Showing papers on "Social theory published in 1989"

Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity

Abstract: In this 1989 book Rorty argues that thinkers such as Nietzsche, Freud, and Wittgenstein have enabled societies to see themselves as historical contingencies, rather than as expressions of underlying, ahistorical human nature or as realizations of suprahistorical goals This ironic perspective on the human condition is valuable on a private level, although it cannot advance the social or political goals of liberalism In fact Rorty believes that it is literature not philosophy that can do this, by promoting a genuine sense of human solidarity A truly liberal culture, acutely aware of its own historical contingency, would fuse the private, individual freedom of the ironic, philosophical perspective with the public project of human solidarity as it is engendered through the insights and sensibilities of great writers The book has a characteristically wide range of reference from philosophy through social theory to literary criticism It confirms Rorty's status as a uniquely subtle theorist, whose writing will prove absorbing to academic and nonacademic readers alike

How Societies Remember

Abstract: In treating memory as a cultural rather than an individual faculty, this book provides an account of how bodily practices are transmitted in, and as, traditions. Most studies of memory as a cultural faculty focus on written, or inscribed transmissions of memories. Paul Connerton, on the other hand, concentrates on bodily (or incorporated) practices, and so questions the currently dominant idea that literary texts may be taken as a metaphor for social practices generally. The author argues that images of the past and recollected knowledge of the past are conveyed and sustained by ritual performances and that performative memory is bodily. Bodily social memory is an essential aspect of social memory, but it is an aspect which has until now been badly neglected. An innovative study, this work should be of interest to researchers into social, political and anthropological thought as well as to graduate and undergraduate students.

Unruly Practices: Power, Discourse and Gender in Contemporary Social Theory

Abstract: Acknowledgements. Introduction. Part I: Powers, Norms, and Vocabularies of Contestation:. 1. Foucault on Modern Power:. Empirical Insights and Normative Confusions. 2. Michael Foucault: A a Young Conservativea ?. 3. Foucaulta s Body Language: A Posthumanist Political Rhetoric?. Part II: On the Political and the Symbolic:. 4. The French Derrideans:. Politicizing Deconstruction or Deconstructing the Political?. 5. Solidarity or Singularity?:. Richard Rorty between Romanticism and Technocracy. Part III: Gender and the Politics of Need Interpretation:. 6. Whata s Critical about Critical Theory?. The Case of Habermas and Gender. 7. Women, Welfare, and the Politics of Need Interpretation. 8. Struggle over Needs: Outline of a Socialist--Feminist Critical. Theory of Late Capitalist Political Culture. Index.

Nuts and bolts for the social sciences

Abstract: This 1989 book is intended as an introductory survey of the philosophy of the social sciences. It is essentially a work of exposition which offers a toolbox of mechanisms - nuts and bolts, cogs and wheels - that can be used to explain complex social phenomena. Within a brief compass, Jon Elster covers a vast range of topics. His point of departure is the conflict we all face between our desires and our opportunities. How can rational choice theory help us understand our motivation and behaviour? More significantly, what happens when the theory breaks down but we still cleave to a belief in the power of the rational? Elster describes the fascinating range of forms of irrationality - wishful thinking, the phenomenon of sour grapes, discounting the future in noncooperative behaviour. This is a remarkably lucid and comprehensive introduction to the social sciences for students of political science, philosophy, sociology and economics.

On social facts

Abstract: Four concepts are considered in relation to the question: can an illuminating characterization of the social sciences be given in terms of one concept of a relatively natural kind of thing? Weber's concept of 'social action' provides neither a general characterization, nor an important partial account, or so I argue after examining its relation to collectivity concepts, to suicide studies, and to standard desiderata for scientific concepts I next assess the notion of 'meaningful'action Peter Winch claims that such action is always 'social' in some sense, because it involves rule-following and rules f presuppose' a social setting I consider the nature of Winch's Wittgensteinian arguments about rules; two senses in which all action might be 'social' emerge; however, were 'social actions' in either sense the focus of a science, it would not therefore aptly be called a social science, the senses of 'social' here being too weak I turn next to what I allege is Durkheim's basic notion of a 'social fact' , roughly, that of a way of acting which 'inheres in' and is 'produced by' a social group I present a highly articulated reconstruction of this notion: a 'collective practice', Pr, of a social group, G, will "be a 'Durkheimian social phenomenon', according to this revised conception, if and only if either Pr or another collective practice of G provides members of G who conform to Pr with a 'basic' reason for so conforming A central element in my account of collective practices is a notion of 'group common knowledge' derived from David Lewis I finally undertake a detailed critique of David Lewis's account of conventions and of the 'co-ordination problems' Lewis claims underlie conventions; I argue for a kind of account different in form from Lewis's, in which conventions are not, and do not necessarily involve, 'regularities' in behaviour The Durkheimian notion is judged the best joartial characterization of a social science considered Its presupposition of the notion of a social group is, I argue, no flaw I conclude with a general theory of 'socialness', and hence of social science, based on my judgements about the four concepts considered

