The processes of reclassification between domination and emancipation

Abstract

This article addresses the dynamic and multidimensional character of practical reclassification processes. By emphasizing its temporal and historical side, every classification turns out to be a reclassification of itself or of other classifications: there is no way to classify in an ahistorical void. In that context, two key orientations of these processes are pointed out: an oppressive one, linked to the production, reproduction, defense and expansion of different forms of domination; and an emancipatory one, related to the extension of the life possibilities of those who are dominated, exploited and subalternized. Thus, three dimensions of each of these orientations are deployed: regarding oppressive reclassifications, sharp cleavages, violence and standardization; regarding emancipatory ones, interconnection, radicality and reflexivity. Although they can be studied separately, it is necessary to establish a comprehensive outlook that understands how they configure and reconfigure each other in a given epochal framework. Likewise, it is considered fundamental to highlight that sociology and other social sciences and humanities can also intervene with their own reclassifications in the two orientations of these processes, particularly, in the reflexive dimension of emancipatory reclassifications, both through studies on global contemporaneity and through theoretical-analytical perspectives focused on the dynamics of reclassification itself.