IntroductionThe advancement of sociological theory and philosophy toward modernism and postmodernism was a veritable era of self-reflection and inspection of practices. A key intellectual here is Michel Foucault with his archaeological analysis of punitive practices. The more contemporary and darker sides of modernity have a similar methodological conflict with positivist thought. A major question facing modernists and postmodernists concerns the legitimacy of discourse and practice. Particularly in academia, as Foucault makes clear, academia is closely linked to power. To understand legitimate power, we must view it through the lens of its practice. Postmodernists and some modernists have moved away from a mystified critique of structures and actors and have instead focused their discourses on practices, ideas and conceptualizations. The modernist project is defined by its discourse on reason and progress, specifically the ideas of rationalism and liberalism. She wonders if people are truly free and rational. Are man and science masters of their own destiny or are they controlled by a power external to themselves and yet internal to each person? Modernity is characterized by the domination of man by man through informal and formal social controls. Formal controls arise from a continued politicization of life, with power over mortality vested in political states. Informal social controls can be seen as a practice that exists through social agents who impose normativity through shame. Norbert Elias, in his article Shame and Repugnance, explains an element that great theorists such as Bourdieu (with symbolic power) and Goffman (with loss of face) have used in their analysis. Elias, in his more contemporary modern theory, states that shame and loathing are equally characteristic of...... middle of paper ...... the authors state that not only has modernity controlled the population by social action, but that she also controls her mind by controlling the construction of knowledge and scientific exploration. Perhaps rationalists have asked too much of science by separating nonhumans and humans rather than understanding knowledge creation in a relativist way that examines the hybrid networks that connect nonhumans and humans. According to Latour, the task of a modern scientist is to attempt to make connections across this network and constitute objective knowledge. This intellectual discourse posed a major challenge to sociology by raising fundamental questions about positivists and anti-positivists, amodernity versus modernity and postmodernity, and the way in which sociology has conceptualized and categorized groups with a demand constant of strong group boundaries that might not exist..