Showing papers on "Social theory published in 1982"

Managerial Response to Changing Environments: Perspectives on Problem Sensing from Social Cognition.

Abstract: ? 1982 by Cornell University. 000 1-8392/82/2704-0548/$00.7 5 This paper characterizes managerial problem sensing, a necessary precondition for managerial activity directed toward organizational adaptation, as composed of noticing, interpreting, and incorporating stimuli. It then reviews the constituent social cognition processes that make certain kinds of problem-sensing behavior, including errors, relatively likely to occur. Implications for the organizational issues of crisis, chance events, break points, and extreme change are explored.

Advances in Social Theory and Methodology : Toward an Integration of Micro- and Macro-Sociologies

Abstract: Introduction. The Micro-Sociological Challenge of Macro-Sociology: Towards a Reconstruction of Social Theory and Methodology K. Knorr-Cetina. Part 1. The Micro-Foundations of Social Knowledge 1. Notes on the Integration of Micro- and Macro-levels of Analysis A.V. Cicourel 2. Micro-translation as a Theory-Building Strategy R. Collins 3. Intermediate Steps between Micro- and Macro-Integration: the Case of Screening for Inherited Disorders T. Duster Part 2. Action and Structure: The Cognitive Organization of Symbolic Practice 4. Philosophical Aspects of the Micro-Macro Problem R. Harre 5. Agency, Institution and Time-Space Analysis A. Giddens 6. Social Ritual and Relative Truth in Natural Language G. Fauconnier Part 3. Toward a Reconstruction of Systems Perspectives 7. Transformational Theory and the Internal Environment of Action Systems V. Lidz 8. Communication about Law in Interaction Systems N. Luhmann Part 4. The Production of Societal Macro-Structures: Aspects of a Political Economy of Practice 9. Toward a Reconstruction of Historical Materialism J. Habermas 10. Unscrewing the Big Leviathan: How Actors Macro-Structure Reality and How Sociologists Help Them to Do So M. Callon and B. Latour 11. Men and Machines P. Bourdieu

Cooking, Cuisine and Class: A Study in Comparative Sociology

Abstract: The preparation, serving and eating of food are common features of all human societies, and have been the focus of study for numerous anthropologists - from Sir James Frazer onwards - from a variety of theoretical and empirical perspectives. It is in the context of this previous anthropological work that Jack Goody sets his own observations on cooking in West Africa. He criticises those approaches which overlook the comparative historical dimension of culinary, and other, cultural differences that emerge in class societies, both of which elements he particularly emphasises in this book. The central question that Professor Goody addresses here is why a differentiated 'haute cuisine' has not emerged in Africa, as it has in other parts of the world. His account of cooking in West Africa is followed by a survey of the culinary practices of the major Eurasian societies throughout history - ranging from Ancient Egypt, Imperial Rome and medieval China to early modern Europe - in which he relates the differences in food preparation and consumption emerging in these societies to differences in their socio-economic structures, specifically in modes of production and communication. He concludes with an examination of the world-wide rise of 'industrial food' and its impact on Third World societies, showing that the ability of the latter to resist cultural domination in food, as in other things, is related to the nature of their pre-existing socio-economic structures. The arguments presented here will interest all social scientists and historians concerned with cultural history and social theory.

Reason in the Age of Science

Abstract: The essays in this book deal broadly with the question of what form reasoning about life and society can take in a culture permeated by scientific and technical modes of thought. They attempt to identify certain very basic types of questions that seem to escape scientific resolution and call for, in Gadamer's view, philosophical reflection of a hermeneutic sort.In effect, Gadamer argues for the continued practical relevance of Socratic-Platonic modes of thought in respect to contemporary issues. As part of this argument, he advances his own views on the interplay of science, technology, and social policy.These essays, which are not available in any existing translation or collection of Gadamer's work, are remarkably up-to-date with respect to the present state of his thinking, and they address issues that are particularly critical to social theory and philosophy.Perhaps more than anyone else, Hans-Georg Gadamer, who is Professor Emeritus at the University of Heidelberg and Distinguished Visiting Professor at Boston College, is the doyen of German Philosophy. His previously translated works have been widely and enthusiastically received in this country. He is recognized as the chief theorist of hermeneutics, a strong and growing movement here in a number of disciplines, from theology and literary criticism to philosophy and social theory.A book in the series Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought.

