Showing papers on "Social theory published in 1980"

Perseverance of Social Theories: The Role of Explanation in the Persistence of Discredited Information

Abstract: The perseverance of social theories was examined in two experiments within a debriefing paradigm. Subjects were initially given two case studies suggestive of either a positive or a negative relationship between risk taking and success as a firefighter. Some subjects were asked to provide a written explanation of the relationship; others were not. In addition, experimental subjects were thoroughly debriefed concerning the fictitious nature of the initial case studies. Subsequent assessments of subjects' personal beliefs about the relationship indicated that even when initially based on weak data, social theories can survive the total discrediting of that initial evidential base. Both correlational and experimental results suggested that such unwarranted theory perseverance may be mediated, in part, by the cognitive process of formulating causal scenarios or explanations. Normative issues and the cognitive processes underlying perseverance were examined in detail, and possible techniques for overcoming unwarranted theory perseverance were discussed. All of us have tried to change a friend's view about some social, political or scientific issue-from the efficacy of capital punishment as a deterrent to crime to the validity of the IQ test-only to experience frustrating failure. We offer seemingly compelling evidence or thoroughly rebut opposing arguments but produce little if any change in our friend's beliefs. Indeed, we suspect that we ourselves frequently may be guilty of similar intransigence when our views come under attack. From such everyday observations, two obvious questions arise that form the focus of the present article: Are we, in fact, prone to persist in our beliefs and theories about the world to a degree that is normatively indefensible, and if so, why?

Philosophy of Social Science

Abstract: Preface 1. What Is the Philosophy of Social Science? 2. The Methodological Divide: Naturalism Versus Interpretation 3. The Explanation of Human Action 4. Actions, Intentionality and the Mind/Body Problem 5. Behaviorism in the Behavioral Sciences 6. Problems of Rational Choice Theory 7. Social Psychology and the Construction of Society 8. Continental Philosophy of Social Science 9. Holism and Antireductionism in Sociology and Psychology 10. Functionalism as a Research Program 11. Sociobiology or the Standard Social Science Model? 12. Theories of Cultural Evolution 13. Research Ethics in Social Inquiry 14. Facts and Values in the Human Sciences 15. Social Science and the Enduring Questions of Philosophy Bibliography Index

Marx's Social Ontology: Individuality and Community in Marx's Theory of Social Reality

Abstract: Here is the first book to present Karl Marx as one of the great systematic philosophers, a man who went beyond the traditional bounds of the discipline to work out a philosophical system in terms of a concrete social theory and politico-economic critique. Basing her work on the "Grundrisse" (probably Marx's most systematic work and only translated into English for the first time in 1973), Gould argues that Marx was engaged in a single enterprise throughout his works, specifically the construction of a systematic and philosophical theory of society.Gould examines five basic themes of Marx's social ontology: society, labor, causality, freedom, and justice, in five separate chapters, preceded by an introductory chapter explicating thesis and methods. The book shows how Marx's ontology, or theory of social reality, may be reconstructed from concrete details of his account of the historical stages of social development and from his analyses and critiques of capitalist economy. It clarifies further the value theory underlying Marx's critique of modern society and explores the question of how philosophy can play a major role in understanding and resolving social issues.This book will be of interest to all students of society, since it raises issues of the relationship of technologies to society and of the forms and prospects for socialism as a possible future society. It has deliberately been written in a style that makes the difficult, technical issues accessible to undergraduates just beginning to read Marx, as well as, of course, graduate students of social theory and specialized scholars. The lay reader will also be drawn to the particular content of this book and will enjoy the lucid, straightforward presentation."Marx's Social Ontology" proposes a solution to a long-standing problem in interpretations of Marx: the apparent dilemma of his insistence on the ideal of full self-realization of the individual and his equal insistence on the ideal of full self-realization of the community. This is a book of major significance dealing with topics of enduring and current interest.

