Social Abstractionism: Abstract Objects, Abstract Space, Sociological Potentialities

Abstract

Arthur Schopenhauer once stated, "we human beings always lead a second, abstract life alongside our concrete life”. When we separate life into that which is concrete and that which is abstract, abstract being that which has no concrete existence, we find that most social life is lived out via the abstract. With the intent of making a founding contribution to a new mode of sociological thought based on this notion, this purely theoretical thesis will explore the possibilities of social abstractionism. Social abstractionist principles will be outlined and demonstrated through utilising two concepts loosely based on Platonist philosophy and the work of Henri Lefebvre: abstract objects and abstract space, respectively. Regarding Platonism, I adopt and adjust the concept of abstract objects. In Platonist thinking, abstract objects have no spatiotemporality, are indestructible, and cannot be changed. Social abstractionism demonstrates that socially produced abstract objects are, in fact, spatial, temporal, malleable, destructible, and fictional. Furthermore, I refashion Henri Lefebvre’s concept of abstract space through a social abstractionist lens to show how abstract objects produced socially dominate abstract spaces. Both concepts, as foundational principles of social abstractionism, are then utilised to demonstrate a hierarchised abstract world through levels of abstract objects which I term the ‘Echelons of
Abstracta’ referring to the notion of each echelon being evermore socially exclusive. As many abstract objects are bureaucratic in nature, I theorise that these abstract objects, whilst not only dominating their own abstract space, also create abstract spaces for the individual which I term interstices. In turn, these interstices create a state of interstitiality through which our lives are imprisoned under a false consciousness of reified abstract objects; an objectively abstract fictional reality. Consequentially, interstitiality induces liminality, our experience of navigating abstract barriers and borders of the interstice. I see social abstractionist principles as contributing towards a mode of thinking capable of both reformulating existing foci of sociology across all areas, and as having significant potential to uncover many new areas of knowledge across the interdisciplinary landscape.