Showing papers on "Social theory published in 1971"

Capitalism and modern social theory : an analysis of the writings of Marx, Durkheim and Max Weber

Abstract: Giddens's analysis of the writings of Marx, Durkheim and Weber has become the classic text for any student seeking to understand the three thinkers who established the basic framework of contemporary sociology. The first three sections of the book, based on close textual examination of the original sources, contain separate treatments of each writer. The author demonstrates the internal coherence of their respective contributions to social theory. The concluding section discusses the principal ways in which Marx can be compared with the other two authors, and discusses misconceptions of some conventional views on the subject.

The Logic of Naturalistic Inquiry

Abstract: A version of the research act, termed naturalistic behaviorism, is presented and compared to existing formulations of the method. A sensitizing framework for organizing naturalistic studies is presented. Special attention is given the problems of sampling, measurement, and causal analysis. Examples from an ongoing study of early childhood socialization are presented as tentative solutions to the sampling and analysis issues. Central weight is given to introspective-investigator accounts of social process. Existing formulations of naturalism as a distinct approach to empirical inquiry in the social sciences suffer from several overriding flaws. On the one hand, naturalistic theorists and practitioners have seldom been in agreement on what they mean by the method. For some (Catton, 1966), it is seen as rigorous positivism. For others (Matza, 1969), it is viewed as humanism in disguise. For still others (Barker, 1968; Hutt and Hutt, 1970; Willems and Rausch, 1969; Wright, 1967), it is compared to ecological psychology and/or ethology-a bare kind of behaviorism that studies people in their natural habitats. Here the naturalist, like the ethologist, makes little effort to record, probe, and study such socialpsychological processes as attitudes and definitions of the situation. There are those (Lofland, 1971) who view naturalism as a deep commitment to collect rich, often atheoretical ethnographic specimens of human behavior. These statements also suffer from a failure to specify the empirical phenomena to which the method is directed (e.g., if one observes behavior, what kinds of behavior?). Nor has there been any systematic attention given such traditional and perduring methodological problems as measurement, sampling, validity, reliability, and causal analysis. The basic unit of naturalistic analysis has never been clarified and the role of the naturalistic observer in his studies remains clouded. This conceptual diversity has led many to take a sceptical, if not irreverent, view of the naturalistic approach, viewing it as soft science or journalism. Perhaps the basic deficiency of prior naturalistic formulations has been the absence of a more general theoretical perspective that would integrate all phases of the sociological act. With few exceptions the dominant scientific paradigm has been imported from physics, chemistry, or biology.' In this article I offer a view of naturalism that takes as its point of departure the social behaviorism of Mead (1934; 1938) and the symbolic interactionism of Blumer (1969). I call this version of the research act naturalistic behaviorism and mean by the term the studied commitment to actively enter the worlds of native people and to render those worlds understandable from the standpoint of a theory that is grounded in the behaviors, languages, definitions, attitudes, and feelings of those studied. Naturalistic behaviorism attempts a wedding of the covert, private features of the social act with its public, behaviorally observable counterparts. It thus works back and forth between word and deed, definition and act. Naturalistic behaviorism aims for viable social theory, it takes rich ethnographic descriptions only as a point of departure. This version of behaviorism recognizes that humans have social selves and as such act in ways that reflect their unfolding definitions of the situation. The naturalist is thus obliged to enter people's minds, if only through retrospective accounts I am grateful to Philip Bechtel, Herbert Blumer, H. M. Blalock, Donald Dixon, John Lofland, Peter Manning, Anselm Strauss, and Clark McPhail for their comments and criticisms on earlier versions of this article. l The major exceptions here are Becker (1970a), Lofland (1971), and Schatzman and Strauss (in press).

From Social History to the History of Society.

