Transcending the transcendental: Towards a constructive critical sociology

This article calls for a rethinking of critical sociology. The popular Bourdieusian paradigm effectively highlighted how domination persists, but its negative foundation removes the voices of actors by privileging sociological knowledge as capable of identifying transcendental categories of thought. Latourian critical theory arose in opposition to this privileging, but underplayed the roles of domination and power dynamics, and thus critique. We propose a perspective that evades the transcendental perspective which relies on pure negation but allows critique; a more positive critical sociology. This alternative perspective is founded on processualist, phenomenological, pragmatic, and utopian perspectives, which levels the distinction between social scientists and social actors. Focusing on process, not privileged knowledge of transcendental truths, emphasizes actors’ own critical capacities: critical scholars do not dominate, but help actors build better worlds based on their own perspectives and pasts. Thus, critical sociology does not negate actors, reducing them to unconscious reifiers, but recognizes that people utilize their pasts to challenge power structures and create better futures based on their imaginations.