New Books Network Sari Hanafi, "Against Symbolic Liberalism: A Plea for Dialogical Sociology" (Liverpool UP, 2025)
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Mar 11, 2026 Sari Hanafi, a sociologist and director at the American University of Beirut, critiques how proclaimed liberal values often coexist with illiberal acts. He unpacks symbolic liberalism and its role in polarization. He calls for a dialogical turn: expanding public reason, reintegrating community, and practical reforms to revive genuine conversation across differences.
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Symbolic Liberalism Narrows Public Debate
- Symbolic liberalism is a contradiction where defenders of free expression act illiberally by silencing disagreement.
- Sari Hanafi links this to knowledge-economy elites who entrench positions, narrowing debate and enabling authoritarianism and populism.
When Thin Political Liberalism Becomes Coercive
- Turning Rawlsian thin theory into a thick moral doctrine is where liberalism goes wrong and becomes coercive.
- Hanafi warns that smuggling particular moral worldviews into 'justice' universalizes one conception of the good over others.
Neighbor Concept Restores Community To Liberalism
- Reintroduce community concepts like neighbor, shared culture, and common good to rebalance individualistic liberalism.
- The neighbor functions as a moral test extending regard beyond identity boundaries to refugees and neighboring faiths.