Abstract: This essay is an attempt to observe and analyze, not to state a personal credo or to express (except where this is clearly stated) the author's preferences and value judgments. I say this at the outset in order to distinguish this essay from others which are defenses of or pleas for the kind of history practiced by their authors?as it happens social history does not need either at the moment?but also to avoid two misunderstandings especially com mon in discussions heavily charged with ideology. All discus sions about social history are. The first is the tendency for readers to identify authors with the views they write about, unless they disclaim this identification in the clearest terms and sometimes even when they do so. The second is the tendency to confuse the ideological or political moti vations of research, or its utilization, with its scientific value. Where ideological intention or bias produces triviality or error, as is often the case in the human sciences, we may happily condemn motiva tion, method, and result. However, life would be a great deal simpler if our understanding of history were advanced exclusively by those with whom we are in agreement or in sympathy on all public and even private matters. Social history is at present in fashion. None of those who practice it would care to be seen keeping ideological company with all those who come under the same historical heading. Nevertheless, what is more important than to define one's attitude is to discover where social history stands today after two decades of unsystematic if copious development, and whither it might go. I

Adam Smith's science of morals

Abstract: Part 1: The Science of Society 1. Philosophy and Science in Adam Smith 2. Social Science or Social Philosophy 3. Smith's Social Theory Part 2: Adam Smith's Moral Theory 4. Approval and Sympathy 5. The Principle of Approbation 6. The Impartial Spectator 7. Conscience 8. Virtues and Vices 9. Justice 10. Politics and Principles 11. The Theological Context

The Regeneration of Social Organizations

Abstract: Sciences. Vol. 3. New York: Macmillan Co. and Free Press. Sahlins, Marshall R. and Elman Service 1960 Evolution and Culture. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Slater, Philip E. and Dori A. Slater 1965 "Maternal ambivalence and narcissism: A cross-cultural study." Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 11 (July):241-259. Smelser, Neil J. 1963 Theory of Collective Behavior. New York: Free Press of Glencoe. Stinchcombe, Arthur L. 1968 Constructing Social Theories. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World. Swanson, Guy E. 1959 "The effectiveness of decision-making groups." Adult Leadership 8 (June) :4852. 1967 Religion and Regime, A Sociological Account of the Reformation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. 1968 "On sharing social psychology." Pp. 20-52. In Sven Lundstedt (Editor), Higher Education in Social Psychology. Cleveland: Case Western Reserve University Press. 1969 Rules of Descent, Studies in the Sociology of Parentage. Ann Arbor: Museum of Anthropology, The University of Michigan. 1970 "Toward corporate action, a Reconstruction of elementary collective processes." Pp. 124-144 in Tamotsu Shibutani (ed.), Human Nature and Collective Behaviors. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall. 1971a "Interpreting the reformation." Journal of Interdisciplinary History (Spring): 419446. 1971b Social Change, An Introduction to Explanations and Evidence. Chicago: ScottForesman Co. Troeltsch, Ernest 1931 The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches. 2 vols. Olive Wyon, Translator. New York: Macmillan Co. Weber, Max 1963 The Sociology of Religion. Ephraim Fischoff, Translator. Boston: Beacon Press.

The Political Resources of American Science

Abstract: In the light of the traditional ethos of science, and particularly its emphasis on a complete separation between science and politics, a discussion of the political resources of science is bound to appear somewhat perverse, if not entirely heretical. Yet, while the idea of the separation of science and politics may still be consistent with feelings and wishes prevalent among scientists, it seems increasingly inadequate as a statement about reality. The tendency to confuse the question of what the social status of science is with what it ought to be continues to interfere with the development of a fruitful theoretical discourse about the social and political aspects of science. Attempts to call attention to the links of science with its political environment have usually stimulated in scientists such associations as the Marxist approach to the sociology and history of science, which views scientific theories and institutions as the outgrowth of specific social and economic conditions. While some scientists have been attracted by this analysis, most have strongly rejected this type of approach, on the grounds that the description of science as derivative from its social context destroys its claim to be politically neutral and its right to be free from external control. It has suggested to them the dangers of censorship and political interference, and aggravated their fear of the consequences of linking science and politics. By the same token, scientists have tended to be much more sympathetic to those theories in the sociology and history of science which perceived scientists as obeying the inherent imperatives of scientific ideas and the logic of inquiry. The theory that scientists follow only the internal rules of science would seem to reinforce their effort to prevent the subordination of their work to standards extrinsic to science and to protect themselves from external political interference. Such autonomist social theories of science, as formulated by Polanyi, Hagstrom and Storer, provide, however, a more adequate description of the social reality of science as it was when science was still

