The Reflexive Initiative is an authoritative intervention in the practice and tradition of reflexive social theory. It demonstrates the importance of the reflexive imperative, not only in the investigation of everyday life but across a wide range of human sciences and philosophical perspectives. Forty years after the publication of On the Beginning of Social Inquiry, the chapters in this collection range from re-appraisals of earlier essays on topics such as 'reunions', 'rethinking art' and 'expats' to contributions emphasising the opening of radical dialogues with other reflexive traditions and perspectives. These include psychoanalysis, Lacan, Hegel, Rene Girard, Daseinanalysis, dialectical method, critical feminism, and the dialogical tradition.In this dialogical spirit, the book contributes to the continuing project of analytic theorizing associated with the work of Alan Blum and Peter McHugh, and the recent turn to more 'existential' topics and politically engaged forms of reflexive research. It will be of particular use to students working in interpretive traditions of sociology, Critical theory, Postmodern thought and debates associated with reflexivity and dialectics in other disciplines and research programmes.

Part I: Editors' Introduction 1. The Origins and Prospects of Analytic Theorizing Stanley Raffel and Barry Sandywell Part II: History and Contexts of Analytic Theory 2. Dialectic, Indebtedness, Ambivalence and the Pursuit of Analytic Speech: Revisiting 'On the Beginning of Social Inquiry' Barry Sandywell Part III: Topics in Analysis 3. Analysis and Sincerity: Warding Off Relativism Gregor Schnuer 4. Reunions: Standing and Turning Relationships Eric Laurier 5. Rethinking Art: A Borderline Case Stanley Raffel 6. Expats Richard Feesey 7. The Complaint: An Analysis Saeed Hydaralli Part IV: Dialogical and Dialectical Engagements 8. Dasein/Analysis: Between Ethnomethodological Heresy and the Continental Tradition Steve Bailey 9. The Analysis School and Feminism: Intersection, Explanation and a Challenge Steve Kemp 10. Collaboration and the Birth of Comedy: From the Symbolic to the Real in the Development of Analysis Patrick Colfer 11. Resistance in Collective and Collaborative Problem Solving Andriani Papadopoulou 12. Analytic Desire and Everyday Life: The Practice of Theory in 'On the Beginning of Social Inquiry' David A. Lynes 13. Dialectic, Reflexivity, and Good Troublesome Company Kieran Bonner Part V: Origins and Prospects 14. On the Unending Beginning of Social Inquiry Alan Blum References Index