Original scientific paper
The Temporal Dimension of Social Esteem Within the Life Course
Gottfried Schweiger
orcid.org/0000-0001-5456-6358
; Universität Salzburg, Zentrum für Ethik und Armutsforschung, Salzburg, Austria
Abstract
Axel Honneth has highlighted the importance and role of mutual recognition for the development and sustainability of personal identity. His theory to reconstruct society as the institutionalization of different forms and modes of recognition has been widely discussed but one specific aspect has been left out so far: the temporal and institutional dimension of social esteem. In this paper I argue that social esteem is not simply earned for societal valuable features and achievements but rather gained within the framework of a certain life course. The social sciences discuss this as the institutionalization of life courses which is accompanied with certain social security systems to match the demands of the fordistic organization of labour. Social esteem is not randomly tied to work and labour but rather through a set of institutions as education, employment, social security and pension systems, that on the one hand sanction deviance and on the other hand provide security to pursue a good life. The institutionalized life course allows the individual to plan its future and provides her with a reference point for its legitimate claims. Overall, this provides further insights into the meaning of social esteem and its institutionalization in a modern working society without which the critical function and aim of social philosophy can not be fulfilled. For a social theory of recognition it is necessary to fill its words and concepts with the life the social sciences describe.
Keywords
Honneth; life course; recognition; social esteem; welfare state; work and labour
Hrčak ID:
74464
URI
Publication date:
30.11.2011.
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