**9. References**


<sup>19</sup> The difficulty to communicate with non humans, according to Isabelle Stengers, offers many advantages from the point of view of the organization of democratic consultations. In fact, it seems more difficult to survey humans than non humans. According to Stengers, humans are known to be inconsistent and versatile, making it harder to build a steady representation of them. This can be observed by considering the numerous philosophical, political and anthropological considerations on the creation of the democratic state and representation of the people. According to this view, technical Democracy presents two main difficulties, representing 'humans' and 'non humans'.


Gorz André, *Écologie et politique*, Paris, Galilée, 1975.

52 Sociological Landscape – Theories, Realities and Trends

Democracy, and about technical Democracy (Callon, Lascoumes and Barthe, 2001). This experience shows how much a consultation can be achieved along with "non humans". It testifies that we can negociate with "non humans"19. It also testifies to the role of science in

From this point of view, political and scientific institutions have a common goal, to participate in the representation of collectives in the public space. Both these institutions explore different forms of representation. Hence, they are precious resources for the formation of collectives. Nevertheless, they are not organized around a separation of nature and culture, a structure that usually gives the final word of truth to science, but around the entities they represent. Their alliance can be qualified as equalitarian. This it justifies the new collaboration between science and politics for the construction of the new democratic

When dealing with the ecological question, modern dualism has repeatedly been the target of critical attacks, whether from hermeneutic and comparative perspectives or from supporters of political ecology and environmental ethics. However, this critical point of view should be questioned as well in regard to the adoption of an ecological perspective.

First, the difficulty to think beyond the modern dichotomy remains. In fact, the theoretical propositions dedicated to the ecological question we have analysed (environmental ethics and ecological policy) both seem to value one of the terms over the other instead of finally considering them as a unity. Secondly, both theories seem to move away from a fundamentally renewed political project, although for different reasons. They both address the ecological issues without a radical questioning. Looking at these two theoretical issues should allow us to better understand Latour's work, whose efforts aim at transforming the theoretical apparatus of modernity without depleting it from modern sciences. Finally, Latour's work should be understood as an attempt to bring back political action in the

Callon Michel, Lascoumes Pierre, Barthes Yannick, *Agir dans un monde incertain. Essai sur la* 

Charles, Lionel *et al*., *Rapport final. Protection de la nature, territoires et développement durable.* 

19 The difficulty to communicate with non humans, according to Isabelle Stengers, offers many advantages from the point of view of the organization of democratic consultations. In fact, it seems more difficult to survey humans than non humans. According to Stengers, humans are known to be inconsistent and versatile, making it harder to build a steady representation of them. This can be observed by considering the numerous philosophical, political and anthropological considerations on the creation of the democratic state and representation of the people. According to this view, technical

Democracy presents two main difficulties, representing 'humans' and 'non humans'.

*Les usages sociaux du développement durable dans les contextes locaux : le cas des parcs nationaux, des Parcs naturels régionaux, des réserves naturelles et du conservatoire de l'espace littoral et des rivages lacustres (CERL). Entre rhétoriques et pratiques*, Fractal,

the processes of representation. Science is therefore political by extension.

state as proposed by Latour.

construction of the common world.

*démocratie technique*, Paris, Seuil, 2001.

**8. Conclusion** 

**9. References** 

2008.


**4** 

Risto Kangas

*Finland* 

*University of Helsinki,* 

**Contingency Theoretical Functionalism and the** 

The approximately 150-year-old functionalistic way of thinking has always had a very dizzy position in sociology. On the one hand, since the birth of the discipline, functionalism has been an essential part of sociological thinking. This holds true especially for the analysis of macro level phenomena, including society as a whole with its structural characteristics and developmental tendencies. On the other hand since the birth of the discipline, functionalism has also been a target of harsh criticism, a kind of mirror against which other theoretical traditions have formulated their specific viewpoints and sharpened their theoretical arsenals. One reason for the criticism has been a specific characteristic of functionalistic theories, namely, that since Comte's theorizing, biology-based evolutionary and physiological analogies and thought structures have been an important factor in these theories. This is still a case, as demonstrated by the functionalistic theories from Talcott Parsons (Henderson, 1928:17), blood circulation and its stabilizing mechanisms) to Niklas Luhmann (Varela and Maturana (1980), self-organizing systems), which search their inspiration partly from biological theories. In addition, most of the discussion concerning functional analysis as a method has been going on in the 'interfaces' of biology and

The stubbornness of functionalism partly relates to the birth of sociology as a discipline. From the middle of the 19th century onwards, the new discipline tried to justify its independency by showing that its object of research – society – was a distinctive object on its own. The founding fathers of the discipline, above all Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer and Emile Durkheim, conceptualized society as analogous with the biological organism as a whole differentiated in parts, with each specialized part taking care of its specific task so that together they comprised a functioning unity. According to their views, neither the relationships between the different institutions of society nor the dynamics of change in the whole were reducible to the goal–directed actions and intentions of individuals, nor could they be explained on the grounds of their biological constitution with its specific traits. They operated according to their own laws, which also made it necessary to develop distinct theoretical models and research methods specific to society as a functioning unity (Heilbron, 1995:270-71; Kangas, 2006:24,252). In addition, the meaning of these new models and methods was not only theoretical but also practical. They were related to the social mission of the new discipline. Firstly, to demonstrate that there is, after all, order in the world,

**1. Introduction** 

sociology (see, for example, Ariew, et al., 2002).

**Problem of Functional Differentiation** 

Stengers Isabelle, *Cosmopolitiques. Tome 1 : La guerre des sciences. Tome 7 : Pour en finir avec la tolérance*, Paris : La Découverte, 1996-1997.

Stengers Isabelle, *L'invention des Sciences modernes*, Paris : La découverte, 1993.