From Weber to Parsons and Schutz: The Eclipse of History in Modern Social Theory'

Abstract: Sociologists have generally dissociated theoretical synthesis from historical research, but the triumph of general theory over historicism is a hollow one. Efforts to formulate general theories of society devoid of historical limitation have created serious problems for theoretical work. This article examines two important examples of this tendency: Parson's and Schutz's use of Weberian sociology to derive general theories of social action. A historically grounded procedure for generating concepts was central to Weber's work. It united explanatory and interpretative analysis within a reflexive framework that responded to the intellectual and political interests of the theorist. Early writings of Parsons and Schutz surmount, in different ways, Weber's strictures on the limits of general theory by eliminating the historical component of Weber's thought. This development reversed Weber's theoretical achievement, decomposing his synthesis into hostile theories based on key fragments of his analysis.

The Age of Structuralism: Levi-Strauss to Foucault

Abstract: Structuralism began in linguistics and was enlarged by Claude Levi-Strauss into a new way of thinking that views our world as consisting of relationships between structures we create rather than of objective realities. The Age of Structuralism examines the work of seven writers who either expanded upon or reacted against Levi-Strauss. In a panoramic overview of the origins of deconstructionism and its critics, Edith Kurzweil offers a lucid and penetrating portrait of the movement that dominated French intellectual life for much of the postwar era, and which continues to influence the French intellectual milieu. She explains Levi-Strauss's strikingly original contributions, then proceeds to illuminate the ideas of crusaders and critics. The key figures dealt with include: Louis Althusser, who reinterpreted Marxism through a rereading of Marx's texts with the help of structuralist techniques; Henri Lefebvre, who remained faithful to Marx's humanism and was one of the earliest and most vehement critics of structuralism; Paul Ricoeur, whose phenomenology sought to reconcile ethical theory and intellectual pursuits; Alain Touraine, a socialist whose sociology of political action led him to dismiss structuralist concerns; Jacques Lacan, who criticized ego-oriented psychoanalytic theory and practice, and whose own work emphasized linguistic structures in psychoanalysis; Roland Barthes, whose literary criticism, in its determination to reject all false notions and systems, led to a highly idiosyncratic approach that drew upon all systems; and finally, Michel Foucault, whose social histories of deviance, medicine, psychology, grammar, language, sexuality criminology, have reexamined every facet of social theory. Placing these major figures in the context of political, historical, and psychoanalytic currents of the time, The Age of Structuralism is a commanding and far-reaching study of a decisive epoch in intellectual history. Kurzweil's new opening essay explains how these towering figures prefigured current emphasis on semiotics, post-structuralism, deconstruction, and post-postmodernism. Kurt H. Wolff called it "lucid, splendid and unobtrusive" when the book first appeared. It remains a central work in the appreciation of the French giants upon whose shoulders the new crop of thinkers expect to stand.

The real world of ideology

Abstract: Marx's conception the burden of social theory the burden of epistemology traditions in Marxism

Marx, justice, and history

Abstract: The political and ideological turmoil of the late 1960's stimulated among Anglo-American philosophers a new interest in applying moral philosophy to the problems of contemporary society, and a search for critical perspectives on Marx and Marxist thought. These essays, originally published in Philosophy & Public Affairs, contribute to both these areas in the form of new Marxist scholarship and in illuminating the way in which Marxist criticism and social theory bear on contemporary analytic moral philosophy and current moral problems.Originally published in 1980.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.

Spectacles and Predicaments: Essays in Social Theory

Abstract: Editorial preface I. C. Jarvie and J. Agassi Part I. Understanding Humanity: 1. The absolute in braces 2. Ethnomethodology: the re-enchantment industry or the Californian way of subjectivity 3. A Wittgensteinian philosophy of (or against) the Social sciences 4. Period piece 5. Chomsky 6. Notes towards a theory of ideology Part II. The Cognitive Predicament: 7. Options of belief 8. The pure enquirer 9. An ethic of cognition 10. Beyond truth and falsehood, or no method in my madness 11. The last pragmatist, or the behaviourist Platonist 12. Pragmatism and the important of being earnest Part III. The Political Predicament: 13. Nationalism, or the new confessions of a justified Edinburgh sinner 14. A social contract in search of an idiom: the demise of the Danegeld state 15. The withering away of the dentistry state 16. From the Revolution to liberalisation 17. Plaidoyer pur une liberalisation manquee 18. Gone and gone forever 19. The Kathmandu option Sources Bibliography of Gellner, 1972-78 Indexes.

