Showing papers on "Social theory published in 1999"

Powers of Freedom: Reframing Political Thought

Abstract: Powers of Freedom, first published in 1999, offers a compelling approach to the analysis of political power which extends Foucault's hypotheses on governmentality in challenging ways. Nikolas Rose sets out the key characteristics of this approach to political power and analyses the government of conduct. He analyses the role of expertise, the politics of numbers, technologies of economic management and the political uses of space. He illuminates the relation of this approach to contemporary theories of 'risk society' and 'the sociology of governance'. He argues that freedom is not the opposite of government but one of its key inventions and most significant resources. He also seeks some rapprochement between analyses of government and the concerns of critical sociology, cultural studies and Marxism, to establish a basis for the critique of power and its exercise. The book will be of interest to students and scholars in political theory, sociology, social policy and cultural studies.

Social Theory of International Politics

Abstract: Drawing upon philosophy and social theory, Social Theory of International Politics develops a theory of the international system as a social construction. Alexander Wendt clarifies the central claims of the constructivist approach, presenting a structural and idealist worldview which contrasts with the individualism and materialism which underpins much mainstream international relations theory. He builds a cultural theory of international politics, which takes whether states view each other as enemies, rivals or friends as a fundamental determinant. Wendt characterises these roles as 'cultures of anarchy', described as Hobbesian, Lockean and Kantian respectively. These cultures are shared ideas which help shape state interests and capabilities, and generate tendencies in the international system. The book describes four factors which can drive structural change from one culture to another - interdependence, common fate, homogenization, and self-restraint - and examines the effects of capitalism and democracy in the emergence of a Kantian culture in the West.

Realism and Social Science

Abstract: PART ONE: INTRODUCING CRITICAL REALISM Introduction Key Features of Critical Realism in Practice A Brief Introduction PART TWO: POSTMODERN-REALIST ENCOUNTERS Introduction Realism for Sceptics Postmodernism and the Three 'PoMo' Flips Essentialism, Social Constructionism and Beyond PART THREE: Social Science and Space Introduction Space and Social Theory Geohistorical Explanation and Problems of Narrative PART FOUR: CRITICAL REALISM: FROM CRITIQUE TO NORMATIVE THEORY Introduction Critical Realism and the Limits to Critical Social Science Ethics Unbound For a Normative Turn in Social Theory

Discourse in late modernity : rethinking critical discourse analysis

Abstract: Discourse in Late Modernity sets out to show that critical discourse analysis is strongly positioned to address empirical research and theory-building across the social sciences, particularly research and theory on the semiotic/linguistic aspects of the social world It situates critical discourse analysis as a form of critical social research in relation to diverse theories from the philosophy of science to social theory and from political science to sociology and linguistics First, the authors clarify the ontological and epistemological assumptions of critical discourse analysis - its view of what the social world consists of and how to study it - and, in so doing, point to the connections between critical discourse analysis and critical social scientific research more generally Secondly, they relate critical discourse analysis to social theory, by creating a research agenda in contemporary social life on the basis of narratives of late modernity, particularly those of Giddens, Habermas, and Harvey as well as feminist and postmodernist approaches Thirdly, they show the relevance of sociological work in the analysis of discursive aspects of social life, drawing on the work of Bourdieu and Bernstein to theorise the dialectic of social reproduction and change, and on post-structuralist, post-colonial and feminist work to theorise the dialectic of complexity and homogenisation in contemporary societies Finally, they discuss the relationship between systemic-functional linguistics and critical discourse analysis, showing how the analytical strength of each can benefit from the other * Sets out a new and distinctive theoretical grounding and research agenda for critical discourse analysis * Interdisciplinary in scope * Draws on a broad range of theories and approaches

Social mechanisms : an analytical approach to social theory

Abstract: Acknowledgements List of contributors 1. Social mechanisms: an introductory essay Peter Hedstrom and Richard Swedberg 2. Social mechanisms and social dynamics Thomas C. Schelling 3. A plea for mechanisms Jon Elster 4. Real virtuality Gudmund Hernes 5. Concatenations of mechanisms Diego Gambetta 6. Do economists use social mechanisms to explain? Tyler Cowen 7. Social mechanisms of dissonance reduction Timur Kuran 8. Social mechanisms without black boxes Raymond Boudon 9. Is sociological theory too grand for social mechanisms? Axel van den Berg 10. Theoretical mechanisms and the empirical study of social processes Aage B. Sorensen 11. Monopolistic competition as a mechanism: corporations, universities, and nation-states in competitive fields Arthur L. Stinchcombe 12. Rational imitation Peter Hedstrom Indexes.

