Alain Touraine’s scientific contributions

... For e.g. Alaine Touraine (1995), to make a difference means to discriminate socially, i.e. in the sense of de-value (persons, ideas, and so on). In order to avoid misunderstandings here, from a point of departure of theory of science and of sociology it is important to distinguish between cognitive and normative distinctions. ...

Reference:

We observe by means of distinctions, thus they guide us. On Luhmann's notion of guiding distinction *