Abstract
Two main points are made in this paper about the use of metaphors in sociology. The first is that metaphors have a strong heuristic or suggestive power that can also be increased. The second is that metaphors can lead you wrong; but there exist some easy ways of proceeding to prevent this. In both cases the paper emphasizes the practical dimension of working with metaphors. The following topics are discussed as well: how to construct a new sociological metaphor; how to add to an existing one; and what exactly happens when you are led astray by a metaphor. By way of background, the paper introduces the reader to the current state of the discussion of metaphors which is interdisciplinary in nature. The ideas of I.A. Richards are singled out as being especially helpful to sociologists.
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Notes
For helpful comments and suggestions I especially thank Michela Betta. I am also grateful to Benjamin Cornwell, Michael Lynch, Lambros Roumbanis, Peter Sohlberg and Lars Udehn. For support I thank the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin and the Stockholm Center for Organizational Research (SCORE).
For exceptions, see e.g. Turner and Edgley 1980, Rigney 2001. There also exist a few articles on the role of specific metaphors as well as their role in various sub-areas of sociology, such as organization theory, the sociology of religion, and so on (for the former, see e.g. Levine 1995, Silber 1995; and for the latter, e.g. Cornelissen 2005, Morgan 2006, Liljegren 2012, McKinnon 2012, Örtenblad et al. 2016). For a study of the use of human ecology as a master metaphor in sociology, see e.g. Gaziano 1996; for networks as a metaphor, see e.g. Erickson 2012; and for the use in sociology of metaphors from chemistry, see e.g. Sousa Fernandes 2008.
Aristotle’s best-known statement on the metaphor reads: “Metaphor consists in giving the thing a name that belongs to something else; the transference being either from genus to species, or from species to genus, or from species to species, or on grounds of analogy” (Poetics 1457b 6–9). Aristotle’s main passages on the metaphor can be found in Poetics (1457b 1–30) and Rhetoric (1404b, 1406b, 1410b; Aristotle 1926, 1995). For a discussion of Aristotle’s view of the metaphor, see e.g. Arendt 1978:98–110, Levin 1982, Kirby 1997.
In dictionary definitions of the metaphor it is sometimes said that a metaphor can be described as an analogy or likeness. This is, for example, the case with the definition from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary that was earlier cited. What is meant here is in both cases identity. The words “like” and “analogy” can in everyday language mean both “just as” and “in some respects similar to.”
To illustrate what he means by a conceptual metaphor, George Lakoff asks the following question (which he answers with “yes”): “Do we use inference patterns from one conceptual domain to reason about another conceptual domain?” (Lakoff and Johnson 2003:246).
A mention should at this point also be made of IARPA’s ambitious Metaphor Program (2011-), which represents an attempt to reconstruct the way that people think by studying the metaphors they use (e.g. Madrigal 2011). The theoretical foundation for this program comes from Lakoff’s theory of conceptual metaphors, used in combination with a big data approach. So far it would seem that little progress has been made in this project (e.g. Albro 2018).
According to Charles Sanders Peirce, a concept is characterized by a certain degree of rationality that e.g. the metaphor lacks (e.g. Peirce 1998:273–74, 332). A metaphor is on the other hand more open for creativity (e.g. Anderson 1984). It should also be pointed out that what is discussed in the text about a metaphor becoming a concept should not be confused with what is known in the cognitive science literature as a conceptual metaphor. The latter term, as mentioned earlier, refers to the fact that metaphors are viewed as being part of thought, not just language.
For Fig. 1, see the end of the paper.
The definitive study of Durkheim and metaphors still remains to be written, despite several articles on the topic (e.g. Hirst 1973; Filloux 1979; Hejl 1995; Levine 1995; McKinnon 2001; Sousa Fernandes 2008). Durkheim used metaphors with great skill for expressive reasons, as when he e.g. analyzed the causes of suicide and used expressions such as “the disease of the infinite” and “currents of collective sadness” (Durkheim 1951:287, 365). Much more questionable are his many close parallels between society and an organism. “The body social” can be “sick”, and so on (Durkheim 1984: lv). The same goes for his personification of society. A society “thinks, feels, wishes”; it has “collective consciousness” (e.g. Durkheim 1974:26; Durkheim 1968: xlix; Durkheim 1984).
In discussions about the nature of the metaphor, the metaphor f is typically given in the following form: “[a noun] is [another noun]”, as in “Juliet is the sun”. Metaphors, however, also come in several other forms, for example as “[adjective, noun]”, as in “social structure” or a “lonely crowd”. I have found no discussion of this issue in the literature on metaphors, which possibly signifies that these other ways of using a metaphor should be analyzed in an analogous manner. This would mean that the logic in analyzing these other cases is the same. A lonely crowd would, from this perspective, be analyzed like this: crowd (meaning many people together) = lonely (meaning people not being together). This would again be a case where A = B and A ≠ B.
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Appendix 1. Terminology
Appendix 1. Terminology
Metaphor Itself.
The full metaphorical expression, stating an identity between the primary and the secondary subject.
Ex. “Juliet is the sun”.
Primary Subject.
The item which is equated with the secondary subject in the metaphor itself, and whose meaning is expanded through the metaphor.
Ex. Juliet in “Juliet is the sun”.
Secondary Subject.
The item which is equated with the primary subject in the metaphor itself.
Ex. The sun in “Juliet is the sun”.
Residual Meaning.
One of the non-literal meanings of the metaphor itself.
Ex. Juliet lights up the world of Romeo.
Semantic Distance.
The difference between the meaning of the primary subject and the secondary subject. These two are identical in the metaphor itself, but their meanings are widely apart.
Ex. Juliet is a young woman; the sun is a star.
Substitution Meaning.
The metaphor itself has a basic meaning which differs from its literal meaning and is approximative.
Ex. “Juliet is the sun” means approximately that Juliet provides life and warmth to Romeo. Other, similar meanings exist, so-called residual meanings.
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Swedberg, R. Using Metaphors in Sociology: Pitfalls and Potentials. Am Soc 51, 240–257 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12108-020-09443-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12108-020-09443-3