To make oneself get sensitive to things: from a sociology of taste to a pragmatics of attachment
Mesurer nos attachements. Le goût comme expérimentation
Résumé
Sociology of culture has accustomed us to a critical understanding of taste. The enthusiast is supposed to feel a natural relationship to the things she likes: sociology shows that in fact this relationship is "socially constructed". So doing, critical sociology not only reveals hidden determinants of a so-called spontaneous and subjective inclination. It also changes an activity into a mere sign. To touch things, to be uncertain about what one feels exactly, to us techniques, tricks, procedures in order to make oneself get more sensitive to one’s beloved things, to feel oneself feeling… all those reflexive and uncertain moments of tasting are neglected, if not taken as illusive rites accomplished to make the enthusiast "believe" into her objects of attachment.
A pragmatic and reflexive understanding of enthusiasts’ activity shows more respect for their practices. Taste is not a belief. It is a tentative intercourse with things, engaging and revealing in the same operation a body that feels, a collective that shares and supports, and a world full of objects and equipments. We use and compare the enthusiast’s abilities in diverse domains, for a better understanding of the collective techniques invented by amateurs to get into relation with oneself, our body, the others and the objects.