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Michael A. Overington

Bio: Michael A. Overington is an academic researcher from Saint Mary's University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Human science & Rank (computer programming). The author has an hindex of 5, co-authored 7 publications receiving 128 citations.

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TL;DR: For instance, it is possible that sociologists have read the work of Kenneth Burke and found it neither important nor interesting, and indeed, for any expository treatment of the sociological importance of Burke in other journals.
Abstract: It is possible that sociologists have read the work of Kenneth Burke and found it neither important nor interesting, a One searches in vain for any expository treatment of his work in those journals read by sociologists, or indeed, for any expository treatment of the sociological importance of Burke in other journals. Yet Burke has been lurking in sociologists' footnotes since the 1930s, and recently his system, "Dramatism," has been promoted to equal rank with "Symbolic Interaction" and "Social Exchange" in the coverage given to these aspects of "Interaction" in the InternationalEneyelopedia o f the Social Scienees. ~ What are we to make of this?

70 citations

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TL;DR: A sociological reconstruction of the neglected œuvre of Kenneth Burke is made in this paper, where the metaphorical relationships among major terms in frameworks of motives, especially explanations of “order,” are examined.
Abstract: A sociological reconstruction is made of the neglected œuvre of Kenneth Burke. His early period is presented through four propositions on verbal explanations as the motives for action in social orders. The later period is shown to treat the metaphorical relationships among major terms in frameworks of motives, especially explanations of “order.”

19 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present loads of the a poetic for sociology toward a logic of discovery for the human sciences book catalogues in this site as the choice of you visiting this page.
Abstract: Find loads of the a poetic for sociology toward a logic of discovery for the human sciences book catalogues in this site as the choice of you visiting this page. You can also join to the website book library that will show you numerous books from any types. Literature, science, politics, and many more catalogues are presented to offer you the best book to find. The book that really makes you feels satisfied. Or that's the book that will save you from your job deadline.

18 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors take social order as an alternation between performing and rehearsing in which social actors may be treated as "possessed" by their roles and the limits on performance located.
Abstract: Two perspectives on social order have been influential among interactionists—negotiated order and the dramaturgical. We explore the resources offered by the latter when the theater is taken more seriously as a source of theoretic invention. In particular we survey some of the more important elements in theatrical performance and rehearsal. The major part of the paper then takes social order as an alternation between performing and rehearsing in which social actors may be treated as “possessed” by their roles and the limits on performance located. We illustrate the analytic possibilities of this view in some organizational conversations.

12 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The view that society is like a theater in which humans and their motives are manipulated by the gods as puppeteers, as a stage on which we all strut as would actors on their boards, as an arena in which our small lives are viewed by God as the spectator as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: It was only last week that a student asked for a brief introduction to the theatrical perspective and its application in organizational analysis. We knew that one would be available among the several readers on this perspective (for example: Brisset and Edgley, 1975; Combs and Mansfield, 1976; Schechner and Schuman, 1976) or if not there we could easily find one in some other place. As it turned out, after some searching, the only way in which we could persist in this belief was to try and write such a brief introduction ourselves. The major part of our remarks, therefore, constitute an exercise in the confirmation of belief; at the end in a short section we shall attempt to place the essays which make up this special issue on the dramaturgical approach to organizations. In all the talk over the years about what society is like, people have developed many different images with which they tried to capture something essential in all the diversity of the comings and goings that human life presents. Among the most persistent is the view that society is like theater in one way or another. At different times and by various persons, society has been likened to a theater in which humans and their motives are manipulated by the gods as puppeteers, as a stage on which we all strut as would actors on their boards, as an arena in which our small lives are viewed by God as the spectator.

9 citations


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TL;DR: In the light of contemporary ideas about causation, determinism, accident, objectivity, and the function and role, if any, of the individual person in history, ideas thin out.
Abstract: Among the many things which distinguish man from the lower animals and perhaps in a more spectacular but less extensive way distinguish man at an advanced level of culture from primitive man is the capacity to use the recorded experience of the past. This can help determine his actions in the present and thus determine in part what kind of future the world will see. The codification of knowledge of the past and its interpretation constitute the material of history. Doctrines and beliefs, various schools, and ideological sets about history determine each period's interpretation of what has gone on in the past. For instance, how may one reconcile the doctrinal myth of progress with the fix that the world is in now? In the light of contemporary ideas about causation, determinism, accident, objectivity, and the function and role, if any, of the individual person in history, ideas thin out. Professor

535 citations

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TL;DR: Symbolic interactionism has changed over the past two decades, both in the issues that practitioners examine and in its position within the discipline as discussed by the authors, and the role of symbolic interactionism in three major debates confronting the discipline: the micro/macro debate, the structure/agency debate, and the social realist/interpretivist debate.
Abstract: Symbolic interactionism has changed over the past two decades, both in the issues that practitioners examine and in its position within the discipline. Once considered adherents of a marginal oppositional perspective, confronting the dominant positivist, quantitative approach of mainstream sociology, symbolic interactionists find now that many of their core concepts have been accepted. Simultaneously their core as an intellectual community has been weakened by the diversity of interests of those who self-identify with the perspective. I examine here four processes that led to these changes: fragmentation, expansion, incorporation, and adoption. I then describe the role of symbolic interactionism in three major debates confronting the discipline: the micro/macro debate, the structure/agency debate, and the social realist/interpretivist debate. I discuss six empirical arenas in which interactionists have made major research contributions: social coordination theory, the sociology of emotions, social constru...

304 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider the activities of senior managers as isomorphic with those of actors and argue that the way to become a management star, it is suggested, is to do managing, not simply to be audience for academic stars.
Abstract: SUMMARY This paper considers the activities of senior managers as isomorphic with the activities of actors. It takes performing as not a matter of metaphor, but a matter of form; life at the top of an organization is intrinsically theatrical; each of us is blessed or cursed with histrionic sensibility. Proceeding by way of a comparison of Edmund Kean and Lee lacocca it touches upon matters of text and interpretation, rehearsal and performance and the importance of individuation. The argument – such as it is – is that both Kean and lacocca perform themselves, the former's Richard III, the latter's Chrysler being the fullest realizations of that which was, hitherto, inchoate and emergent. The final part of the paper is concerned with the implications of this perspective for education, training and development; current management education appears geared to reduce rather than to promote individuality. Techniques are imposed and answers are provided and the entire educational performance revolves around teachers as performers rather than managers as performers. The way to become a management star, it is suggested, is to do managing, not simply to be audience for academic stars.

231 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that clicktivism is a legitimate political act and develop a heuristic that identifies seven dimensions (or characteristics) of click-tivism, including social buttons and the creation of memes.
Abstract: This article argues that clicktivism is a legitimate political act. It emphasizes that such acts, through a recurrent negative discourse, have been marginalized. As a result, new modes of participation that draw upon the simplification of social connectivity have largely been ignored in the mainstream Political Science literature. In addressing this issue, the article develops a heuristic that identifies seven dimensions (or characteristics) of clicktivism. This new heuristic will allow for the analysis of clicktivism as a form of civic engagement separate from digital activism more broadly. Subsequently, the article applies the heuristic to several popular forms of clicktivism, including social buttons and the creation of memes, demonstrating both its utility and flexibility.

176 citations