Suchergebnisse

In spite of its authority to claim facts, law is by no means neutral. Deeply imbued with economic and ideological interests, opportunistic goals and hidden motives, its function to guarantee political autonomy has been deeply compromised. This observation, systematically explored in Critical Legal Studies, is the point of departure for this essay. In asking how (a greater degree of ) political autonomy may be achieved, it puts forward an understanding of autonomy along three conceptual distinctions. As (1) self-governance of the individual and the community (Personal and Political Autonomy), (2) as self-governance bereft of external and internal constraints (External and Internal Autonomy), and (3) self-governance as the absence of constraints and the capacity to exercise governance (Negative and Positive Autonomy). The main argument is that critique is not only the prerequisite but also the essence of political autonomy. In discussing four authors that have vitally contributed to the enterprise of the critique of law (Marx, Nietzsche, Weber, Freud) it attempts to disentangle the ways in which critique is essential for disposing of self-instituting capacity. I propose a reading that does not engage with the differences between their theories but stresses their commonality. While distinct in their analysis of the constraints responsible for the lack of political autonomy, their desire for the individual's liberation of (economic, ideological, despotic, subconscious) forces provides a common ground. Therefore, their critique can be understood as an enterprise deeply indebted to Kant. Not as a rejection of Enlightenment but as an effort to transform it from within.

Despite their differences, sociologists of architecture agree on one fundamental premise: buildings - and architecture more broadly - play a role in shaping social life. The importance of the "agency" of architecture has been equally highlighted in debates in cultural theory. The authors of the publications under discussion here approached this issue through empirical research. We suggest that, in doing so, they make visible the methodological challenges and potentials that confront sociologists of architecture. We aim to offer a comparative overview of some of the newer publications in the German-speaking sociology of architecture which adapt established methods of qualitative sociology to the field of architecture. We review these works through the lens of how well they empirically address the issue of the ways in which architecture can be shown to have agency in society.

Utopisches Wohnen bleibt zwischen sozialem Wohnungsbau und neuen Technologien auf der Strecke. Doch die architektonischen Visionen sind noch nicht ganz verschwunden.

The objective of the paper is an analysis of the temporal patterns of digitalization. Looking at a specific field, the built environment, and a specific architectural typology, libraries, we ask what has changed in library architecture after 1995 and what types of patterns of progression are evident in this context. Up close, digitalization exhibits more nuanced changes than the catch-all-term suggests. We propose three phases of digitalization: (1) a phase revolving around infinite expansion (1995-2005), (2) a phase revolving around unlimited access (2005-2015), and (3) a phase concerned with encompassing comfort (after 2015). With regard to these refiguration processes, we identify both trajectories, turning points and cyclical patterns. Our study highlights the importance of empirical studies and time-sensitive social research in the context of studies on the digital age.