Towards a 'MacIntyrean Turn' in Sociology: A Case-Study in Syncretic Disciplinary Development

As a discipline born out of the intertwining of traditions of philosophy, political economy, history, and more, sociology has always been an interdisciplinary area of academic research. Despite this, there is a particular interlocutor who is under-explored in contemporary sociology: Alasdair MacIntyre. While a few have asked what MacIntyre might offer sociology, this has been far from a dialogue between MacIntyre and contemporary sociology. This work will catalyze such a process, aiming at the development of a ‘MacIntyrean Sociology.’ To achieve this, this work lays out the dialogical approach it seeks to deploy (Ch 1), deeply engaging in the explication of many of MacIntyre’s core theoretical developments throughout his career (Ch 2), and then traces the connection between MacIntyre’s ideas and his personal and academic development to some of the foundational theorists in sociology – especially Marx and Weber. Starting with his Hegelian foundations, Marx’s theoretical development is followed into MacIntyre’s work, and the continuing influence of Marx is explicated (Ch 3, 4). Likewise, tracing the Nietzschean roots in Weber, we see the influence of each on MacIntyre’s work (Ch 5, 6). The work concludes by deploying this broad range of theoretical grounding by taking up the case-study of ‘public sociology’ using the work of Pierre Bourdieu as an ideal-typical case-study in this regard (Ch 7) and asking the question of how a deployment of a more ‘MacIntyrean’ sociology might help overcome some of the challenges in this contemporary disciplinary development (Ch 8).