Sociology, a brief but critical introduction

Abstract: An introduction to sociology. It incorporates discussion of recent developments in both social theory and empirical social research - developments to which Giddens has directly contributed.

Social Theory and the Urban Question

Abstract: Preface 1. Social theory, capitalism and the urban question 2. The urban as an ecological community 3. The urban as a cultural form 4. The urban as a socio-spatial system 5. The urban as ideology 6. The urban as a spatial unit of collective consumption 7. Political economy and the urban question, With John Lloyd 8. On the specificity of the urban

Environment, Subsistence and System: The Ecology of Small-Scale Social Formations

Abstract: Human ecology is ultimately part of a general theory of society. This is the argument developed here by Roy Ellen, whose exploration of the interplay between social organization and ecology in small-scale subsistence systems has direct bearings both on the investigation of human environmental relations in general and on contemporary social theory. He argues that while ecological study of non-industrial societies cannot be elevated to the status of theory, domain or discipline, it can be represented as a single 'problematic' that historically has acquired some degree of autonomy and which continues to make a significant contribution to a wider anthropology. Dr Ellen introduces his subject matter through an extended and systematic discussion of some major frameworks developed within the last hundred years to examine and explain facets of the relationship between culture, social organization and the environment: determinism, possibilism, cultural ecology, systems theory and ideas derived from modern biology. He follows this with a detailed review and appraisal of important recent research involving the use of ecological models, methods and data. This original and innovative study of the pre-eminently social character of human ecological relations will be of considerable interest to all students and researchers concerned with understanding the nature of the relationship between human beings and their environments.

Societal Development, Social Equality, and Homicide: A Cross-National Test of a Durkheimian Model

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to formulate and test a Durkheimian model of societal development and homicide. Relying heavily on Anthony Giddens' recent reinterpretation of the Division of Labor, we argue that development has no overall effect on the societal homicide rate primarily because the egalitarian changes accompanying development make for new forms of social solidarity. Our theory leads us to predict that there will be no significant zeroorder relationship between development and homicide, a positive partial effect of measures of moral individualism on homicide, and a negative partial effect of a measure of equality on homicide. The results of a cross-sectional analysis for a sample of 50 nations provide partial support for the theory. In a series of works spanning roughly the past decade, Anthony Giddens (a, b, c) has challenged the orthodox interpretation of Durkheim's social theory. This interpretation, developed most fully by Parsons and Nisbet, stresses the conservative nature of Durkheim's thought. Durkheim is depicted as an order theorist. His main concern, according to this view, is to propose a solution to the Hobbessian problem of order, a solution which emphasizes the need for a strong consensus to prevent the degeneration of society into the war of each against all. Social change, the argument continues, potentially threatens the strength of the extremely fragile societal consensus. Durkheim is thus seen as being highly suspicious of social change and fearful of its consequences. Giddens argues forcefully against this conservative interpretation of Durkheim's thought and proceeds to draw out the implications for political sociology of a revised reading of Durkheim. These implications, however, are not confined to political sociology per se. It is our position that Gid

Theoretical archaeology: a reactionary view

Abstract: Functionalism is defined as the use of an organic analogy in the explanation of societies, with particular reference to system, equilibrium and adaptation. The New Archaeology is found to be functionalist and a critique of functionalism is put forward, centring on the dichotomies between culture and function, individual and society, statics and dynamics, and on the links to positivism. Criticisms of an alternative approach, structuralism, include the lack of a theory of practice, the dichotomies between individual and society, statics and dynamics, and the paucity of rigour in the methods employed. A contextual or cultural archaeology is described which is based on the notion of ‘structuration’, and which attempts to resolve many of the difficulties associated with functionalism and ‘high’ structuralism. The main concern is with the role of material culture in the reflexive relationship between the structure of ideas and social strategies. Similarities are identified with the historical and humanistic aims of an older generation of British prehistorians such as Daniel, Piggott, Clark and Childe. Today, however, the earlier aims can be followed more successfully because of developments in social theory and ethnographic studies. Functionalism and the New Archaeology In defining functionalism, a simplified version of Radcliffe-Brown's (1952) account will be used since his approach can be shown to be close to that followed by many New Archaeologists (those who in the 1960s and 1970s were concerned with explanations and approaches of the types outlined by Binford and his associates).