Modern British philosophy

Abstract: "Under Magee's sensitive guidance a remarkably coherent interpretation of this period emerges."--Marshall Cohen, Listener. "The whole book has a marvellous air of casualness and clarity that makes it a delight to read."--Colin Wilson. Contemporary British philosophy is experiencing unprecedented openness to influences from abroad. New growth is evident in many areas of traditional philosophy which had been neglected by the logical positivists and the linguistic analysts. This sense of freedom permeates Magee's volume of conversations with leading British philosophers. Under Magee's direction, the philosophers discuss other influential thinkers, such as Wittgenstein, Russell, Moore, and Austin, as well as ideas of universal interest, such as morality, art, religion, and social theory. As an introduction to contemporary British philosophy, a unique collection of candid commentaries by important thinkers, and study of fresh ideas, Modern British Philosophy is consistently lively and authoritative.

The New Science of Administration in the USSR

Abstract: This paper examines the characteristics of the recent Soviet literature on public administration and organizational behavior. During the Stalin era research in these areas was effectively stifled, and some promising early studies were repudiated. The past decade has witnessed a tremendous renewal of interest in administrative science among Soviet scholars. Much of the conceptual apparatus and methodology is admittedly borrowed from the West, but applications are interesting and the potential for originality is high. These developments have evoked a conservative reaction from ideologists who seek to preserve the purity of orthodox Marxist social theory, but the innovators appear to have won official acceptance for administrative science as a valid and useful discipline.

Andrew Carnegie: The Educational and Social Theories of a Self-Made Man

Abstract: LOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PH.D. DISSERTATION IN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS ANDREW CARNEGIE: THE EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIAL THEORIES OF A SELF-MADE MAN The Preface deals with the literature on Carnegie, both the magnate's own extensive writings and the nature of the historical arguments concerning the steel king. All of the chapters that follow are a series of essays, complete in themselves, examining aspects of the life and times of Carnegie. Part I: The Life and Rise of Andrew Carnegie, consists of three chapters. Chapter One: The Life' and Times of Andrew Car-• negie: The Immigrant as Capitalist, describes the enormous trar.sition to industrialism in America and suggests that the industrial revolution has always been difficult for the people in developing countries regardless of economic or political system. Individual "take off" versus national "take off" is discussed. The background of the Carnegie family as weavers, defeated by industrialism in Scotland and coming to America typifies the immigrant problem. The success of Carnegie, in the open American society is anything but typical and suggests the promise of America. The historical debate, Robber Baron versus Captain of Industry, is seen from the focus of Carnegie's rise. The tremendous impact of the magnate's philanthropy, the probability that I the Carnegie gifts actually altered national directions at the time, is best seen by comparing the steel king's benefactions witt the comparatively low gross national product at the time. FinallYi Carnegie's own motivations in his rise of p~wer are considerea. Chapter Two: Andrew Carnegie: Radicalism and Upward Mobility, sees the Carnegie family tradition in Scotland as radical and considers how the magnate dealt with the tradition as he rose to wealth and power. Carnegie is seen as compromising, remaining a radical in Britain, to the extent that he disliked the old establishment of the royal family, aristocracy, and established church, but believing the industrial democracy in America that allowed him to rise, the best of all possible worlds. The steel king is seen as the supreme example of the Horatio Alger hero. His jobs, his noble deeds, his finding of patrons, and hjs own writing on success ind~cate that he personified the Alger her Chapter Three: Andrew Carnegie: The Success Myth and th yth of Success examines the contrastinr, views on Carnegie in his wn time and today. The magnate, in an era before public relation en, was his own myth maker. Carnegie haa a sense of history and a feeling for his own importance, plus a t·elief in stories to instruct rather than to_conform with the facts.

