<em>Unheimlichkeit</em>: Alienated and Integrated Identities and Criminal Existence(s)

• Main Author: Anthony Amatrudo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law 2015-09-01
• Series: Oñati Socio-Legal Series
• Subjects: Heidegger; Alienation; Durkheim; Existentialism: Heidegger; alienación; existencialismo
• Online Access: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2624580

<p>This essay argues that we should reinterpret Merton&rsquo;s retreatist category by using Heidegger&rsquo;s notion of <em>unheimlichkeit </em>(uncanniness) which relates to the claim that our consciousness and sense-making are grounded in our own openness to finitude. It will also make use of Heidegger&rsquo;s concept of <em>Dasein </em>which relates to the uncovering of a primal nature of Being (<em>Sein</em>). When we do this we note how the existential potential of this category are at once released from the bonds of an overly objectivised Sociology and open to the possibility of a richer understanding of action and motivation within this class of persons. It argues that we should make Durkheim compatible with Marx. This is if one allows that the empirical basis for Durkheim&rsquo;s &lsquo;social condition&rsquo; is as set out by Marx. Durkheim was preoccupied by the micro-level of analysis and Marx with wider economic conditions of the nineteenth century. Merton was tied up with detailing the America of his day and with individualized goal-setting and means-ends rationality. By employing the concept of unheimlichkeit in relation to Merton&rsquo;s work we open up a new form of explanation able to understand the psychic and existential striving for meaning, that Heidegger terms <em>Dasein</em>.</p> <hr /><p>Este ensayo defiende que debemos reinterpretar la categor&iacute;a retra&iacute;da de Merton utilizando la noci&oacute;n de <em>unheimlichkeit </em>(extra&ntilde;eza) de Heidegger, que se refiere a la exigencia de que nuestra consciencia y toma de decisiones se basan en nuestra aceptaci&oacute;n de la finitud. Tambi&eacute;n emplea el concepto de Heidegger del <em>Dasein </em>que se refiere al descubrimiento de una naturaleza primigenia del ser (<em>Sein</em>). Al hacer esto se observa c&oacute;mo el potencial existencial de esta categor&iacute;a se libera de las ataduras de una sociolog&iacute;a excesivamente objetivizada, y se abre a la posibilidad de un entendimiento m&aacute;s rico de la acci&oacute;n y motivaci&oacute;n entre este tipo de personas. Se defiende que deber&iacute;amos hacer que Durkheim sea compatible con Marx. Esto ocurrir&iacute;a si se permitiera que la base emp&iacute;rica de la &ldquo;condici&oacute;n social&rdquo; de Durkheim fuera como presentada por Marx. Durkheim estaba preocupado por un an&aacute;lisis micro-nivel y Marx con las condiciones econ&oacute;micas, m&aacute;s amplias, del siglo XIX. Merton estaba comprometido con describir la Am&eacute;rica de su &eacute;poca, y con establecer metas individualizadas, y racionalidad de medios y fines. Al emplear el concepto de unheimlichkeit en relaci&oacute;n con el trabajo de Merton, se abre una nueva forma de explicaci&oacute;n capaz de comprender el esfuerzo de comprensi&oacute;n ps&iacute;quico y existencial que Heidegger denomina <em>Dasein</em>.</p> <p><strong>DOWNLOAD THIS PAPER FROM SSRN</strong>: <a href="http://ssrn.com/abstract=2624580" target="_blank">http://ssrn.com/abstract=2624580 </a></p>