Showing papers on "Ideal type published in 1991"

A Typology of Social Partnership Organizations

Abstract: This article develops a typology of social partnership organizations to enhance understanding of the ways these organizations operate in the social arena, as well as their potential for social problem solving. First, social partnerships are carefully defined. Based on the degree of problem "divisibility, " two key determinants of partnership type are derived: the degree of interdependence among organizations involved in problem solving and the organizational level at which the problem is most salient. From these determinants, three "ideal" partnership types in which there is congruence between the determinants are distinguished: programmatic, federational, and systemic. Characteristics of each ideal type are described, and problems with potential hybrid types are discussed. Propositions are then developed, followed by a discussion of implications for practice and research.

Cooperation and Discord in U.S.-Soviet Arms Control

Abstract: If international cooperation was difficult to achieve and to sustain during the Cold War, why then were two rival superpowers able to cooperate in placing limits on their central strategic weapons systems? Extending an empirical approach to game theory--particularly that developed by Robert Axelrod--Steve Weber argues that although nations employ many different types of strategies broadly consistent with game theory's "tit for tat," only strategies based on an ideal type of "enhanced contingent restraint" promoted cooperation in U.S.-Soviet arms control. As a theoretical analysis of the basic security behaviors of states, the book has implications that go beyond the three bilateral arms control cases Weber discusses--implications that remain important despite the end of superpower rivalry. "An important theoretical analysis of cooperation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union in the area of arms control... An excellent work on a subject that has received very little attention."--ChoiceOriginally published in 1991.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Discourses of Danger and Dangerous Discourses: Patrolling the Borders of Science, Nature and Society

Abstract: Two broad themes are covered in this paper. Firstly, the mutual delimitation in discourse of `science', `lay society' and `nature' is explored in relation to people's talk about ionizing radiation. The discursive configurations into which these fall are linked to the perception of danger. For example, in some discourses danger is located in a `bad science' that injudiciously exploits an otherwise amenable nature. Secondly, the analysis of these discourses is conducted with the aid of Weber's ideal type technique. Through this, some of the epistemological and methodological issues that cohere around the contingency of interpretation in discourse analysis are addressed.

Validity — the quest for reality in quantitative and qualitative research

Abstract: It has been argued that fundamentally different methodological approaches have made for ‘two sociologies’ This view has obscured the fact that the problem of validity has to be tackled independently of any specific methodological premises because of the textuality of sociological data This does not necessarily imply, however, a single, unified strategy for validity testing In this paper, some basic theoretical presuppositions underlying the approach to validity testing in quantitative research will be contrasted with the strategies offered by Max Weber's methodological writings on the ideal type It is argued that the use of ideal typical constructs in qualitative research (exemplified by patient's illness careers) allows systematic validity testing despite the important differences in the conceptualization of social reality which is used in quantitative research, thus serving the purpose of any empirical sociological research, that is, to gain valid insight into societies' concrete reality