What Makes a Social Crisis?  


What Makes a Social Crisis?
Polity | November 4, 2019 | 180 pages
ISBN: 9781509538256

In this book, Jeffrey Alexander develops a new sociological theory of social crisis, which he calls societalization. He argues that crises are triggered not by objective social strains but by the discourse and institutions of the civil sphere. In the steady state, reactions to strains unfold within institutional boundaries, handled by organizational elites according to sphere-specific logics. Institutional boundaries can be breached only if there is code switching.