World of Our Making: Rules and Rule in Social Theory and International Relations

Abstract: Introduction PART I: Rules 1. Constructivism 2. Law and Language 3. Cognition, Judgement, Culture 4. The Problem of Order PART II: Rule 5. The Presumption of Anarchy 6. Political Society 7. World Politics 8. Rationality and Resources

Critical Ethnography in Education: Origins, Current Status, and New Directions:

Abstract: Interpretivist movements in anthropology and sociology have recently merged with neo-Marxist and feminist theory to produce a unique genre of research in the field of education known as “critical ethnography.” Critical ethnographers seek research accounts sensitive to the dialectical relationship between the social structural constraints on human actors and the relative autonomy of human agency. Unlike other interpretivist research, the overriding goal of critical ethnography is to free individuals from sources of domination and repression. This review traces the development of critical ethnography in education, including a brief discussion of its view of validity; discusses its current status as a research genre; and describes criticisms and suggests new directions.

What's at stake in the agent-structure debate?

Abstract: Recent developments in the philosophy of science, particularly those falling under the rubric of “scientific realism,” have earned growing recognition among theorists of international relations but have failed to generate substantive programs of research. Consequently, the empirical relevance of much philosophical discourse, such as that centering on the agent-structure problem in social theory, remains unestablished. This article attempts to bridge the gap between the philosophy and practice of science by outlining a model of international structure based on the principles of scientific realism and by considering its implications for a structural research program in international relations theory. Appealing to Imre Lakatos's methodology of theorychoice, the article presents an ontological case for adopting a “transformational” model of structure over the “positional” model developed in the work of Kenneth Waltz. The article demonstrates that the positional approach offers no conceptual or explanatory hold on those features of the international structure that are the intended products of state action. In conclusion, the article argues that the stakes in the agent-structure debate include the capacity to generate integrative structural theory and the ability to theorize the possibilities for peaceful change in the international system.

Critical theory, Marxism, and modernity

Abstract: Preface and Acknowledgements. Part 1: Theory, Politics, and History: 1. 1. Critical Theory and Modernity. 1. 2. Critical Theory and the Crisis of Marxism. 1. 3. The Institute for Social Research. Part 2: From Supradisciplinary Materialism to Critical Theory: 2. 1. Supradisciplinary Materialism. 2. 2. Toward a Materialist Social Psychology. 2. 3. Traditional and Critical Theory. Part 3: State, Society, Economy: New Theories of Capitalism and Fascism: 3. 1. Political Sociology and Political Economy. 3. 2. From Market to Monopoly / State Capitalism. 3. 3. Fascism. 3. 4. Fragments of a Theory of Society. Part 4: From Dialectic of Enlightenment to the Authoritarian Personality: Critical Theory in the 1940s: 4. 1 Science, Reason and Dialectic of Enlightenment. 4. 2. Eclipse of Reason. 4. 3. Critical Theory, the Proletariat and Politics. 4. 4. Studies in Prejudice and the Return to Germany. Part 5: From 'Authentic Art' to the Culture of Industries: Critical Theory and the Dialectics of Culture: 5. 1. Dialectics of Culture. 5. 2. Critical Theory and the Culture Industry. 5. 3. New Critical Perspectives on Commodities, Needs and Consumption. Part 6: From the Consumer Society to Postmodernism: Critical Theory and the Vicissitudes of Capitalism: 6. 1. Critical Theory and the Consumer Society. 6. 2. New Critical Perspectives on Commodities, Needs and Consumption. 6. 3. Critical Theory, Modernity and Post-Modernity. Part 7: Techno-Capitalism: 7. 1. Technology, Capitalism and Domination. 7. 2. The Capitalist State. 7. 3. Toward a New Crisis Theory: Habermas and Offe. Part 8: Theory and Practice: The Politics of Critical Theory: 8. 1. Critical Theory and Radical Politics. 8. 2. Techno-Capitalism, Crisis and Social Transformation. 8. 3. New Social Movements and Socialist Politics. 8. 4. For Supradisciplinary Radical Social Theory with a Practical Intent. Notes. Index.

