Showing papers on "Social theory published in 1979"

Central Problems in Social Theory: Action, Structure and Contradiction in Social Analysis

Abstract: Preface Introduction 1. Structuralism and the Theory of the Subject 2. Agency, Structure 3. Institutions, Reproduction, Socialization 4. Contradiction, Power, Historical Materialism 5. Ideology and Consciousness 6. Time, Space, Social Change 7. The Prospects for Social Theory Today Notes and References Index

The Postmodern Condition

Abstract: I define postmodern as incredulity toward metanarratives. This incredulity is undoubtedly a product of progress in the sciences: But that progress in turn presupposes it. To the obsolescence of the metanarrative apparatus of legitimation corresponds, most notably, the crisis of metaphysical philosophy and of the university institution which in the past relied on it. The narrative function is losing its functors, its great hero, its great dangers, its great voyages, its great goal. It is being dispersed in clouds of narrative language elements – narrative, but also denotative, prescriptive, descriptive, and so on. Conveyed within each cloud are pragmatic valencies specific to its kind. Each of us lives at the intersection of many of these. However, we do not necessarily establish stable language combinations, and the properties of the ones we do establish are not necessarily communicable. Thus the society of the future falls less within the province of a Newtonian anthropology (such as structuralism or systems theory) than a pragmatics of language particles. There are many different language games – a heterogeneity of elements. They only give rise to institutions in patches – local determinism. The decision makers, however, attempt to manage these clouds of sociality according to input/output matrices, following a logic which implies that their elements are commensurable and that the whole is determinable.

Concepts in the analysis of qualitative data

Abstract: The question arises: do problems of concept-formation in such research differ from those in quantitative social research? It has often been maintained that this is so. While in quantitative social research concepts tend to be pre-formed and fixed (it is argued), in qualitative research they tend to be fluid and emergent. Herbert Blumer’s classic paper, ‘What is wrong with social theory?’ (1954), in which he distinguished between definitive and sensitising concepts provides a clear statement of this view.

System, Structure, and Contradiction: The Evolution of 'Asiatic' Social Formations

Abstract: The first edition of System, Structure, and Contradiction was an important step in merging the materialist determinism of the structuralist Marxists with the cultural, ideological approach favored by anthropologists By reconciling these two traditionally warring schools of thought, the author provided a more nuanced understanding of the various factors that drive social change and social complexity Though viewed through the lens of an ethnographic and historical case study of the Kachin of Burman, Friedman's theory has had a major impact on the work of archaeologists, anthropologists, world-systems scholars, and Marxist theorists alike This new edition of Friedman's much-cited work contains the full text of the original volume (never published in North America) along with two related articles by the author, and a comprehensive new introduction that brings his theoretical notions, and the debate over this book, to the present A classic work of anthropological and social theory, it will be of interest to scholars and their advanced students in anthropology and related disciplines

Theories of revolution reconsidered

Abstract: Just over a decade ago, Lawrence Stone capped an elegant essay on "Theories of Revolution" with the anticipation that social theory would increasingly enlighten historical research, and modern historiography help confirm or refute more daring theoretical conjectures.2 Since then, several fine works of historical and comparative analysis have been published on the origins and outcomes of revolutionary situations.3 As yet, however, no general theory featured in Stone's review has been employed in any capacity beyond decorative footnoting by noteworthy students of revolutionary history, past or present. At most, one or another general theory has served to provide catchy, convenient headings for topical partitions in historical narrative.4 Nor, from their side, have authors of general theories ventured to test their ideas against well-researched blocs of historical data. Instead, they have been content to relay odd bits of history an anecdotal "evidence" for the hypotheses at hand. And when political analysts have sought to explain how successful revolutionaries prevailed, they have preferred to winnow the writings of movement strategists rather than consult the social science model-builders.S

The Utilitarians Revisited

Abstract: For generations sociologists have attacked utilitarian social theory as inadequate theoretically. At the same time, their presentist orientation toward sociology's past has prevented a direct examination of the utilitarians in their own right. This paper rejects that orientation and investigates the social theory of the major utilitarians. David Hume, Adam Smith, Jeremy Bentham, and John Stuart Mill. No alleged characteristic of utilitarianism-from the atomistic, rationalistic model of social action to the failure to solve the problem of order-adduced in the traditional attack upon it is actually found in the work of the utilitarians. The paper then outlines the historical process whereby the prevailing mythology concerning utilitarianism developed. The hallmark of that process is not the cumulative development of social theories but the displacement, in changing cultural and social circumstances, of the concerns of utilitarian social theory-a displacement succesively evident in the work of Spencer, early...