Exploring Disability: A Sociological Introduction

Abstract: 1. Introduction. 2. Understanding Disability. What a difference a decade makes! Developing a sociological imagination. Comparative and historical perspectives. A tale of two models. Sociological issues and approaches. Review. 3. Sociological Approaches to Chronic Illness and Disability. Sick role behaviour. Labelling theory. Experience of 'chronic illness and disability'. Medical and professional power. Medicalization. Towards a sociology of the disabled body? Review. 4. Enter Disability Theory. New ways of analysing disability. Developing a social theory of disability. Review. 5. Disabling Barriers. The disabled family. Education. Employment. Built environment, housing and transport. Review. 6. Social Policy and Disabled People. Disability and the welfare state. Social security policy. Social support in the community. Review. 7. Politics and Disability Politics. Politics and disabled people. Disability protest: a new social movement? Identity politics. Review. 8. Culture, Leisure and the Media. Sociological approaches to culture. Leisure and social life. Cultural representations of disability. Towards a disability culture. Review. 9. Advancing the Sociology of Disability. Theory: Out with the old and in with the new? Disabling research. Life chances. Moving forward. Bibliography. Index.

Paradoxes of Participation: Questioning Participatory Approaches to Development

Abstract: This article suggests that the concepts underlying participatory approaches to development should be subject to greater critical analysis. Drawing on research on water resource management in sub-Saharan Africa, and on social theory concerning the recursive relationship between agency and structure, it illustrates the need for a more complex understanding of issues of eAciency and empowerment in participatory appro- aches. Particularly, two key concepts are examined: ideas about the nature and role of institutions; and models of individual action. The article concludes by identifying the questions such an analysis raises about the relationships between community, social capital and the state. Copyright # 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 1 PARTICIPATION IN DEVELOPMENT DISCOURSE Heroic claims are made for participatory approaches to development, these being justified in the terms of ensuring greater eAciency and eAectiveness of investment and of contributing to processes of democratization and empowerment. The conundrum of ensuring the sustainability of development interventions is assumed to be solvable by the proper involvement of beneficiaries in the supply and management of resources, services and facilities. However, despite significant claims to the contrary there is little evidence of the long-term eAectiveness of participation in materially improving the conditions of the most vulnerable people or as a strategy for social change. Whilst the evidence for eAciency receives some support on a small scale, the evidence regarding empower- ment and sustainability is more partial, tenuous and reliant on assertions of the rightness of the approach and process rather than convincing proof of outcomes. Participation has therefore become an act of faith in development; something we believe in and rarely question. This act of faith is based on three main tenets; that

How Can We Trust Our Fellow Citizens

Abstract: Trust is more than just another interesting, difficult, though only recently widely studied social phenomenon. The current rise in interest in this phenomenon (as reflected in recent writings by, among others, Fukuyama, Seligman, Gambetta, Giddens, Levi, Misztal, Putnam, and Eisenstadt) as well as the closely related group of phenomena such as social capital, respect, recognition, confidence, associability, social cohesion, and civil society may have to do with a widely shared, though largely implicit, diagnosis of basic problems of public policy and the steering of social coordination, and ultimately the maintenance of social order itself. Specialists in the field of sociology of knowledge will have to reflect upon why it is that these perennial questions of social theory are widely addressed today in terms of such “soft” conceptual tools referring to informal and subinstitutional social phenomena. But there cannot be much doubt that cognitive frames and moral dispositions that prevail at the grass roots level of social life are perceived by many social theorists to be a kind of bottleneck variable upon which the viability of institutions is thought to be contingent. What I take to be the underlying intuition that conditions the current rise in the interest in trust and related phenomena can be explicated as a skeptical threestep argument. First, the social order of modern society is reproduced through a mix of three major media of coordination. Money serves to coordinate the action of market participants. Democratically constituted political authority backed by legitimate force constrains and enables the action of citizens through legal regulation and the enforcement of the law through the court system and executive state agencies. And knowledge derived from systematic observation, monitoring and research into social as well as nonsocial realities, as well as the storage and dissemination of this knowledge through the networks of bureaucratic and professional organizations, the mass media and educational institutions, generates a society-wide attention and awareness and cognitive skills concerning what the current and foreseeable future problems of actors are, what needs to be done, and how best to do it. Second, the synthetic ideal resulting from these three media of coordination, call it the ideal of an intelligently regulated market economy is still an incomplete vision of social order, as it misses, or at any rate does not assign a proper role to, informal modes of social coordination through commitments that result from life-world-based images and beliefs that members of modern societies hold about other members of such societies, and the action that

