Socioaskes, or sociological exercises, are presented here as an applied form of sociology in the form of various exercises. Clinical sociology already employs various exercises, serving as an exception to the otherwise widespread “anti, interventionism” within sociology (Swann, 1984 in Wan & Wan, 2020). Exercises based on sociology are therefore few in number and have not been extensively explored or tested compared to the vast body of research surrounding various exercises in psychotherapy.
The fact that psychotherapy involves performing various exercises has been interpreted by some sociologists as an over, emphasis on responsibility and an adaptation to a dysfunctional/irrational norm. For example, Bauman has raised this criticism against the proliferation of CBT (Bauman, 2013). In many cases, this criticism has overlooked the fact that exercises in psychotherapy have a philosophical heritage found in all ancient philosophers and even religions (Hadot, 2015). Exercises or asceticism are practices that have been carried out throughout history; for example, mindfulness techniques can be seen as a reaction to the fact that we do not live as much in the present as people did in hunter, gatherer societies, due to changed material conditions resulting from the introduction of urbanization and agriculture, where more focus is placed on the future and the past (Paulsen, 2020). Sociologists do not generally object to various forms of asceticism when they occur in contexts other than therapeutic ones. In social movement research, various forms of asceticism have been studied as a means of building emotional energy to cope with participating in demonstrations, for example, presenting oneself as an abject figure, dancing, or using humor (Wettergren, 2013; Collins, 2004).
Here, socioasceticism is based on the assumption that individuals possess a partial agency, functioning as an agencement (Callon, 2021), yet one that nonetheless exists (Touraine, 1995; Paulsen, 2013). Socioasceticism comprises various tools for managing and relating to social reality. Based on Collins’ conceptual framework, the aim is to transform both chains of thought and chains of interaction with the goal of increasing, for example, emotional energy and cultural capital. Socioaskes can be viewed as practices that have the potential to support the pursuit of the good life. Socioasceticism can be viewed as cultural technologies designed to support the subject’s distributed cognition and agency (Mische, 2009; Clark & Chalmers, 1998; Bennett, 2010; Simon, 1957).
The aim of these forms of asceticism is to achieve a balance in agency so as not to recreate the imposition of responsibility, and to attempt, through what a critic might view as a “positive sociology”, to foster “cruel optimism,” albeit in sociological terms.
Agency and structure form a dualism that is central to debates in sociology. On the one hand, social ascetics do not need to rely on the assumption that a “pure” agency exists within the individual. Central to sociotherapy is changing the person’s circumstances and analyzing how past social situations affect the person today. However, there are several sociologists who give greater weight in their analysis to the individual’s agency from phenomenological, dramaturgical, interactionist, and existentially inspired sociological perspectives (Mead, Collins, Hochschild, Goffman, Touraine, Gorz, Paulsen). It should also be noted that certain influential thinkers, such as Foucault, who is often cited as a prime example of sociology completely eliminating the subject and agency, represent only his early thinking; in his later work, Foucault instead emphasizes “open curiosity” as a practice for creating new subjectification and self, transformation (McCall, 2011). Bourdieu, whom even some sociologists have overlooked, argues that under the right conditions, the subject can influence their situation through “self, fashioning” (Webb, 2019).
Sociologists, with the exception of clinical sociologists and sociologists in social work, overlook the fact that psychotherapy is essentially the psychologization of ancient practical philosophy, as exemplified by Socrates, Aristotle, the Stoics, the Epicureans, Buddha, and Lao, Tzu, a perspective that is also criticized when it is argued that mindfulness techniques essentially function only as a means of controlling a docile body in the spirit of Foucault. Techniques and exercises can become a way to control and direct focus toward the self and construct a subject that is not allowed to practice communicating and engaging in criticism together with others. But techniques and exercises directed toward the self are also a form of self, care so that we can better relate to others. Mindfulness is not merely narcissism; rather, it is actually an exercise in moving away from narcissism and egocentrism.
Another criticism has been that there is too much talking, when much depends on changing the person’s situation (Moloney, 2013). This is an important criticism, but the power of talking should not be underestimated in terms of clarification, and what one talks about is important (Hadot, 2015).
What is the purpose of various sociological ascetic practices? It is to challenge practices, discourses, and ways of thinking that create difficulties for the individual, not all difficulties, but rather the desirable ones that are part of a good life, where we take on risks and challenges for the sake of others in a balanced way (Berglund, 2026). The purpose is further to build and create habits and practices that make it easier to participate in society and create a better life for oneself, while at the same time pursuing the common good.
Clinical sociology already has access to several methods and techniques, which I have outlined in Chapter 3. The clinical sociologist/sociotherapist also has access to techniques and methods from psychology, the field in which most social workers are trained. The sociotherapist must then “sociologize” these methods so that they align with sociotherapy. The following sections are presented below: the therapist, socio, education, sociological heuristics, the sociologization of stoicism, and socio, asceticism based on ABT, which begins with a theory of change.