The Abandonment of evolutionary Social Theory in America: The impact of Academic Professionalization upon American sociological theory, 1890-1920

Abstract: The Abandonment of evolutionary Social Theory in America: The impact of Academic Professionalization upon American sociological theory, 1890-1920

Capitalism and modern social theory: Social differentiation and the division of labour

Abstract: The writings of Marx, Weber and Durkheim, in their varying ways, fuse together an analysis and a moral critique of modern society. Weber's insistence upon the absolute logical dichotomy between empirical or scientific knowledge, and value-directed action, should not be allowed to obscure his equally emphatic affirmation of the relevance of historical and sociological analysis to active involvement in politics and social criticism. Both Marx and Durkheim reject Kant's ethical dualism, and attempt more directly to integrate a factual and a moral assessment of the characteristic features of the contemporary social order. Durkheim maintained a lifelong commitment to the formulation of a scientific foundation for the diagnostic interpretation of the ‘pathological’ features of the advanced societies. Marx's work and political actions are predicated upon the argument that ‘Man must prove the truth, that is, the actuality and power, the this-sidedness of his thinking, in Praxis ’. In the works of the latter two writers, the concepts of ‘alienation’ and ‘anomie’ respectively provide the focal point of their critical interpretation of modern society. The conception of alienation is the main prop of Marx's critique of capitalism, and therefore of his thesis that the bourgeois order can be transcended by a new kind of society. It does not merely represent an early Utopian position which Marx later abandoned, nor does it become reduced to the relatively minor place which Marx's discussion of the ‘fetishism of commodities’ occupies in Capital .

Capitalism and modern social theory: Marx's early writings

Abstract: There is a sense in which Marx's writings span three centuries. Although Marx was born nearly two decades after the opening of the nineteenth century, and died well before the end of it, his writings have had their greatest influence – certainly in the political sphere, and possibly even in the intellectual world – in the twentieth century. But they have their roots in the late eighteenth century, in the outburst of social and political changes stemming from the Revolution of 1789 in France. Marx's works thus draw the shattering effects of the French Revolution into the modern age, and express a line of direct continuity between 1789 and the October Revolution in Russia of almost one hundred and thirty years later. While rather little is known of Marx's early childhood, various fragments and letters survive from his adolescent pen. The earliest of these are three short essays which Marx wrote during the course of his final school examinations. Inevitably enough, these are of little intrinsic interest or originality, but they do give an indication of the enthusiastic grandiosity which inspired many of Marx's subsequent adult works. The most novel of the three is called ‘Reflections of a young man on choosing a career’, and discusses the moral obligations and the range of freedoms open to an individual who is choosing which vocation to follow in his life.

Capitalism and modern social theory: Max Weber: Protestantism and capitalism

Abstract: While Max Weber was an almost exact contemporary of Durkheim, the intellectual climate in which each lived was, in important respects, very different. The short period which Durkheim spent studying in Germany while a young man served to introduce him to some of the leading trends in German social thought, and he did not subsequently relinquish his interest in the works of German social scientists. Durkheim was certainly acquainted with Max Weber's writings, as well as with those of the latter's brother, Alfred. There are at least two sets of writings by German authors which connect Durkheim and Weber directly: those of Schindler and the members of the Verein fur Sozialpolitik on the one hand, and those of Georg Simmel on the other. But even these fairly direct intellectual connections are of marginal significance. While Simmers thought undoubtedly was of some importance in the shaping of Weber's views, Durkheim was highly critical of Simmel, and was not influenced by the latter's writing in any important respects; and while the writings of Schmoller and the Kathedersozialisten formed a point of departure for Durkheim's early works, those aspects of their views which Durkheim found most sympathetic were exactly the ones which Weber rejected, and indeed fought against.