The Pursuit of History: Aims, Methods and New Directions in the Study of Modern History

Abstract: List of images. Preface to the Sixth Edition. Acknowledgements. 1. Historical awareness 2. The uses of history 3. Mapping the field 4. The raw materials 5. Using the sources 6. Writing and interpretation 7. The limits of historical knowledge 8. History and social theory 9. Cultural evidence and the cultural turn 10. Gender history and postcolonial history 11. Memory and the spoken word 12. History beyond academia. Conclusion. Index.

Breaking the Consensus: lifelong learning as social control

Abstract: This article rejects the powerful consensus in the UK and beyond to the effect that lifelong learning is a wonder drug which, on its own, will solve a wide range of educational, social and political ills. The main features of the consensus are encapsulated in a few central tenets and their influence demonstrated by a few representative quotations. Ten key problems with the consensus are listed and this analysis ¦prompts the question, if the thesis is so poor, why is it so popular? Alternative visions of the learning society and of lifelong learning are then presented, including a sceptical version of lifelong learning as social control, which treats lifelong learning not as a self‐evident good but as contested terrain between employers, unions and the state. Finally, some reflections are offered on possible ways forward. Both the critique of the dominant consensus and the suggestions for policy have been shaped by the Economic and Social Research Council's Learning Society Programme and by the fi...

Security, Identity and Interests: A Sociology of International Relations

Abstract: Bill McSweeney addresses the central problem of international relations - security - and constructs a novel framework for its analysis. He argues for the unity of the interpersonal, societal and international levels of human behaviour and outlines a concept of security which more adequately reflects the complexity and ambiguity of the topic. This book introduces an alternative way of theorizing the international order, within which the idea of security takes on a broader range of meaning, inviting a more critical and interpretative approach to understanding the concept and formulating security policy. The recent shift to sociology in international relations theory has not as yet realized its critical potential for the study of security. Drawing on contemporary trends in social theory, Dr McSweeney argues that human agency and moral choice are inherent features of the construction of the social and thus international order, and hence of our conception of security and security policy.

A Phenomenology of Working-Class Experience

Abstract: This moving and challenging book by Simon Charlesworth deals with the personal consequences of poverty and class and the effects of growing up as part of a poor and stigmatized group. Charlesworth examines these themes by focussing on a particular town - Rotherham - in South Yorkshire, England, and using the personal testimony of disadvantaged people who live there, acquired through recorded interviews and conversations. He applies to these life stories the interpretative tools of philosophy and social theory, drawing in particular on the work of Pierre Bourdieu and Merleau-Ponty, in order to explore the social relations and experiences of a distinct but largely ignored social group. The culture described in this book is not unique to Rotherham and Charlesworth argues that the themes and problems identified in this book will be familiar to economically powerless and politically dispossessed people everywhere.

