The article discusses the narrative turn as a key for the analysis of sociological/social theories. To that end, we present (as a sort of “case study”) some preliminary results of an inquiry around the theories of modernization put forward by the Italian-Argentine sociologist Gino Germani. We look into the narrative of transition, its paradoxes and a counter narrative found in some of his works. From this point we draw some conclusions about the limits of the "narrative turn" as a perspective for social theory analysis and display, as an alternative, Foucault's perspective of re-problematization. We primarily look into the danger of homogenization that the “narrative turn” entails, in spite of the heterogeneity of elements which, as we shall argue, form the modernization theory found in Germani. In this sense, towards the end, the article seeks to contribute to a reflection on the work with theoretical texts and proposes an approach able to observe the historical and material singularities involved in his production.
Keywords:
metanarrative, narrative of transition, problematization, meaning process, sociological theory
Grondona, A. (2016). The narrative turn and the place of discourse heterogeneity in the analysis of sociological theories. The case of Gino Germani’s modernisation theory. Cinta De Moebio. Revista De Epistemología De Ciencias Sociales, (56). Retrieved from https://revistaderechoambiental.uchile.cl/index.php/CDM/article/view/41692
