ERUA TALK: Laboratories of the Social: Socialism and Social Science in the 19th century

The talk explores the shared genealogy of socialism and the social sciences in the 19th century. It argues that Charles Fourier’s early socialist thought present an organisational alternative to state socialism that was fully realized in cooperativism at the end of the 19th century. Using concepts taken from the laboratory studies, it investigates cooperative practices as forms of ‘applied social science’ thus questioning the nexus between theory and praxis. It suggests a historical understanding of the social sciences as laboratory practices.

The ERUA TALK is organized by the research group “Re-imagining higher education” (WP 2).
The session is based on a precirculated research paper and chaired by Kasper Risbjerg Eskildsen, Roskilde University in cooperation with the Science Studies Seminar, University of Roskilde.

The event will take place on campus. If you want to participate, please write an e-mail to erua@ruc.dk .