Réfractaires et irrécupérables. Penser la résistance à l’incorporation sociale
In Thomas Hobbes’ political writings we encounter a remarkable figure who tests the limits of the political and social system by contravening the natural law of compliance. This law ensures the viability of interaction and the stability of the social bond. This figure, a refractory rebel inspired by...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | fra |
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ENS Éditions
2019-12-01
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| Series: | Tracés |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/traces/10165 |
| Summary: | In Thomas Hobbes’ political writings we encounter a remarkable figure who tests the limits of the political and social system by contravening the natural law of compliance. This law ensures the viability of interaction and the stability of the social bond. This figure, a refractory rebel inspired by the biblical parable of the refractory stone which becomes a cornerstone, embodies the impossible unification of society. Whereas the Bible transcends the incapacity of the refractory stone to fit into the social edifice, Hobbes recommends that refractory rebels be considered beyond redemption and treated as outcasts from society. But this rejection seems unrealistic: every society must compromise with this remnant of social incorporation which constantly threatens its stability. Accompanying the upheavals of the social and political system, the word réfractaire was, in the nineteenth century, both claimed by those who refused to accept an unfair and oppressive social order, and also used to preclude those considered incorrigible, the enemies of a society under threat from within. In the context of the pauperisation which resulted from the second industrial revolution, the réfractaires, far from being an exception, seemed to become a larger category, including all those who lost out in commerce, which undermined the unity of society, as Hegel explains in his Elements of the Philosophy of Right. Jules Vallès’ collection of portraits, Les Réfractaires, presents those elusive figures whose resistance to social incorporation was a way of life. Beyond these multiple instances, the physical property of a refractory body implies an analogy between a material quality and human conduct which constitutes an obstacle to metabolism. Refractory materials which cannot be assimilated impede movement and threaten the viability of societies and of the individuals themselves. They suggest the possibility of a continuity between political, social and environmental issues. Asbestos, its characteristics, and its effects on workers’ bodies and on the solidarity and cohesion of the social fabric is a good illustration: the scandal caused by the deliberate exposure of workers to this toxic, combustion-resistant material attests to the resistance bodies can mount against the malleability required by the profit motive. |
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| ISSN: | 1763-0061 1963-1812 |