Utilizing the work of Georges Bataille, the dissertation seeks to broaden the sociological concep... more Utilizing the work of Georges Bataille, the dissertation seeks to broaden the sociological concept of edgework, emphasizing its limitations regarding transgressive and ‘excessive’ forms of risk-taking. Edgework is a sociological model that seeks to understand the various reasons why groups and individuals in Western culture voluntarily risk their lives, their sanity and general well-being. Unlike psychological models of risk taking that focus on personality disorders, or on addiction to adrenaline, the sociology of edgework emphasizes the intersection between intense bodily experience and the social conditions leading some toward high risk activities. In his seminal writings, Stephen Lyng conceives of edgework in its archetypal sense as the skillful negotiation of the boundary between life and death. What makes edgework so addictive for individuals, according to Lyng, is its experiential nature as an embodied quest for transcendence. Examples of edgework include skydiving, mountain climbing, and other extreme sports, as well as various forms of crime. In these activities, other boundaries or “edges” are also at play: sanity/insanity, licit/illicit, and dangerous/safe. vii This thesis argues that, while useful, the edgework model fails to address the existential experience not only of risk, but also of transgression and of the moral elements implicated in radical types of risks associated with expressing ‘forbidden’ or socially unacceptable desires. The realm of eroticism, the sexual, including BDSM and other "heterogeneous" or socially impure elements of life, is absent from the sociological model of edgework. The writings of Bataille, which focus on the transformative possibilities of transgression and on concepts such as “inner experience” and “sovereignty,” supply these missing elements. Bataille’s argument is illustrated by reference to the author’s personal experiences as well as examples from historical, literary, and cross-cultural accounts of transgressive acts and orientations. In sum, by including literary, ethnographic, and autobiographical accounts in tandem with Bataille’s theories, the thesis argues for extending the edgework concept to include the existential qualities of intense and transgressive experiences; it also criticizes the edgework model for not adequately addressing the potentially transformative personal, social and political consequences of transgressive acts of moral rupture.
Utilizing the work of Georges Bataille, the dissertation seeks to broaden the sociological concep... more Utilizing the work of Georges Bataille, the dissertation seeks to broaden the sociological concept of edgework, emphasizing its limitations regarding transgressive and ‘excessive’ forms of risk-taking. Edgework is a sociological model that seeks to understand the various reasons why groups and individuals in Western culture voluntarily risk their lives, their sanity and general well-being. Unlike psychological models of risk taking that focus on personality disorders, or on addiction to adrenaline, the sociology of edgework emphasizes the intersection between intense bodily experience and the social conditions leading some toward high risk activities. In his seminal writings, Stephen Lyng conceives of edgework in its archetypal sense as the skillful negotiation of the boundary between life and death. What makes edgework so addictive for individuals, according to Lyng, is its experiential nature as an embodied quest for transcendence. Examples of edgework include skydiving, mountain climbing, and other extreme sports, as well as various forms of crime. In these activities, other boundaries or “edges” are also at play: sanity/insanity, licit/illicit, and dangerous/safe. vii This thesis argues that, while useful, the edgework model fails to address the existential experience not only of risk, but also of transgression and of the moral elements implicated in radical types of risks associated with expressing ‘forbidden’ or socially unacceptable desires. The realm of eroticism, the sexual, including BDSM and other "heterogeneous" or socially impure elements of life, is absent from the sociological model of edgework. The writings of Bataille, which focus on the transformative possibilities of transgression and on concepts such as “inner experience” and “sovereignty,” supply these missing elements. Bataille’s argument is illustrated by reference to the author’s personal experiences as well as examples from historical, literary, and cross-cultural accounts of transgressive acts and orientations. In sum, by including literary, ethnographic, and autobiographical accounts in tandem with Bataille’s theories, the thesis argues for extending the edgework concept to include the existential qualities of intense and transgressive experiences; it also criticizes the edgework model for not adequately addressing the potentially transformative personal, social and political consequences of transgressive acts of moral rupture.
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Papers by Scott Merrill
vii
This thesis argues that, while useful, the edgework model fails to address the existential experience not only of risk, but also of transgression and of the moral elements implicated in radical types of risks associated with expressing ‘forbidden’ or socially unacceptable desires. The realm of eroticism, the sexual, including BDSM and other "heterogeneous" or socially impure elements of life, is absent from the sociological model of edgework. The writings of Bataille, which focus on the transformative possibilities of transgression and on concepts such as “inner experience” and “sovereignty,” supply these missing elements. Bataille’s argument is illustrated by reference to the author’s personal experiences as well as examples from historical, literary, and cross-cultural accounts of transgressive acts and orientations. In sum, by including literary, ethnographic, and autobiographical accounts in tandem with Bataille’s theories, the thesis argues for extending the edgework concept to include the existential qualities of intense and transgressive experiences; it also criticizes the edgework model for not adequately addressing the potentially transformative personal, social and political consequences of transgressive acts of moral rupture.
vii
This thesis argues that, while useful, the edgework model fails to address the existential experience not only of risk, but also of transgression and of the moral elements implicated in radical types of risks associated with expressing ‘forbidden’ or socially unacceptable desires. The realm of eroticism, the sexual, including BDSM and other "heterogeneous" or socially impure elements of life, is absent from the sociological model of edgework. The writings of Bataille, which focus on the transformative possibilities of transgression and on concepts such as “inner experience” and “sovereignty,” supply these missing elements. Bataille’s argument is illustrated by reference to the author’s personal experiences as well as examples from historical, literary, and cross-cultural accounts of transgressive acts and orientations. In sum, by including literary, ethnographic, and autobiographical accounts in tandem with Bataille’s theories, the thesis argues for extending the edgework concept to include the existential qualities of intense and transgressive experiences; it also criticizes the edgework model for not adequately addressing the potentially transformative personal, social and political consequences of transgressive acts of moral rupture.