Social theories of the press : early German and American perspectives

Abstract: A book which concentrates on the reflections of early American sociologists and their German colleagues or teachers who have contributed to the development of communication and mass communication in the US and elsewhere. It suggests that the intellectual history of the field may yield theoretical insights on the relationship between communication and advancement of society, which may in turn have consequences for the development of communication and mass communication research today. 'This is one of the more important bits of historical digging in some time...it helps to create a larger theoretical basis for historical studies in communication development.' -- Mass Media Booknotes, September 1979

The Dialectical Method: Its Application to Social Theory

Abstract: This dialectical method is built on the Principles of Expression and Differentiation. The first breaks with both logical and causal analysis, emphasizing relationships within a whole. The second stresses that development is often multilinear and discontinuous. Both principles deny the Aristotelian logic which deals with reality as built on abstract theoretical entities. Dialectics can be traced from Socrates through Hegel to pragmatism and contemporary general systems theory. The method is sensitive to linguistic, social, and cultural issues and is much more sociological than its critics have grasped. When applied to functionalism, the dialectical method demonstrates the inadequacy of ends-means logic. It also shows that functionalism has rested on a limited, social control viewpoint based on an identification of equilibrium with negative feedback models. A dialectical approach can subsume functionalism through a balanced perspective which stresses latent potentials as much as latent fuinctions and treats equilibrium as homeorhesis rather than homeostasis. The past two decades have seen sustained debate over the relevance of the dialectical tradition to sociology. Bendix and Berger have pointed to the theoretical and empirical yield of "paired concepts with dual tendencies," citing Simmel, Tocqueville, Weber, Park, Mead, and Freud, and Gross has followed with a specific appeal for a neodialectical approach which would "consider an indeterminate number of opposite, contradictory, and synthesizing principles." Although Gross' argument has been criticized by Parsons (b), who calls it eclecticism, van den Berghe suggests that functionalism might benefit from the dialectic, and such critics as Friedrichs, Nicolaus, and Schneider tend to agree. All admit, however, to some confusion over the exact nature of the method. Schneider has managed to isolate seven dialectical meaning-clusters of special relevance to sociology, including (1) the distinction between aim and outcome, (2) the issue of displacements, (3) the empirical paradox that particularly effective adaptations are limiting, (4) the idea of development through conflict, (5) the notions of contradiction, opposition, negation, dilemma, and paradox, (6) the contradictory logic of passion, and (7) the concept of the coalescence of opposites. But after a convincing review of the power of this approach, he

Social Theories of the Press: Constituents of Communication Research, 1840s to 1920s

Abstract: Chapter 1 Foreword Chapter 2 Mass Communication Research and Society: An Introduction Chapter 3 Communication and Change in Society: Karl Marx on Freedom of the Press Chapter 4 The Nerves of Society: Albert Schaffle on Symbolic Communication Chapter 5 The News of Society: Karl Knies on Communication and Transportation Chapter 6 The Linkages of Society: Karl Bucher on Commerce and the Press Chapter 7 The Mirrors of Society: Ferdinand Toennies on the Press and Public Opinion Chapter 8 The Conscience of Society: Max Weber on Journalism and Responsibility Chapter 9 The "American Science" of Society: Small, Ross, and Sumner on Communication and the Press Chapter 10 Communication and Social Thought: Decentering the Discourse of Mass Communication Research

Naturalism and Social Science: A Post-Empiricist Philosophy of Social Science

Abstract: Preface Introduction 1. Complexity and social science 2. Common sense and social science 3. Meaning and social science 4. Values and social science 5. Paradigms and social science Conclusion References Index.