Feminism, Criticism, and Foucault

Abstract: In a lecture given onJanuary 6, 1976 and later published in a collection of interviews entitled Power/Knowledge, Michel Foucault discusses his own work in terms of the discovery over the past fifteen years of"a certain fragility in the bedrock of existence even, and perhaps above all, in those aspects of it that are most familiar, most solid, and most intimately related to our bodies and our everyday behavior."' And he relates this "vulnerability to criticism" of aspects of knowledge and power that have long been obscured to a recognition of the inhibiting effects of"global, totalitarian theories."' His polemics against systematizing, universalizing theories and their will to truth are clearly directed in part at scientific Marxism and its economism as well as to the "laws" of psychoanalysis; and his History of Sexuality challenges various 20thcentury sexual liberationists' attempts to combine those two theories.s Certainly, both his polemics and his methodological breaks with traditional social theory make him interesting for feminists, whose political and theoretical projects converge at important points with the provocations of Foucault. Feminist theory and political strategies have effected a profound shift in conceptions of "politics" and in assumptions about the location and exercise of power. Having identified the ideological construction of the sexed subject as a crucial place to situate the question of sexual difference and the struggle against women's oppression, radical and lesbian feminists in particular have consistently refused to privilege the economic over the ideological conditions of oppression and change; they have legitimized the struggle over the production, distribution and transformation of meaning as a focus for political intervention and opposition. Of course, American radical and lesbian feminist literature and political strategies have been and continue to be criticized with varying degrees of legitimacy by Marxists and Marxist-feminists

Power, the Dialectic of Control and Class Structuration

Abstract: In this discussion I shall seek to draw some connections between certain aspects of the theory of structuration and the analysis of class structure in capitalist societies. The theory of structuration is based upon the following claims: that social theory (which I take to be relevant equally to each of the social scientific disciplines: sociology, anthropology, psychology and economics, as well as history) should incorporate an understanding of human behaviour as action; that such an understanding has to be made compatible with a focus upon the structural components of social institutions or societies; and that notions of power and domination are logically, not just contingently, associated with the concepts of action and structure as I conceptualise them.1 I shall not be concerned to substantiate these claims, but shall attempt rather to trace out a few of their implications for issues that I take to be important to class analysis.

Hermeneutics and Social Theory

Abstract: ‘Hermeneutics’ — the theory of interpretation — has only recently become a familiar term to those working in the social sciences, at least in the English-speaking world. On the face of it this is an oddity, for the hermeneutic tradition stretches back at least as far as the late eighteenth century; and the term ‘hermeneutics’ derives from the Greeks. But this neglect is less odd than it appears, since the hermeneutic tradition was most firmly established in Germany, and many of the key texts remain untranslated into English. The concept of verstehen, the unifying notion of the hermeneutic tradition, became most widely known in the English-speaking world through its adoption by Max Weber. As such, it was subject to scourging attack by those associated with what I shall call the ‘orthodox consensus’.1 The controversy about verstehen in the English-speaking literature,2 however, largely by-passed some of the most significant questions raised by the hermeneutic tradition. Weber was only influenced in some part by that tradition, drawing his methodological ideas more strongly from the work of Rickert and the ‘Marburg School’.

Toward an Ethnographic Language

Abstract: In this article a general language for the characterization of ethnographic research is suggested. Drawing on interpretive philosophy, especially the work of Gadamer and Schutz, a core process of ethnography is described that emphasizes the resolution of problems in understanding across tradition boundaries. Concepts from recent work in knowledge representation are incorporated into the discussion to integrate it with current interdisciplinary work. [ethnography, hermeneutics, knowledge representation] ETHNOGRAPHY IS AT THE HEART OF THE ANTHROPOLOGIES that deal with living peoples. It is a truism that much of what happens in ethnographic research is difficult to talk about. It is also a truism that this is a difficulty, partly because the usual language for discussing social research as a general process fits ethnography poorly. In the past, as its worst consequence, this lack of fit caused a sense of embarrassment in confrontations with selfappointed "real scientists." At present, as ethnography is used increasingly outside traditional academic anthropological contexts, there are other consequences. Now we have self-appointed "ethnographers" producing superficial garbage, or competent ethnographers many of whom are unable to account for their understandings of others. This article is an attempt to move toward a general way to talk about ethnography. It draws heavily on the work of two philosophers usually called "interpretive" or "hermeneutic" - Alfred Schutz and Hans Georg Gadamer. In some ways, it is inexcusable to do yet another social science essay based on their work. Garfinkel (1967), after all, built much of ethnomethodology on Schutz's work, and Habermas is developing his social theory in part using Gadamer (McCarthy 1978). Geertz's The Interpretation of Cultures (1973) and Goffman's Frame Analysis (1974) also set forth well-written perspectives on the study of social life that are thematically consistent with some of the philosophical writings.

