Democracy without demos? Utopia (without politics) in complex societies

Abstract

The increase in political disaffection in society and the growing prominence of technology and economic actors drive a debate on political alternatives that propose as a horizon a democracy without demos, without a subject capable of self-determination. One of the analytical elements that support this horizon is that of complex societies. The article shows how the sociological reformulation of the social order as contingent and unintentional makes it possible to redefine politics from the plurality of individuals' interests, but leaving it without any influence on this order. The text questions the asymmetry of the systemic turn of sociology by proposing a radical change in society, and the relationships within it, while preserving immovable political institutions. Finally, it is suggested that a change in the forms of political organization such as the lottery could have greater affinity with the social changes that sociology shows, without having to give up on individuals being able to decide on the norms or laws that regulate their collective life.