Beyond Feminist Aesthetics: Feminist Literature and Social Change

Abstract: "Beyond Feminist Aesthetics" has a dual focus. First, Rita Felski gives a critical account of current American and European feminist literary theory, and second, she offers an analysis of contemporary fiction by women, drawing in particular on the genres of the autobiographical confession and the novel of self-discovery, in order to show that this literature raises questions for feminism that cannot be answered in terms of a purely gender based analysis.Felski argues that the idea of a feminist aesthetic is a nonissue that feminists have needlessly pursued; she suggests, in contrast, that it is impossible to speak of "masculine" and "feminine," "subversive" and "reactionary" literary forms in isolation from the social conditions of their production and reception. The political value of such works of literature from the standpoint of feminism can be determined only by an investigation of their social functions and effects in relation to the interests of women in a particular historical context. This leads her to argue for an interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of literature which can integrate literary and social theory, and to develop such an approach by drawing upon the model of a feminist counter-public sphere.Rita Felski has produced a closely reasoned, stimulating book that creates a new framework for discussing the relationship between literature and feminist politics. It will interest students and teachers of women's studies, comparative literature, cultural studies, and fiction.

Social theory of modern societies : Anthony Giddens and his critics

Abstract: List of abbreviations Editors' introduction David Held and John B. Thompson 1. Social theory as critique Richard J. Bernstein 2. Hermeneutics and modern social theory Zygmunt Bauman 3. The theory of structuration John B. Thompson 4. Models of historical trajectory: an assessment of Giddens's critique of Marxism Erik Olin Wright 5. Capitalism, nation-states and surveillance Bob Jessop 6. War and the nation-state in social theory Martin Shaw 7. Only half the story: some blinkering effects of 'malestream' sociology Linda Murgatroyd 8. Citizenship and autonomy David Held 9. Presences and absences: time-space relations and structuration theory Derek Gregory 10. Space, urbanism and the created environment Peter Saunders 11. On the (ir)relevance of structuration theory to empirical research Nicky Gregson 12. A reply to my critics Anthony Giddens Select bibliography Index.

Dilemmas of the American Self

Abstract: Preface 1. The Ubiquity of the Self 2. Social Theory as Cultural Text 3. A View of American Culture 4. Modernity, Society, and Community 5. A Theory of Identity 6. Strategies of Self-Construction 7. In the Last Analysis Notes Bibliography Index

Indirect Relationships and Imagined Communities: Large-Scale Social Integration and the Transformation of Everyday Life

Abstract: This chapter presents general features of modernity that social theory has pointed to but inadequately thematized and that help to provide a much stronger sociological foundation for grasping some of the phenomena to which postmodern thought calls our attention. Modern political and economic affairs are distinguished by the increasing frequency, scale, and importance of indirect social relationships. The reproduction of embodied but social sensibilities, habituses, is altered as social life comes more and more to be coordinated through indirect relationships. Recognizing the role of indirect relations and imagined communities provides a way to understand the increasing split between everyday life and large-scale systemic integration, thus potentially informing and improving Jurgen Habermas's account of social versus system integration. Perhaps the most important transformation of everyday life in the modern era has been the sharpening and deepening of a split between the world of direct interpersonal relationships and the mode of organization and integration of large-scale social systems.

Getting Beyond the Facts: Teaching Social Studies/Social Sciences in the Twenty-First Century

Abstract: In this second edition of Getting Beyond the Facts, Kincheloe presents a comprehensive view of complex-democratic social studies in the 21st century He argues that the reform of social studies education requires a corps of rigorous social science scholars who understand the historical origins of the social studies, the conceptual foundations of the field, its strengths and weaknesses, and modes of social theoretical analysis and takes students through numerous intellectual encounters in social studies and the contexts that inform it Focusing on the importance of knowledge production and interpretation, Kincheloe calls for the education of social studies teachers as researchers who can critique and reconstruct curriculum as they expose the covert, ideological functions of contemporary educational reforms and top-down standards-driven social studies subject matter In an era of depoliticization and induced political illiteracy, Kincheloe calls for a new form of social studies/social sciences scholarship to counter such alarming trends