Moral Philosophy in Social Work Today

Abstract: In response to major social changes, the social work profession's moral philosophy and mission have become fragmented and weakened. Some social workers are being charged as "immoral." Official positions taken by professional organizations on certain moral issues are controversial and express a libertarian morality that is open to question and criticism. It is suggested that this whole subject merits open dialogue, that the profession's moral philosophy be reformulated and tested in practice, and that the study of social work philosophy and ethics be reestablished in the basic social work educational curriculum.

"Sociological Reductionism" From Parsons to Althusser: Linking Action and Structure in Social Theory

Abstract: The theories of Parsons and Althusser are compared in terms of the questions they asked, the answers they gave, and the methodological strategies they used to link the two in order to raise questions about the theoretical solutions sociologists have developed to confront methodological individualism and avoid psychological reductionism. In the theories of Parsons and Althusser action is linked to structure by a systems framework in which no theoretically relevant social action occurs outside the system. Both adapted natural science models to explanations of social phenomena by using analogies of the unconscious and of language. Because these theoretical conceptualizations do not enable one to specify the limits of structural effect, it is argued that they are "sociologically reductionist." Alternative conceptualizations are suggested which conceive of social structure as setting limits but not preselecting behavior and as enabling theoretically meaningful choice out of multiple and conflicting pressures on social action. It is then argued that this choice must be incorporated in our theories of the social in order for us to explain social change. Finally, questions are raised about several underlying assumptions which may lead sociologists to sociologically reductionist theories.

Symbolic and Structural Archaeology: Social formation, social structures and social change

Abstract: In this chapter Tilley outlines aspects of a general social theory which has implications for all archaeological processes – the use and deposition of material culture and its analysis and interpretation. The concern is to situate archaeology securely within the social sciences to which it can contribute positively as a discipline defined by a distinctive body of information. According to the theory presented, societies have a dual nature. They consist of individual people, but also of social structures. Individual acts are orientated according to principles or rules which in turn are reproduced by the actions. Man makes himself within a particular spatial and historical context in which he ‘knows how’ to act, even if he is unaware of all the structuring principles employed. Action has consequences (intended and unintended) which form the social structure. Material culture has a central role in the relationship between the individual and the social structure. Material items are structured according to principles or rules, but they also structure further individual actions as part of a particular ideological framework. Finally, the nature and causes of social change are considered and emphasis is placed on contradictions between the interests and orientations of individuals and groups within society. Introduction The position put forward here for an understanding of the nature of social formations and of changes within them is defined as dialectical structuralism .

On Durkheim's Explanation of Division of Labor

Abstract: Durkheim's explanation of the division of labor is shown to be faulty in several major respects. While his metatheoretical critique of utilitarian social theory, which was closely intertwined with his analysis of the division of labor, is still persuasive, his causal explanation of the division of labor is questionable wherever it modifies the earlier body of thought. Ironically, it was his metatheoretical concerns expressed in the critique of utilitarian social theory that flawed his contributions to a causal explanation of social differentiation.

Time-Space Relations in Giddens' Social Theory:

Abstract: In his last two books, Central Problems In Social Theory and A Contemporary Critique of Historical Materialism, Giddens has brought what he calls &dquo;time-space relations&dquo; into the centre of his discussion of modern social theory. By this term he means the temporal and spatial dimensions of life which, in his opinion, are essential components of all social behaviour. They are said to be essential not just because they provide a backdrop to events, but because they are constitutive elements of all social action and interaction. According to Giddens, much recent sociological theory (particularly functionalism and structuralism) has systematically excluded time-space relations from serious consideration. The result has been a widespread misunderstanding of certain aspects of social life due to the misperception or outright neglect of these two integral aspects of social experience. One could briefly summarise Giddens’ main points with reference to time-space relations as follows.

