Showing papers on "Social theory published in 2002"

Toward a Theory of Social Practices A Development in Culturalist Theorizing

Abstract: This article works out the main characteristics of `practice theory', a type of social theory which has been sketched by such authors as Bourdieu, Giddens, Taylor, late Foucault and others. Practice theory is presented as a conceptual alternative to other forms of social and cultural theory, above all to culturalist mentalism, textualism and intersubjectivism. The article shows how practice theory and the three other cultural-theoretical vocabularies differ in their localization of the social and in their conceptualization of the body, mind, things, knowledge, discourse, structure/process and the agent.

Methodological Nationalism and Beyond: Nation-State Building, Migration and the Social Sciences

Abstract: Methodological nationalism is understood as the assumption that the nation/state/society is the natural social and political form of the modern world. We distinguish three modes of methodological nationalism that have characterized main- stream social science, and then show how these have influenced research on migra- tion. We discover parallels between nationalist thinking and the conceptualization of migration in postwar social sciences. In a historical tour d'horizon, we show that this mainstream concept has developed in close interaction with nation-state building pro- cesses in the West and the role that immigration and integration policies have played within them. The shift towards a study of 'transnational communities' - the last phase in this process - was more a consequence of an epistemic move away from methodo- logical nationalism than of the appearance of new objects of observation. The article concludes by recommending new concepts for analysis that, on the one hand, are not coloured by methodological nationalism and, on the other hand, go beyond the fluidism of much contemporary social theory. After the first flurry of confusion about the nature and extent of contemporary pro- cesses of globalization, social scientists moved beyond rhetorical generalities about the decline of the nation-state and began to examine the ways in which nation-states are currently being reconfigured rather than demolished. That nation-states and nationalism are compatible with globalization was made all too obvious. We wit- nessed the flouring of nationalism and the restructuring of a whole range of new states in Eastern Europe along national lines in the midst of growing global interconnec- tions. The concomitance of these processes provides us with an intellectual opening to think about the limitations of our conceptual apparatus. It has become easier to under- stand that it is because we have come to take for granted a world divided into discrete and autonomous nation-states that we see nation-state building and global inter- connections as contradictory. The next step is to analyse how the concept of the nation-state has and still does influence past and current thinking in the social sciences, including our thinking about transnational migration. It is our aim in this article to move in this direction by exploring the intellectual potential of two hypotheses. We demonstrate that nation-state building processes have fundamentally shaped the ways immigration has been perceived and received. These perceptions have in turn influenced, though not completely determined, social science

The Site of the Social: A Philosophical Account of the Constitution of Social Life and Change

Abstract: Inspired by Heidegger's concept of the clearing of being, and by Wittgenstein's ideas on human practice, Theodore Schatzki offers a novel approach to understanding the constitution and transformation of social life. Key to the account he develops here is the context in which social life unfolds-the "site of the social"-as a contingent and constantly metamorphosing mesh of practices and material orders. Schatzki's analysis reveals the advantages of this site ontology over the traditional individualist, holistic, and structuralist accounts that have dominated social theory since the mid-nineteenth century. A special feature of the book is its development of the theoretical argument by sustained reference to two historical examples: the medicinal herb business of a Shaker village in the 1850s and contemporary day trading on the Nasdaq market. First focusing on the relative simplicity of Shaker life to illuminate basic ontological characteristics of the social site, Schatzki then uses the sharp contrast with the complex and dynamic practice of day trading to reveal what makes this approach useful as a general account of social existence. Along the way he provides new insights into many major issues in social theory, including the nature of social order, the significance of agency, the distinction between society and nature, the forms of social change, and how the social present affects its future.

Darwin's Cathedral

Abstract: One of the great intellectual battles of modern times is between evolution and religion. Until now, they have been considered completely irreconcilable theories of origin and existence. David Sloan Wilson's "Darwin's Cathedral" takes the radical step of joining the two, in the process proposing an evolutionary theory of religion that shakes both evolutionary biology and social theory at their foundations. The key, argues Wilson, is to think of society as an organism, an old idea that has received new life based on recent developments in evolutionary biology. If society is an organism, can we then think of morality and religion as biologically and culturally evolved adaptations that enable human groups to function as single units rather than mere collections of individuals? Wilson brings a variety of evidence to bear on this question, from both the biological and social sciences. From Calvinism in 16th-century Geneva to Balinese water temples, from hunter-gatherer societies to urban America, Wilson demonstrates how religions have enabled people to achieve by collective action what they never could do alone. He also includes a chapter considering forgiveness from an evolutionary perspective and concludes by discussing how all social organizations, even science, could benefit by incoporating elements of religion. Religious believers often compare their communities to single organisms and even to insect colonies. Astoundingly, Wilson shows that they might be literally correct. Intended for any educated reader, "Darwin's Cathedral" should change forever the way we view the relations among evolution, religion and human society.

