“The Laborious Sovereign” by Axel Honneth, democracy at work – Libération

Theoretician of the concept of “recognition”, the German philosopher and sociologist Axel Honneth, member of the Frankfurt School, problematizes in his latest book the links between the organization of social work, subject to strong changes, and the democratic life of our societies.

If on a building site the masons are demanding a pay rise, an extension of the lunch break or the securing of scaffolding, the head of the company knows what to expect and whether or not to meet the demands. He would be more embarrassed if he were faced with a diffuse anger by which they were demanding to be treated with dignity, more considered and respected. This difficulty in grasping, in social conflicts, the importance of morally justified demands has been what has entangled (and entangles) the entire political class, if not the unions themselves (see the yellow vests). However, philosophy and the social sciences have long since highlighted the dangers of this ignorance, paid for at the price of the violence of the mobilizations. Just one example: the work of the sociologist and philosopher Axel Honneth (What social means, Critique of power, The Society of contempt, A world of heartbreak, The Right to freedom…), who placed the concept of «reconnaissance»indicating that the least privileged actors in society certainly suffer from having neither goods nor power – but perhaps above all from not being recognized in what they are and do, of being ignored, humiliated.

The Essen theorist publishes today the hardworking sovereigna “normative theory