The haunted study: A social history of the English novel, 1875-1914

Abstract: This study aims to place English fiction in the context of a culture in the throes of dynamic change. The period that produced Trollope, Stevenson, Wilde, Henry James and Virginia Woolf also encompassed Rider Haggard, Conan Doyle, Ethel M.Dell, H.de Vere Stacpole, "Boys' Own Paper" and the Religious Tract Society, and ran from the heyday of the triple-decker to the birth of the cheap reprint, and the commercial devices for selling books ran in harness with the developing profession of authorship. The author sets this flowering of literacy firmly in the social context of the developing attitudes that shaped a society in transition. While late Victorian notions were subject to traumatic change under the impact of post-Darwinian social theory, new approaches to economics, radical concepts of religion, the family, empire, there were parallel forces in play in the business of authorship and the trade of publishing.

Structure After 50 Years: The Anatomy of a Charter

Abstract: In the half century since its publication, The Structure of Social Action has emerged as one of the classics of the sociological tradition. At the present time, however, there is scarcely any agreement about the status of the book's argument among all those who still appeal to the volume. After 50 years, the vast scholarship generated by Structure is in disarray, with separate literatures existing for different aspects of the book and controversies present in all these literatures. This paper examines each major aspect of Structure: its (1) sociohistorical context, (2) writing style, (3) methodological argument, (4) account of the history of social theory, (5) analysis of action, (6) view of the social world, (7) perspective on the actor, (8) treatment of the problem of order, and (9) approach to voluntarism. The paper argues that, when Structure is embedded in the sociointellectual context where it was produced, and is interpreted as a "charter" intended to defend the science of sociology against forces ...

Sociology: Proscience or Antiscience?

Abstract: Criticisms of the scientific status of sociology possess some validity when applied against narrowly positivist interpretations of sociological methods and metatheory, but do not undermine the scientific project offormulating generalized explanatory models. (1) Critics allege that sociology has made no lawful findings; but valid general principles exist in many areas. (2) Situational interpretation, subjectivity, reflexivity, and emergence are alleged to undermine explanatory sociology, but these topics themselves can be explained by a widened conception of science that allows informal procedures in theorizing aimed at maximizing explanatory coherence. (3) The fact that intellectual discourse itself is a historically changeable social product does not invalidate objective explanatory knowledge. (4) The historicist claim that there can be no principles that hold across particular times and places is invalid and rests upon a confusion of underlying generative principles with the complexities of the empirical surface of history. (5) Metatheoretical criticism of the concept of causality does not undermine a sophisticated conception of scientific sociology. Sociological knowledge can and does advance, but it depends upon building the coherence of theoretical conceptions across different areas and methods of research.

International Relations and the Search for Thinking Space: Another View of the Third Debate

Abstract: Recent debates in International Relations have seen some of the characteristic dichotomies of the discipline under severe and sophisticated challenge. The proposition, for example, that the study of International Relations, is somehow "independent" of mainstream debates on theory and practice in the social sciences is now widely rejected. The disciplines change in attitude on this issue owes much, in the 1980s, to the influences of an as yet small group of scholars who have infused the "third debate" in International Relations with an appreciation for previously "alien" approaches to knowledge and society, drawn from interdisciplinary sources, which repudiate (meta) theoretical dualism in all its forms. Utilizing the sponge term "postpositivism" Yosef Lapid has concentrated on an important aspect of the "third debate," one which has seen positivist based perspectives repudiated in favor of critical perspectives derived, primarily, from debates on the philosophy of science. This paper takes a broader view of the "third debate" in focusing on some of the broader patterns of dissent in social theory that are now evident in its literature. It argues that for all the differences associated with the new critical social theory approaches, theirs is critique with common purpose. Its purpose: to help us understand more about contemporary global life by opening up for questioning dimensions of inquiry which have been previously closed off and supressed; by listening closely to voices previously unheard; by examining "realities" excluded from consideration under a traditional (realist) regime of unity and singularity. Its purpose, reiterated: the search for "thinking space" within an International Relations discipline produced by and articulated through Western modernist discourse.

Scarcity and Modernity

Abstract: Examines the relentless pursuit of material goods as a recent phenomenon and assesses its historical development. This book should be of interest to students and lecturers in moral philosophy, social theory, literary criticism, social history.