Risk, calculable and incalculable

Abstract: This paper starts with two approaches to risk : the sociological approach of Ulrich Beck and the 'governmentality' account based on Michel Foucault's theses Beck's approach is characterized as totalizing, realist, and relying on a uniform conception of risk Moreover, his narrative of the emergence of risk society founders on the untenable binary, calculable/incalculable Using Francois Ewald on social insurance, the paper argues that risk is better approached as a form of calculative rationality, a way of rendering the incalculable calculable The governmental account allows us to analyse specific forms of risk rationality and technology, the types of agency and identity involved in practices of risk, and the political and social imaginaries to which these practices are linked The governmental account, however, encounters difficulties in grasping the more general transformations of contemporary regimes of government In this respect, Beck's notion of reflexivity is extremely useful The paper then delineates various types of risk rationality (insurance, epidemiological, clinical, and case-management risk, and comprehensive risk management) and places them in an analytic of contemporary government It concludes that one of the conditions of these new forms of government is the 'governmentalisation of government' Rather than 'the death of the social', it is better to understand this analytic as charting a transformation of the liberal problematic of security and the emergence of 'reflexive government'

Agro-Food Studies in the ‘Age of Ecology’: Nature, Corporeality, Bio-Politics

Abstract: The theoretical purview and contemporary political relevance of agro-food studies are restricted by their unexamined methodological foundations in modernist ontology. The nature-society dualism at the core of this ontology places agro-food studies, and their ‘parent’ disciplines in the orthodox social sciences, outside the broad intellectual project that is advancing the greening of social theory, and militates against effective engagement with the bio-politics of environmental organizations and Green movements. The disabling consequences of the erasure of nature in agro-food studies are explored by analyzing several recent theoretical perspectives: the consumption ‘turn’ in the work of Fine, Marsden and their respective colleagues, and Wageningen actor-oriented rural sociology. The merits of actor-network theory in resolving these ontological limitations are then considered using brief case-studies of food scares, agri-biotechnologies, and the recent proposals to regulate organic agriculture in the United States.

Family Demography, Social Theory, and Investment in Social Capital

Abstract: Many demographers trained in sociology frame their work with ideas from economics if only implicitly. While economic concepts are of great value the field of demography especially family demography can benefit from the introduction of sociological theory and conversely sociological theory can be enhanced and refined by the work of social demographers. The authors discuss social capital a concept based in sociology which is being widely incorporated into current social science. The social capital concept is an extension of the social exchange theory commonly used by family demographers. It shares with neoclassical economics and materialist anthropology the premise that demographic phenomena are the outgrowth of human behavior. According to social exchange theory exchange takes place in a variety of institutional contexts including but not limited to the markets which economists usually envision. Another premise of social exchange theory is that exchange occurs between individuals who are known to each other as well as between the anonymous traders of economic exchange. The authors advance and defend the notions that in the context of social exchange theory investing in social capital is a major motivation for human behavior and that the formation of sexual partnerships the birth and rearing of children and both intragenerational and intergenerational transfers are major forms of investment in social capital in almost all societies.

Pride and Prejudice: Discourses of Normalisation in Public and Private Accounts of Home Ownership

Abstract: This paper fills a gap in the literature surrounding the social and economic consequences of the rapid and widespread growth of home ownership in Great Britain. Hitherto, the debate has focused on the causes and consequences of the 'residualisation' of social rented housing. It has been characterised by economic conceptions of power influenced by Weberian and Marxist social theory. Foucault's work on power has made few inroads into this debate. Drawing upon a reading of Foucault's work, it is argued in this paper that home ownership has been subject to a process of normalisation, and that this is at least as important as widely rehearsed coerced exchange and social exclusion arguments in explaining the labelling of social rented housing estates. Evidence for the normalisation of home ownership is presented through an analysis of selected landmark policy documents and in data collected as part of an ethnographic study of home owners in Bristol undertaken in the early 1990s. The paper contends that the norm...

Understanding Agency: Social Theory and Responsible Action

Abstract: PART ONE: MATERIALS AND ARGUMENTS Everyday Discourse `Choice' and `Agency' in Social Theory A Brief Digression on Attribution On Individualism in Social Theory Transcending Individualism PART TWO: SPECULATIONS AND EVALUATIONS `Agency' and `Responsibility' in Sociological Theory Agency, Responsibility and New Human Biotechnologies Rational Agents in Differentiated Societies On the Fine Line between State and Status

Paradoxes of participation : questioning participatory approaches to development

Abstract: This article suggests that the concepts underlying participatory approaches to development should be subject to greater critical analysis. Drawing on research on water resource management in sub-Saharan Africa, and on social theory concerning the recursive relationship between agency and structure, it illustrates the need for a more complex understanding of issues of efficiency and empowerment in participatory appro- aches. Particularly, two key concepts are examined: ideas about the nature and role of institutions: and models of individual action. The article concludes by identifying the questions such an analysis raises about the relationships between community, social capital and the state. Copyright ',€) 1999 John Wiley & Sons. Lid.