Erving Goffman and the Development of Modern Social Theory

Abstract: As a writer, Erving Goffman operates on many different levels. The variety of interpretations he has received — no two of them alike — makes us suppose that his analyses, or his capacities for presenting himself, are endlessly varied and not to be categorised. Throughout his work he has toyed with the relativistic gambit of social reality-constructing, although usually in tandem with assertions about the bedrock of social rules and obligations. One is tempted to find the larger frame of endless alternation between these views more compelling than the Durkheimian determinism lodged within.

History and human existence : from Marx to Merleau-Ponty

Abstract: From the Introduction: The present essay provides an introduction to the treatment of human existence and individuality in Marxist thought. The work will be primarily concerned with two related topics: the evaluation by Marxists of individual emancipation and their assessment of subjective factors in social theory. By taking up these taking up these topics within a systematic and historical framework, I hope to generate some fresh light on several familiar issues. First, I pursue a reading of Marx focused on his treatment of subjectivity, individuation, and related methodological and practical matters; second, I apply this interpretation to analyzing the dispute between Marxist orthodoxy and heterodoxy over such matters as class consciousness and the philosophy of materialism; finally, I employ this historical context to clarify the significance of "existential Marxism," Maurice Merleau-Ponty's and Jean-Paul Sartre's contribution to Marxist thought.

Nineteenth Century Origins of the Social Studies Movement: Understanding the Continuity between Older and Contemporary Civic and U.S. History Textbooks

Abstract: The current debate on social studies textbooks — as reflected in the writings of FitzGerald, Weisberger arid Roselle — center around the alleged dullness, vacuity and intellectual sterility of social studies texts. The debate is hardly new. However, when one compares U.S. history and civics texts of the last century with those written in the last twenty years, and attempts to relate both to the writings of social studies educators, the debate vanishes into irrelevance. It would appear that the social studies founding fathers modeled many of their major ideas after the assumptions of 19th century positivist social science. One can trace this relationship in the famous 1916 Social Studies Committee report. Writers of this report (1) related social studies to a conception of citizenship, (2) perceived the data of social science as shedding light on natural laws, (3) assumed that social scientist would select the “social problems” that students ought to study, (4) believed that use of social science ...

Sociology and Theology, Alliance and Conflict

Abstract: Introduction: Of Two Minds, John Orme Mills 1. The Limits of Displacement: two disciplines face each other, Eileen Barker 2. Displacements and Reinstatements: the relations between sociology and theology considered in their changing intellectual context, Christopher Harris. Responses by Mary Hesse, Fergus Kerr, Nicholas Lash 3. The Sociological Mode and the Theological Vocabulary, David Martin 4. Theodicy and Social Theory: an exploration of the limits of collaboration between sociologist and theologian, W.S.F. Pickering 5. The Rational System of Beliefs, W. Donald Hudson 6. From Sociology to Theology, Robin Gill 7. The Sociology of Roman Catholic Theology, Gregory Baum 8. God, Man and Media: on a problem arising when theologians speak of the modern world, John Orme Mills 9. Relativizing the Relativizers: a theologian's assessment of the role of sociological explanation of religious phenomena and theology today, Timothy Radcliffe 10. Theology and Sociology: what point is there in keeping the distinction?, Antoine Lion Epilogue: Many Voices, Robert Towler Select Bibliography Index of Authors, Biblical Names and Sources

Middle Range Theory and the Strategies of Theory Construction

Abstract: In 1949 Robert Merton published the first edition of Social Theory and Social Structure (STSS). This volume crystallized a theory construction imperative for the social sciences: a strategy of building theories of the middle range (Merton, 1949, pp. 5–11). Although Merton (1967, 1968, pp. 56–58) would later trace the call for middle range theories (MRTs) to such eminent philosophers as Plato, Francis Bacon, John Stuart Mill, and Karl Mannheim, contemporary concern about the middle range imperative is due almost entirely to Merton’s discussion in the three editions of STSS (1949, 1957, and 1968).1

