the Origins and Continuity of Human Rights Policies

Abstract

Can the 'human rights' be considered the 'last utopia' of our epoch? Do they have nothing in common with the 'Rights of Man' of the eighteenth century, or is there a continuity between the first and the latter? This chapter aims to shed light on these theoretical and political or even philosophical questions from a historical-sociological standpoint. Sociology has long displayed a certain scepticism regarding human rights. The chapter reviews some works in contemporary sociology nonetheless devoted to human rights. Then it explores the path opened up by the long-term approach of Norbert Elias. For him, in an era of globalised interdependencies, the development of human rights constitutes an indicator of the construction of a political community on the scale of humanity, yet this process is fragile. More broadly, the claims related to these rights reveal both certain continuity and profound transformations since the eighteenth century, which are also related to the transformation of the role played by the state.

Notes

1.
The thesis developed by Moyn provoked a controversy which is not unrelated to the success his book met (see e.g. Alston 2013). For Moyn, human rights constitute the 'last utopia' of our epoch, according to which the norms of human rights and their observance would ensure a better life for all. For lack of space and because it is not the object of our discussion, we will not develop here the different ways in which Moyn, on the one hand, and Elias , on the other, apprehend or define 'ideology' and 'utopia'. We will content ourselves with underlining the obvious: the utopia takes on a strong derogatory meaning for Moyn. It is less obvious with Elias. Utopia and ideology are both reality-incongruent ways of thinking, but Elias reserves most of his criticisms for the latter, even if he is relatively little interested in the content of political ideologies, and more in the obstacle than an ideological way of thinking represents for the development of a reality-congruent, sociological, knowledge. It should also be noted that Elias does not seem to associate human rights with either an ideology or a utopia.

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Authors and Affiliations

Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium

Ludivine Damay
Fund for Scientific Research (F.R.S.-FNRS), Brussels, Belgium

Florence Delmotte
Université Saint-Louis – Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium

Florence Delmotte

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Correspondence to Florence Delmotte .

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Editors and Affiliations

Fund for Scientific Research (F.R.S.-FNRS), Brussels, Belgium

Florence Delmotte
School of Sociology, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Barbara Górnicka

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Damay, L., Delmotte, F. (2021). Transformations of Human Rights Within Ruptures and Continuity: A Historico-Sociological Approach. In: Delmotte, F., Górnicka, B. (eds) Norbert Elias in Troubled Times. Palgrave Studies on Norbert Elias. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74993-4_5

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74993-4_5
Published: 03 August 2021
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