Economy, Culture, and Normativity: The Debate Regarding Social Theory between Nancy Fraser and Axel Honneth

Abstract

While Honneth develops a theory of recognition according to which the development of capitalism and social institutions is the result of communication processes in which social conflicts take part actively, Fraser develops a dual theoretical model in which economic inequalities have part of their roots in systemic mechanisms that function relatively autonomously and are, therefore, independent of norms and social conflicts. Though both share the understanding that social conflicts are bound up to social norms, only Honneth aims at linking economy with the developments of these same social conflicts and norms. This paper intends to make it explicit in the work of Fraser and Honneth the relation established between social confl icts and the economy, seeking to understand the infl uence of social norms in society’s process of material reproduction