Multiculturalism and the Nation in Germany: A Study in Moral Conflict examines the new debates surrounding matters of multiculturalism, immigration, and national identity in Germany in the wake of the 2015 Refugee Crisis. Arguing that contemporary disputes are centered around four moral ideals, or ideal visions of the German community, it draws upon the thought of Émile Durkheim to identify the role of the sacred in political conflict. The book argues that at the heart of each moral ideal is a sacred object that legitimates specific policies and behaviors, and that attempts to realize moral ideals lead to conflicts involving free speech, German Memory Culture, inner-party rivalries, and political violence that go to the very essence of what it means to be German. The book includes a ground-breaking theoretical reworking of Durkheim’s sociology, which it applies to the study of power and politics, as well as to debates in political philosophy. This volume will appeal to scholars across disciplines with interests in political sociology, comparative politics, social and political theory, and questions of citizenship, national identity, and belonging.
Author(s): Paul Carls
Series: Routledge Studies in Political Sociology
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 214
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Author Biography
Epigraph
Acknowledgments
Acronyms
Introduction
Chapter 1 The Study of Moral Facts
Chapter 2 A Moral History of Postwar Germany
Chapter 3 The Moral Ideal of Constitutional Patriotism
Chapter 4 The German State’s Fight Against Hate Speech
Chapter 5 The Moral Ideal of Non-Domination: The Ideology of the Autonomen
Chapter 6 Violence and Solidarity: Autonomen Ritual Violence
Chapter 7 The Moral Ideal of the Nation: Between the Ethno-Cultural Nation and the Volksgemeinschaft
Chapter 8 The Takeover of the AfD by the Flügel
Chapter 9 Cultural Alienation: The Nation and the Loss of the Feeling of “Home”
Chapter 10 The Ritual Violence of the Far Right
Conclusion
Appendix: Note on Fieldwork and Observation
Bibliography
Index