The Political Thought of Jean-Paul Sartre: Three Essays: I. L'Imagination Au Pouvoir: The Evolution of Sartre's Political and Social Thought

Abstract: The story of Sartre's leftists politics generally and his love-hate relationship with the Communist Party in particular has been amply documented.2 But there is still need for an analysis of the intellectual evolution which underlay these twistings and turnings in the public realm. Want of such an account has led some critics to dismiss Sartre's political pronouxcements as the rantings of a knee-jerk radical, as ivorytower romanticism, or as sheer intellectual demagoguery.3 What I propose, within the limits of a journal article, is a brief analytical survey of the growth and developemnt of Sartre's political and social theory. Since this involves his gradual politicization, the order will be broadly chronological. But the format I have chosen is primarily conceptual. I wish to interpret Sartre's social awakening as the discovery of several basic concepts and principles which serve as foundation stones for a theory whose application has been recorded in the scholarly and popular press over the last three decades. A concluding appraisal of the con-

Testing durkheim: some theoretical considerations

Abstract: Empirical tests of Durkheim's legal theories can neither confirm nor refute their central hypotheses. Rather than serving to substantiate or refute theoretical propositions, empirical evidence is best conceptualized as providing for the specification and elaboration of a research program. In the case of Durkheim's legal theories, the programmatic effort is to use social science to help resolve the major social, moral, and legal tensions characteristic of modern society. In this light, Durkheim's legal theories are viewed as comparative and contextual, containing insights into the relationship between law and the social constitution of morality. Empirical tests of holistic social theories can only be partial. While the evidence generated by empirical tests may serve as the observational basis for substantiating or refuting particular hypotheses associated with a holistic theory, tests in themselves are unable to assess the relationship between particular hypotheses and their underlying theories. This feature of testing is not a fault, but it is a limitation. Empirical tests are to be faulted and criticized, however, when seemingly disconfirming evidence is used to evaluate a theory apart from an effort to interpret the facts from the perspective of the holistic framework. The gulf between the concreteness of empirical findings and the explanatory power of theory is itself a problem that requires elaboration and judgment. Indeed, a number of writers have argued that the image of science as an effort to test and disconfirm hypotheses is not only over-simplistic, but also an interpretation which seriously distorts the actual practice of science.1

The Prospects for Social Theory Today

Abstract: In this concluding paper, I shall try to place some of the issues discussed earlier in the book in the context of an overall analysis of the current prospects for social theory. The logical starting-point for such an analysis is the state of disarray that characterises social theory today — a matter of common awareness to anyone working within the social sciences. The past decade or so has seen the revival of traditionally established forms of theory (such as hermeneutics), the emergence of seemingly novel perspectives (including especially ethnomethodology), and the attempted incorporation within social theory of various approaches claimed to be drawn from formerly separate philosophical endeavours (the philosophy of the later Wittgenstein, ordinary language philosophy and phenomenology). To these we can add the important resurgence of Marxist theory. The latter however cannot always be clearly distinguished from trends in non-Marxist social science, since most of the same divisions appear, even if in rather different form, within Marxism: the contrasts between the various sorts of ‘phenomenological Marxism’, ‘critical theory’, ‘Marxist structuralism’, etc. are often as pronounced as those outside Marxism.

Social Theory and Models in Social Indicator Research

Abstract: In 1971 Land argued that a social indicator should be a component, that is a parameter or a variable, in a sociological model of a social system or some segment of a social system. This was the first strong suggestion that social indicators needed to be more than some sort of statistical series. Lineberry et al, writing on the use of indicators by municipalities, warned that the first conceptual limitation which should be identified when promoting social indicator use must be the poor record of indicators in detecting causal relationships among various factors contributing to a specific social problem. They attribute this inability to the general lack of social theory. Bunge points out that the very definition of a social indicator of some life quality contains a causal notion relating that indicator to well‐being. This would be acceptable if there were a science of well‐being or at least some reasonable model. He goes on “since no such thing has been constructed so far, we are forced to use our treacherous common‐sense to an extent that is uncommon in science. Which is a polite way of saying that, so far, the study of the quality of life has not been thoroughly scientific.”

Contemporary Soviet Theories of Scientific, Technological and Social Change

Abstract: The purpose of this essay is to introduce readers to the Soviet literature on 'the Scientific-Technological Revolution' (STR) to the concept itself, the nature of the problems to which it is addressed, its success in analyzing and elucidating such problems, and its relation to analogous Western literature. It is important to stress that while, in the past twenty years or so, Soviet and East European authors have extensively discussed the relations between scientific-technical and social change, they have yet to develop a comprehensive theory of the STR. Hence we must examine the areas of agreement among Soviet theorists, the major issues in dispute, and the likely future contributions in the field. Two prominent Soviet theorists, introducing a recent collection of essays on the STR, observe:

