Creativity and professional identity
This research debates on the interfaces of creativity in the worlds of work, highlighting the industrial designer figure and the consequences - professional, physical, identity and/or social -, for those professional, of attach themselves to a volatile concept as "creativity" to define their carrier and personalities. Several theories about what is creativity and how to exploit it have been elaborated over a long time in the Occident: divine vocation, geniality, work flow, social construct etc. On Sociology, however, it’s treated as a residual category, existing as an ideal, but without an objective definition. The dispute for the domain of the word “creativity” meaning can be neatly observed, similarly as can be observed with the concept of design. Based on interviews with industrial designers employed by a home appliances multinational corporation (leading global player of its sector), makes clear how important and present these theme is on the daily basis. The concept of creativity unveils a dubious and precarious situation. By one hand, being the element that provides identity to several sectors of society, and by the other, it hides the deep consequences of a social stratification behind its innocent playfulness.
Max Weber and Sociology of Emotions
The systematic analysis of the work of Max Weber, in order to construct a lexicon and a theoretical basis for the study of emotions from a Weberian theoretical perspective. This project is born by the combination of two factors, the first is my interest as a researcher for the theme of the sociology of emotions - a subfield of the rapidly expanding sociology. The second is my elective affinity with the writings of Max Weber, a classic author of sociology who in his career has addressed various themes, both directly and transversely. The very definition of "classical author", as Jeffery Alexander asserts, is a construct built not, at least primarily, by pioneering, but rather by the possibility that the theories of the so-called "classics" would respond in an acceptable manner to our contemporary questions. The real intent of this project is to answer this question: how far can Weberian theory help us to comprehend the role of emotions in social actions?
The relationship between Eros and the scientific practice
As Max Weber once worte: "The rejection of all naive surrender to the most intensive ways of experiencing existence, artistic and erotical, is as such only a negative attitude. But it is obvious that such rejection could increase the force with which energies flow into rational achievement, both the ethical as well as the purely intellectual". In its raw state maybe, the emotions can escape the sociological scope, but observing that Freud and even Weber considers affections as a way of socializing impulses and desires, the context is extended. More than made social, suppose that such drives are “domesticated” by the social. This Project has as intent raise light on the turbulent waters that surround our imaginary ivory tower: opposing concepts such Eros, affections and desires to the myths of objective science and scientist as a rational being.
The role of conflict in social theory
A recurring topic in political and social theory as a whole is the role of conflict. Living in the extreme, between the sacred and the profane, various interpretations for the theme have already been presented. The aim of this research project is to present some of the interpretations that highlight the not only positive but also essential character of the conflict for political theory: as the main condition of freedom, as well as a founding and inseparable element of politics. This will be done by constructing an argument from the main authors of social and political theory, including Machiavelli, Nietzsche, Max Weber, Kal Max, Emile Durkheim, Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, and others.