ABSTRACT
The use of abstractions to refer to social institutions helps to reinforce the “solidity” and “permanence” of those social institutions and to make them appropriate, discreet objects of study. The so-called dichotomy of agent/structure is a result of the choice of objective voice, which distances the social scientist from the population, as an object. The formulation of “society” as an object constitutes the social scientist as “objective” observer, a modern standpoint which is outside that object. Abstract, ahistorical social science enabled its practitioners to avoid moral questions like the “social problem.” The social recognition of each body, as a distinctive human person, is also necessary for that person’s capacity to speak, during one’s early lifetime as well as at the moment of appearance in public. Image can even be separated from the body on social media, the “virtual” world where self-promotion is feasible to raise status and career options, as well as opportunities for social relationships.
