Locating the 17th Book of Giddens@@@The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration.
TL;DR: Giddens as mentioned in this paper has been in the forefront of developments in social theory for the past decade and outlines the distinctive position he has evolved during that period and offers a full statement of a major new perspective in social thought, a synthesis and elaboration of ideas touched on in previous works but described here for the first time in an integrated and comprehensive form.
Abstract: Anthony Giddens has been in the forefront of developments in social theory for the past decade. In "The Constitution of Society" he outlines the distinctive position he has evolved during that period and offers a full statement of a major new perspective in social thought, a synthesis and elaboration of ideas touched on in previous works but described here for the first time in an integrated and comprehensive form. A particular feature is Giddens' concern to connect abstract problems of theory to an interpretation of the nature of empirical method in the social sciences. In presenting his own ideas, Giddens mounts a critical attack on some of the more orthodox sociological views. "The Constitution of Society" is an invaluable reference book for all those concerned with the basic issues in contemporary social theory.
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TL;DR: An internal reconstruction and an immanent critique of Bourdieu's generative structuralism is presented in this paper, where an analysis of the relational logic that permeates his whole work is presented.
Abstract: An internal reconstruction and an immanent critique of Bourdieu's generative structuralism is presented. Rather than starting with the concept of “habitus,” as is usually done, the article tries to systematically reconstruct Bourdieu's theory by an analysis of the relational logic that permeates his whole work. Tracing the debt Bourdieu's approach owes to Bachelard's rationalism and Cassirer's relationalism, the article examines Bourdieu's epistemological writings of the 1960s and 70s. It tries to make the case that Bourdieu's sociological metascience represents a rationalist version of Bhaskar's critical realism, and enjoins Bourdieu to give heed to the realist turn in the philosophy of the natural and the social sciences. The article shows how Bourdieu's epistemological assumptions are reflected in his primary theoretical constructs of “habitus” and “field.” To concretize their discussion, it analyzes Bourdieu's reinterpretation of Weber in his theory of the field of religion and of the young Mannheim in his theory of the scientific field.
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TL;DR: The intent of as mentioned in this paper is to move beyond the work of Weber and construct a concept of health lifestyles applicable to the current phase of modernity, beginning with the early twentieth century.
Abstract: The intent of this article is to move beyond the work of Weber and construct a concept of health lifestyles applicable to the current phase of modernity. Beginning with the early twentieth-century ...
235 citations
TL;DR: It is suggested that the two discourses in this literature, though distinct, are not entirely discrete, and may begin to draw closer as they begin toDraw on a wider set of resources, including sociological research and theory, to develop a rigorous theoretically grounded approach to patient information leaflets.
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TL;DR: In this paper, a concept of habit derived from pragmatism and Veblenian institutional economics is proposed to describe the process of habituation in an organization, where institutional circumstances may affect individual preferences.
Abstract: The conceptualization of the relation between individual and structure is central to social science. After making some key definitions, this paper overviews some recent developments in the social theory of structure and agency, and makes a novel addition, based on a concept of habit derived from pragmatism and Veblenian institutional economics. Processes of habituation provide a mechanism of ‘reconstitutive downward causation’ where institutional circumstances may affect individual preferences. Finally, special characteristics of organizations are discussed, endorsing an evolutionary analytical approach that combines insights from both evolutionary economics and organization science.
235 citations
Cites background from "Locating the 17th Book of Giddens@@..."
...The ‘structuration theory’ of Anthony Giddens (1984) is an attempt to steer a middle course between the extremes of both methodological individualism and methodological collectivism.5 He regards agent and structure as a ‘duality’ where both human subjects and social institutions are jointly…...
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...Giddens, Anthony 1984 The constitution of society: Outline of the theory of structuration....
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...The ‘structuration theory’ of Anthony Giddens (1984) is an attempt to steer a middle course between the extremes of both methodological individualism and methodological collectivism.5 He regards agent and structure as a ‘duality’ where both human subjects and social institutions are jointly constituted in and through recurrent practices, and where no element has ontological or analytical priority over the other....
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...Craib, Ian 1992 Anthony Giddens....
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...Symptomatically, the formulation is repeated elsewhere: ‘Structure exists only as memory traces, the organic basis of human knowledgeability, and as instantiated in action’ (Giddens 1984: 377)....
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TL;DR: The functional failure of the FASB's Conceptual Framework is attributed to the fact that it is elaborated around a highly problematic conception of the relationship between financial accounting and economic reality.
Abstract: This paper addresses the functional failure of the FASB's Conceptual Framework. It suggests that the reason for the problems encountered by the FASB in its CF project (and those encountered in other CF projects), is that the FASB CF is elaborated around a highly problematic conception of the relationship between financial accounting and economic reality. The CF involves a process of mundane reasoning around a central incorrigible proposition of our society, that social reality exists objectively and intersubjectively. This paper draws on anthropology to show that this assumption of a concrete, objective social reality is a product of everyday reasoning such as that of the FASB members. A comparison of the FASB's reasoning about economic reality, with the reasoning of the African Azande about their poison oracle reality, shows how those two realities are both socially maintained by the same process of commonsense reasoning. A number of important implications follow which extend beyond CFs and financial accounting practices. These implications relate to the essential culture and value-dependency of logic, reasoning and rationality, and have attendant inferences for the potential role of accounting researchers in influencing society rather than merely participating in the legitimizing and reproduction of the status quo .
235 citations
Cites background from "Locating the 17th Book of Giddens@@..."
...…shown that social reality is refIexively constituted by accounts of reality, and that the decisions and actions of social agents based on these accounts, constructs, maintains and reproduces social reality (e.g. Garfinkel, 1967; Garfinkel et al, 1981; Berger & Luckmann, 1971; Giddens, 1976, 1984)....
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