Structuration Theory and Social Praxis

Abstract: Human beings ‘make their own history, but not in circumstances of their own choosing’ (Marx, 1963, p. 15; for variations, see Simmel, 1950, pp. 12–13; Vico, 1968, pp. 382–3, para. 1108) is an aphorism that appears more cogent in the preface to most works in social theory than it does in the conclusions. There is, of course, a substantial body of theory and research that illustrates various processes and procedures through which social action is produced; but such works generally neglect the implication of historically inherited collective circumstances in the course and outcome of social conduct, and make no mention of the constitution of social collectivities. Theory and research that capture the contours of collectivities have been a fundamental objective of social science since its inception; but accounts of social action incorporated in such works typically are designed to stress the intrusion of structure or systemic circumstances into the consciousness of actors or the domain in which activity occurs, while the practices through which the production of social life takes place remain unaddressed. The numerous analytical arguments and methodological procedures that have been advanced to ascribe priority to either social action or the properties of collectivities are difficult to sustain when considered in light of two textbook truisms: the existence of collectivities exhibiting specific properties and particular configurations depends upon the transaction of determinate forms of conduct; conversely, social conduct is carried out in different ways in historically specific types of collectivities.

A Feminist Critique of Rational-Choice Theories: Implications for Sociology

Abstract: I consider the relationship between two currents affecting sociology, rational-choice theory and interdisciplinary feminist theory. In particular, I consider how the feminist critique of the separative model of self applies to one version of rational-choice theory, neoclassical economics. In discussing this I identify four assumptions of neoclassical economics: selfishness; interpersonal utility comparisons are impossible; tastes are exogenous and unchanging; and individuals are rational. I argue that each of these harmonizes best with a view of separate rather than connected selves, and that this imbalance distorts theories, particularly those that claim to understand women’s experience. These distorting assumptions are less prevalent in sociology than in economics, but some of them are implicit in some versions of sociological rational-choice and exchange theories. I conclude by using research on marital power to illustrate how removing distorting assumptions and bringing questions about separation/connection to center stage can help illuminate sociological research.

The analysis of ideology

Abstract: Distinguished French sociologist Raymond Boudon presents here a critical theory history of the concept of ideology. His highly original and lucidly argued study addresses the core question of any account of ideology. How do individuals come to adhere to false or apparently irrational beliefs, and how do such beliefs become collectively accepted as true? Boudon begins by providing an exhaustive and subtle critique of sociological explanations of ideology from early conceptions to its current usage in the works of Barthes, Foucault, Habermas, Sartre, and others. He then offers his own interpretation of the origins and emergence of ideological beliefs. In opposition to those views which associate ideology with irrationalism, Boudon shows that ideologies are a natural ingredient of social life; he develops a rationalist theory that helps to explain why certain ideas are believed by individuals and thereby effective in the social world. Finally, he examines case studies of two modern-day ideologies developmentalism and Third Worldism. Moving easily across disciplinary boundaries, Boudon's provocative contribution to a subject of growing significance will be of great interest to scholars in sociology and social theory, as well as philosophy, political science, and development studies."

The Political and Social Theory of Max Weber: Collected Essays

Abstract: Concentrating on Weber's engagement with political issues and their influence over his more theoretical concepts, Mommsen offers a critical analysis of Weber's notion of democracy, distinguishing its liberal and elitist features.

Personality and crime: Knowledge destruction and construction in criminology

Abstract: Antipersonality themes in mainstream criminology have been fueled for years by highly suspect moral, professional, and ideological concerns and by something less than a rational empirical approach. The research evidence regarding the importance of personality has been positive form the beginning but has been the focus of a highly rhetorical and pseudoscientific form of criticism. These efforts as knowledge destruction are reviewed and are found to be ideologically and professionally convenient but weakly grounded logically and empirically. The papaer concludes that a social theory of criminal conduct need not resist recognition of the importance of human diversity.

Justice and Solidarity : on the Discussion Concerning Stage 6 in Hermeneutics in Ethics and Social Theory.

Abstract: L'A. propose un modele ethique capable d'integrer les notions traditionnellement concurrentes de solidarite et de justice. Il discute la theorie du developpement moral de L. Kohlberg, et compare sa propre demarche a celle de J. Rawls et T. Scaton