The Role of Perceived Barriers in Career Development: A Social Cognitive Perspective

Abstract: Recent research has verified the claim that high school and college students perceive a variety of career-related barriers. Lent, Brown, and Hackett's (1994, 1996) social cognitive career theory and Weiner's (1979, 1985, 1986) attribution theory are useful approaches to increase understanding of the role that perceived barriers play in career development. This article presents a brief overview of the primary components of each theory as they relate to career-related barriers, discusses counseling implications associated with each approach, and provides ideas for future research to explore the utility of these theories in explaining career-related barriers.

The Power of Feelings: Personal Meaning in Psychoanalysis, Gender, and Culture

Abstract: In the middle of the twentieth century, leading cultural critics and visionaries-Erik Erikson, Lionel Trilling, Herbert Marcuse, and many others-turned to psychoanalysis as a measure of human personal and cultural fulfillment Now, as we enter a new millennium, Nancy J Chodorow, well known as a feminist theorist and psychoanalyst, takes her place in this line of eminent thinkers and revitalizes their project Psychoanalysis, she claims, offers in its clinical goals and its vision of possibility insight into the nature of subjectivity and the quality of good relations with others It continues centuries of reflection and imagination about the good life In this pathbreaking book, Chodorow draws upon her broad knowledge and background in social theory, her feminism, and her experience as a psychoanalyst In extensively elaborated chapters on psychoanalytic theory, she argues that a psychoanalysis that takes as its starting point the immediacy of unconscious fantasy and feeling found in the clinical encounter can illuminate our understanding of individual subjectivity and potentially transform all sociocultural thought Creating a dialogue between feminism, anthropology, and psychoanalysis, she holds that feminism, anthropology, and other cultural theories require that psychoanalysts take seriously how cultural meanings help to constitute psychic life At the same time, psychoanalysis demonstrates that contemporary theories of meaning cannot neglect the unconscious realm, which has just as much power as culture does to create meaning for the individual Chodorow acknowledges postmodern accounts of the decentering and fragmentation of individuality but argues that psychoanalysis gives us an account of subjectivity that incorporates forms of wholeness and depth of experience, without which we cannot have a meaningful life

The Puzzle of Continuing Group Inequality: Piecing Together Psychological, Social, and Cultural Forces in Social Dominance Theory

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter deals with a systems-dynamic approach to encompass the range of phenomena relevant to group dominance, from individual psychologies to societal organization. The chapter essentially takes into account the previous works to fit together the pieces of the puzzle of group dominance in a dynamic, integrative theory. The chapter also summarizes robust and important findings from individual prejudice, social ideologies, and institutional discrimination while emphasizing their relationships. Several social theories hint that one must examine whether social relationships are egalitarian or hierarchical. Social dominance theory integrates these processes into a dynamic system and generates research and explains phenomena across levels that social psychology frequently ignores, including the society, family, group, and individual. Because social dominance theory attempts to explain group-based dominance, it examines individuals' psychological orientations towards group dominance versus group equality. This dimension is called social dominance orientation.

Environment and Social Theory

Abstract: Written in an engaging and accessible manner by one of the leading scholars in his field, Environment and Social Theory, completed revised and updated with two new chapters, is an indispensable guide to the way in which the environment and social theory relate to one another. This popular text outlines the complex interlinking of the environment, nature and social theory from ancient and pre-modern thinking to contemporary social theorizing. John Barry: examines the ways major religions such as Judaeo-Christianity have and continue to conceptualize the environment analyzes the way the non-human environment features in Western thinking from Marx and Darwin, to Freud and Horkheimer explores the relationship between gender and the environment, postmodernism and risk society schools of thought, and the contemporary ideology of orthodox economic thinking in social theorising about the environment. How humans value, use and think about the environment, is an increasingly central and important aspect of recent social theory. It has become clear that the present generation is faced with a series of unique environmental dilemmas, largely unprecedented in human history. With summary points, illustrative examples, glossary and further reading sections this invaluable resource will benefit anyone with an interest in environmentalism, politics, sociology, geography, development studies and environmental and ecological economics.