The Class Position of Goffman’s Sociology: Social Origins of an American Structuralism

Abstract: All social theory is class-based. Any theoretical system or problematic expresses the imaginary relation of a class or class-fragment to the real relations of production that characterise a social formation in a particular historical conjuncture. The sociology it produces contains, in a form stamped by its class position and more or lass transfigured or obscure, a semblance of the structures and processes constituted by each of the levels of the social formation — the economic system, the political system, and the cultural-ideological system — and of the personality system of its agent (‘theorist’), each of which exercises some determination on the theoretical system.1 As an imaginary construction, a theoretical system enjoys a certain degree of autonomy from its material base such that it can reflect earlier or anticipated later stages in the history of the social formation.2

Exploring fact and value

Abstract: The great twentieth-century dichotomy that has pervaded moral philosophy and value theory on the one hand and social science and social theory on the other, concerns this volume. Part one approaches this dichotomy between fact (knowledge/science) and value (worth/morality) from different angles. It opens with a general study of the way value and fact are construed, then locates where scientific materials enter into ethics. Part two deals with issues of moral attitude and practical responsibility in the work of science and technology. Scientists' social responsibility as a function of changing social roles of science, and knowledge and responsibility in the professions are examined. In the concluding chapter Edel examines the dichotomy between fact and value as a social and an ideational phenomenon.

Communitas and reflexive social theory

Abstract: The article develops a critique of the notion that anomie invariably results from socio-cultural dislocation (sudden, rapid and wide-spread social change). In exploring and developing the concept of communality (communitas), the author argues that persons can and not infrequently do respond to serious disruption in social life by meaningfully reaffirming social bonds. Informed by this recognition, social theory is able to better clarify its potential contribution to the minimization of the socially and psychologically destructive consequences of structural and cultural dissolution.

Political power and social theory : a research annual

Abstract: It is an exciting time to consider changes in the field of comparative-historical sociology, as the discipline seeks to accommodate both old and new trends as well as the transforming spatial scales in which political power and social theory are increasingly embedded. Volume 20 of "Political Power and Social Theory" starts the ball rolling by showcasing articles that pursue similar themes. The question of what is old and what is new hovers over most of the contributions, particularly the peer-reviewed chapters in parts I and II, which consider such long-standing socio-historical concerns as power structure theory, class-based collective action, and empire - but examine them through new conceptual, methodological, and historical lenses. This year's volume also offers a critical treatment of the spatial or territorial dynamics of state hegemony, class power, ideologies of governance, and citizenship - with the latter theme most well developed in debate over the new geographies of citizenship in the Scholarly Controversy Section as well as in part-II's guest-edited section on Empire and Colonialism.

Labeling theory and community care of the mentally ill in California: the relationship of social theory and ideology to public policy.

Abstract: The practical merit of a labeling theory approach to mental illness is examined and assessed through an exploration of its application in terms of public policy, ie, community mental health policy in the state of California since 1968 Primary focus is placed on the impact of the deinstitutionalization of mental health services in that state, and the release of former mental patients into the community Similarities in the fundamental ideological underpinnings of labeling theory, an associated conspiratorial model of mental illness, and contemporary California mental health policy, are presented and examples of policy input by labeling theorists and researchers are detailed The impact of the California policy on the mentally ill is generally negatively assessed in terms of three major criteria: (1) rehabilitation; (2) reintegration; and (3) quality and continuity of care The "translation" of several theoretical misconceptions regarding mental illness, caused by putting labeling theory into official policy, is suggested to lie at the root of many of the policy's implementation problems The uses of social science theory and research are discussed, and caution is advised in the translation and application of social scientific theory and research to public policy proposals and programs

Vocationalism in Higher Education: Explanations from Social Theory. ASHE Annual Meeting 1980 Paper.

Abstract: This study shows how three different social theories might explain the growth of vocational interests among undergraduate students during the 1970’s. Changes in undergraduate degree choices between the years 1970–71 and 1977–78 are described for all students and for men and women considered separately. The changes provide evidence that during this period interest increased among undergraduates in pursuing those studies that lead directly to occupational competence.