The written and the repressed in Gouldner's industrial sociology

Abstract: In many ways Alvin Gouldner's industrial sociology prefigures his later work. His studies of the General Gypsum Company combine what later become two separate branches of his discourses on social theory: the exploration of the liberative potential of structural functionalism and the appropriation of the critical moments of Marxism. In Patterns of Industrial Bureaucracy, he explores Merton's ideas of functional equivalence, to suggest alternative forms of factory administration, and of latent function, to unveil the domination behind bureaucratic rules. In WiMcat Strike, he turns Parsons's conditions of stable interaction into their opposite: the conditions for disequilibrium. In both books he draws on Marxian ideas of systemic contradiction and struggle as the motor of change, to explain the emergence of new patterns of industrial bureaucracy and to illuminate purposeful collective action. His subsequent books The Coming Crisis of Western Sociology and For Sociology, on one hand, and The Dialectic of Technology and Ideology and The Two Marxisms, on the other can be viewed as reflections on what was tacit and repressed in his analysis of the General Gypsum Company. Even The Future of Intellectuals and the Rise of the New Class has roots in Gouldner's construction of the ideal type "representative bureaucracy" based on expertise and in his treatment of bureaucratic succession in terms of the ideologies of locals and cosmopolitans. Nor is this continuity between his early industrial studies and his later critiques of Academic Sociology and Marxism surprising. For Gouldner was not interested in locating the General Gypsum Company historically, or as a specific part of a specific totality. To the contrary, like other major organization theorists of the period (e.g., Lipset, Selznick, and Blau), he was more concerned with stripping away the particular to reveal the general. General Gypsum Company was a laboratory for testing and developinggeneral theories applicable to diverse contexts, rather than a specific sociology of industry. And yet Gouldner's analysis remains particularly relevant to recent Marxist studies of the labor process. His critique of the "metaphysical pathos" behind

What is Curriculum Theory? A Special Problem in Social Theory.

Abstract: Education is a practical profession. Like other professions, such as criminal justice, social work, and public administration, it takes as its task the production of some social good. The social good being promoted in this case is learning, whether it is thought of in the restricted sense of schooling or the more extended sense of education (Bereiter, 1972). Curricular phenomena are central to education and are characterized by Walker (1981) as follows:

Discourse, knowledge, and social process: Some changing equations

Abstract: PHILOSOPHY AND THE MIRROR OF NATURE. By Richard Rorty. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1981; pp. 401. $6.95 paper. TOWARDS A TRANSFORMATION OF PHILOSOPHY. By Karl‐Otto Apel. Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1980. $30.00. CENTRAL PROBLEMS IN SOCIAL THEORY: ACTION, STRUCTURE AND CONTRADICTION IN SOCIAL ANALYSIS. By Anthony Giddens. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975. $9.95 paper.

The Social Theory of Anthony Giddens: A New Syncretism?

Abstract: Giddens has written a number of works with the common aim of reorienting something called &dquo;social theory&dquo;. His latest book, A Contemporary Crltlque of Historical Materialism, attempts to assess what is of enduring value In Marx’s work and to integrate it as part of a larger theoretical synthesis. Let me begin by saying that Giddens is right to claim that Marxism is In need of radical theoretical reconstruction and a root and branch critique which challenges those aspects of it which are imprisoned In nineteenth-century metaphysics. Giddens will, rightly, have nothing to do with evolutionism and functionalism, with &dquo;Iron laws&dquo; and historical necessity, with economic determinism, and so on. In this respect he is concurring with the massive body of non-orthodox Marxist theoretical work over the last twenty or so years, and , with all due respect is saying little that is new or surprising in the course of his critique.

Schutz and Parsons: Problems of Meaning and Subjectivity

Abstract: Even the severest critic of Talcott Parsons must recognise the extraordinary nature of his contributions to social theory over a period of half a century. More than any other single scholar, Parsons has been responsible for introducing an Anglo-Saxon sociological audience to a sophisticated reading of the works of Durkheim and Max Weber — in addition to translating important segments of Weber’s writings. Parsons early on developed a critical stance towards positivism (in a certain sense of that term, at least) and behaviourism, and has always taken a firm stand against anti-theoretical tendencies in American sociology. He has produced a continuing flow of empirically orientated contributions himself, while never deviating from an overall strategy of developing a systematic framework of social theory. This framework was first of all outlined in The Structure of Social Action, originally published in 1937. There are many (including myself) who would regard this formidably long and dense volume as a greater achievement than any other single work or essay collection that Parsons has published subsequently.