The Role of Parents in Moral Development: A social domain analysis

Abstract: This article provides a social domain theory analysis of the role of parents in moral development. Social knowledge domains, including morality as distinct from other social concepts, are described. Then, it is proposed that, although morality is constructed from reciprocal social interactions, both affective and cognitive components of parents' interactions with their children may facilitate children's moral development. The affective context of the relationship may influence children's motivation to listen to and respond to parents; in addition, affect associated with responses to transgressions can affect children's encoding and remembering of those events. Although moral interactions occur frequently in peer contexts, parents' domain-specific feedback about the nature of children's moral interactions are proposed to provide a cognitive mechanism for facilitating moral development. Parents promote children's moral understanding by providing domain appropriate and developmentally sensitive reasoning and...

Informality: Social Theory and Contemporary Practice

Abstract: Introduction: What is informality? Part 1. Informality and its Assets 1. Defining Informality 2. The growing formlessness and unpredictability of social life 3. Informality and styles of interaction Part 2. Revealing the insignificance of informality 4. Explaining cooperation 5. Making music together 6. The dynamics of innovation Part 3. Informality in the changing world 7. Technology and informality 8. Political change and informality Conclusion: informality and democracy

Does Culture Evolve

Abstract: The drive to describe cultural history as an evolutionary process has two sources. One from within social theory is part of the impetus to convert social studies into “social sciences” providing them with the status accorded to the natural sciences. The other comes from within biology and biological anthropology in the belief that the theory of evolution must be universal in its application to all functions of all living organisms. The social--scientific theory of cultura evolution is pre-Darwinian, employing a developmental model of unfolding characterized by intrinsic directionality, by definable stages that succeed each other, and by some criterion of progress. It is arbitrary in its definitions of progress, and has had the political problem that a diachronic claim of cultural progress implies a synchronic differential valuation of present-day cultures. The biological scheme creates an isomorphism between the Darwinian mechanism of evolution and cultural history, postulating rules of cultural “mutation,” cultural inheritance and some mechanism of natural selection among cultural alternatives. It uses simplistic ad hoc notions of individual acculturation and of the differential survival and reproduction of cultural elements. It is unclear what useful work is done by substituting the metaphor of evolution for history.

After Justification Repertoires of Evaluation and the Sociology of Modernity

Abstract: This article presents the moral and political sociology developed by the research group around Luc Boltanski and Laurent Thevenot from its gradual dissociation from the tradition of critical sociology during the 1980s to the present. Taking the major presentation of this approach, De la justification, as the point of departure, the key items of criticism to which this book was exposed are discussed, both in terms of their intellectual merit and in light of the ongoing debates in French social and political theory. The work of this group was often rather erroneously taken to have provided both a new theory of society and a new normative political philosophy. What it aimed at achieving in the first place, in contrast, was a questioning of the assumptions on which reasonings in social theory and political philosophy are based and how those reasonings relate to social actors' own engagement with the world. Not least in response to the criticism received, however, the approach has been further elaborated in re...

Colonial and Contemporary Ideologies of ‘Community Management’: The Case of Tank Irrigation Development in South India

Abstract: This is an essay in the sociology of knowledge. It aims to demonstrate, firstly, how development institutions construct rural society in terms of organizational imperatives, and secondly, how these ‘constructions’ come to be underpinned by social theory. The focus is on irrigation in south India and colonial and contemporary state policy initiatives to promote local institutions for the community management of decentralized resource systems. The essay presents the social and historical origin of an important and powerful set of contemporary policy ideas. The significance of this lies in the continuing misperception of local institutions of resource management, and in particular the systematic isolation of resource management from its particular social and historical context.

Against structure : a critique of morphogenetic social theory

Abstract: This article criticises the ontology of Margaret Archer’s morphogenetic social theory, arguing that the concept of autonomous social structure on which she bases this social theory is contradictory. Against the ontological contradictions of Archer’s work, the article tries to re-habilitate the interpretive tradition which Archer dismisses, showing that only this tradition provides a logically coherent and methodologically useful social ontology, which consists only of individuals and their social relations.