ABSTRACT
Durkheimian Tradition Introduction This chapter takes the critical debate surrounding Meštrović and Maffesoli’s work one stage further, when arguing that their accounts of the postmodern condition do not refute so much as consolidate Baudrillard’s (1983a) thesis on the ‘end’ of the social. This situation arises because Meštrović and Maffesoli do not have a comprehensive grasp of how the emotional component links Durkheim’s theorising on religion and morality with his understanding of the social. Not only does this partial reading strike a blow at the heart of Meštrović and Maffesoli’s own claim to having offered an authentic defence of the Durkheimian tradition, it also adds to the inherent difficulties which beset those who try and document the nature of the postmodern condition, itself.
