [in Ukrainian]
Shamrai, V.V. (2015). Modern Society: from liberal and total utopia to network sociality. Kyiv [in Ukrainian]
Maffesoli, M. (2005). Utopia or Utopias in the Gaps: From the Political to the ‘Domestic’, Diogenes. English edition. Fiesole, 52, 2
Maffesoli, M. Du Tribalisme. URL: http://www.michelmaffesoli.org/articles/du-tribalisme 2 [in French]
Maffesoli, M. (1996). The Time of the Tribes: The Decline of Individualism. Mass Society, trans. D. Smith. London: Sage
Maffesoli, M. De la ‘Postmédiévalité’ à la postmodernité. URL: http://www.michelmaffesoli.org/articles/de-la-postmedievalite-a-la-postmodernite [in French]
Maffesoli, M. La perfection de l’un. URL: http://www.michelmaffesoli.org/articles/la-perfection-de-l-u [in French]
Maffesoli, M. (2017, June 29). Open Lecture in National Academy for Public Administration under the President of Ukraine ‘Neotribalism and modern policy of decentralization’. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeh3LIn5uNM [in Ukrainian]
Maffesoli, M. (2011). Interview: Dialogues, 5 questions sur Sarcoligies. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgzGB8ckWpU&t=3s [in French]
Maffesoli, M. The person of post-modernity. URL: http://syg.ma/@marisya-prorokova/mishielmaffiesolichieloviekpostsovriemiennosti-pierievod-stati-voshiedshiei-v-sbornik-lhommepostmoderneparis-bourin-editeur-2012 [in Ukrainian]