Social Theory and Revolutionary Activity in Marx

Abstract: Economic determinist attempts to deduce specific political conclusions or strategies from Marx's general theory do not jibe with Marx's own extensive political activity. Instead, Marx's development as a political theorist and organizer passed from observation of (French Revolution, Chartism) or participation in (1848, the International Workingmen's Association) existing radical movements to formulation of new theories and strategies, and then to application of these strategies in subsequent movements. In applying his general theory to formulating strategies and historical explanations, Marx utilized a framework of mainly political auxiliary statements to define the specific international and national historical setting. Faced with the defeat of a strategy or a tension between the strategy and an older theory, Marx reformulated his theory in different ways, sometimes altering these auxiliary statements rather than the general theory to explain unexpected events, more rarely changing the general theory itself. These new explanations reinforced his strategies. This impact of political experience on Marx's thinking illustrates his famous definition, drawn from Theses on Feuerbach, of revolution as a “practical-critical” activity. Taken as a whole, Marx's new explanations underline the role of politics in historical materialism and conflict with Marx's general expectation that economic oppression alone would ultimately drive the proletariat to make socialist revolution.

Spatial Interaction and Geographic Theory

Abstract: Since the advent of the so-called quantitative revolution in geography, there has been an ever-increasing interest in theory construction. One question frequently raised in discussion is whether or not human geography possesses a group of theories that are distinct from economic, political, or social theory. Frequently such notions as central place theory or the gravity model are propounded as support for the fact that theorising is a valid activity for geographers.

Toward a Social Theory of Dying

Abstract: The literature on death and dying is becoming increasingly specialized. This paper offers a single framework that might be useful in working toward a social theory of dying. Selected contributions are reviewed under the rubrics of social psychological coping processes, institutional role relationships, and societal values and attitudes. Socialization is then applied as a framework in which to codify existing approaches and move toward a more encompassing social theory of dying.

Polish Essays in the Methodology of the Social Sciences

Abstract: The Marxist Social Theory and the Challenges of Our Time.- The Concept of Class Interest.- The Conception of Culture According to Karl Marx.- The Problem of Explanation in Karl Marx's Capital.- The Methodological Foundations of Marx's Theory of Class: A Reconstruction.- Structuralism as an Intellectual Current.- Marxism, Functionalism and Systems-Approach.- Methodological Dilemmas of Contemporary Sociology.- Strategy of Theory-Construction in Sociology.- On So-called Historicism in the Social Sciences.- Sociology and Models of Rational Behavior.- Adaptational Superstructure - The Problem of Negative Self-regulation.- Biographical Notes.- Name Index.

The Applicability of Parson's Theory of the Social System to Blacks in Urban Places.

Abstract: The contributions of Talcott Parsons to the discipline of sociology are eminent. He has provided the sociological world with significant interpretations of the society as he sees it; but, none of these is more important or interesting than his theory of the social system. Since Parsons' theoretical output is voluminous, he is, to be sure, not without controversy. Indeed, he has been accused of couching his writings with verbosity, making it difficult, at times, for the reader to understand his true points. Moreover, such a proliferation of works, it is said, tends to invite many ambiguities. Nonetheless, we must recognize that investigations and theoretical offerings of social scientists quite frequently become social policy-sometimes formally as through law; sometimes informally as through custom. The point is, of course, that the social scientist does not necessarily have to be actively engaged in social action: his observations and findings may provide impetus for social action. The resultant social action, in any case, may be either overt or covert-some astute power wielders, perhaps, may prefer to use both means. On the other hand, a social policy of non-action may be a dire consequence of social theory. It is for this reason that Parsons' theory of the social system, with its emphasis on functionalism, boundary maintenance, and equilibrium, works to the disadvantage of Blacks in urban places. We know that history is only beginning to reveal more accurately why Blacks in the United States of America emigrated from rural areas of the South to urban areas of the South and North, especially the North. The preponderance of social injustice that caused such an outflow of persons will not be entered into here. We know, however, that the immigrant urban Black, though his locale had changed, immediately realized that social injustice had not. In some instances, the kinds of problems encountered had changed, in others it was the degree of intensity which varied.

Time, Space, Social Change

Abstract: In developing the account of agency and structure suggested earlier, I have proposed that the conception of structuration introduces temporality as integral to social theory; and that such a conception involves breaking with the synchrony/diachrony or static/dynamic divisions that have featured so prominently in both structuralism and functionalism. It would be untrue of course to say that those writing within these traditions of thought have not been concerned with time. But the general tendency, especially within functionalist thought, has been to identify time with the diachronic or dynamic; synchronic analysis represents a ‘timeless snapshot’ of society. The result is that time is identified with social change.