Concrete and clay : reworking nature in New York City

Abstract: Co-winner of the 2003 Spiro Kostof Award presented by the Society of Architectural Historians In this innovative account of the urbanization of nature in New York City, Matthew Gandy explores how the raw materials of nature have been reworked to produce a "metropolitan nature" distinct from the forms of nature experienced by early settlers. The book traces five broad developments: the expansion and redefinition of public space, the construction of landscaped highways, the creation of a modern water supply system, the radical environmental politics of the barrio in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and the contemporary politics of the environmental justice movement. Drawing on political economy, environmental studies, social theory, cultural theory, and architecture, Gandy shows how New York's environmental history is bound up not only with the upstate landscapes that stretch beyond the city's political boundaries but also with more distant places that reflect the nation's colonial and imperial legacies. Using the shifting meaning of nature under urbanization as a framework, he looks at how modern nature has been produced through interrelated transformations ranging from new water technologies to changing fashions in landscape design. Throughout, he considers the economic and ideological forces that underlie phenomena as diverse as the location of parks and the social stigma of dirty neighborhoods.

Relational and Contractual Governance in Family Firms: Effects on Strategic Decision Making

Abstract: Governance of family firms differs from mainstream corporate governance in an important respect: Important owners, i.e., family members, may have multiple roles in the business. In this paper, we develop and test a model of family firm governance that incorporates both formal control and social control aspects of governance. Governance based on the formal control draws on agency theory, whereas the social control aspects draw on social theories of governance, addressing social capital embedded in relationships. Drawing on these theories, we examine the influence of different governance mechanisms on the quality of strategic decision making. The Family Business Governance Model is tested using survey data from 192 family firms in Finland. We use structural equation modeling in testing the empirical validity of the model. The empirical analysis largely supports our hypotheses on formal control and social control as well as their influences on the decision-making quality.

Reading Freire and Habermas: Critical Pedagogy and Transformative Social Change

Abstract: In this book, two well-known scholars of critical educational studies provide a compelling introduction to the thoughts of Brazilian educator Paulo Freire and German critical theorist Jurgen Habermas. While there are many other books about these influential thinkers, this is the first to compare their theories in-depth and situate their thinking in relation to other social theories and philosophies of education. The authors demonstrate that, despite their differences, these philosophers share crucial views on science, society, critical social psychology, and educational praxis that are mutually illuminating and offer a new point of departure for a critical theory of education. The book is organized around the following themes: (a) Freire and Habermas' philosophies of the social sciences as a form of critical social theory; (b) their theories of society; (c) the critical social psychology that underlies their conception of the dialogical and developmental subject; and (d) the implications of their overall perspective for educational practice.

The Intersections of Identity and Politics in Archaeology

Abstract: ▪ Abstract This paper traces the conjunction of two interrelated epistemic phenomena that have begun to shape the discipline since the early 1990s. The first entails theorizing social identity in past societies: specifically, how social lives are inscribed by the experiences of gender, ethnicity, sexuality, and so on. The other constitutes the rise of a politicized and ethical archaeology that now recognizes its active role in contemporary culture and is enunciated through the discourses of nationalism, sociopolitics, postcolonialism, diaspora, and globalism. Both trends have been tacitly shaped by anthropological and social theory, but they are fundamentally driven by the powerful voices of once marginalized groups and their newfound place in the circles of academic legitimacy. I argue that our disciplinary reticence to embrace the politics of identity, both in our investigations of the past and our imbrications in the present, has much to do with archaeology's lack of reflexivity, both personal and disc...

Postcolonial nursing scholarship: from epistemology to method.

Abstract: Postcolonial theory, with its interpretations of race, racialization, and culture, offers nursing scholarship a set of powerful analytic tools unlike those offered by other nursing and social theories. Building on the foundation established by those who first pointed to the importance of incorporating cultural aspects into nursing care, nursing scholarship is in a position to move forward. Critical perspectives such as postcolonialism equip us to meet the epistemological imperative of giving voice to subjugated knowledges and the social mandates of uncovering existing inequities and addressing the social aspects of health and illness. This article makes a case for the integration of postcolonial perspectives into theorizing and sketches out a research methodology based on the postcolonial tradition.

Contemporary Sociological Theory and Its Classical Roots: The Basics

Abstract: 1. Introduction Part I CLASSICAL BACKGROUND TO CONTEMPORARY THEORY 2. Classical Grand Theories Auguste Comte: The Law of the Three Stages Biographical Sketch Box: Key Concept: Positivism Emile Durkheim: From Mechanical to Organic Solidarity Biographical Sketch Box: Key Concept: Social Facts Box: A Neat Distinction: The Sacred and the Profane Herbert Spencer: Compounding and from Militant to Industrial Society Biographical Sketch Box: An Unfortunate Idea: Survival-of-the-Fittest Karl Marx: From Capitalism to Communism Biographical Sketch Box: A Key Concept: Dialectical Materialism Max Weber: The Rationalization of Society Biographical Sketch Box: Key Concepts: The Ideal Type and the Ideal-Typical Bureaucracy Georg Simmel: The Growing Tragedy of Culture Biographical Sketch Thorstein Veblen: From Industry to Business Biographical Sketch BOX: Key Concepts: Conspicuous Leisure and Conspicuous Consumption 3. Classical Theories of Everyday Life Max Weber: Social Action Box: Key Concept: Verstehen Georg Simmel: Association Box: Key Concept: Secrecy George Herbert Mead: Social Behaviorism Biographical Sketch Other Key Ideas Associated with the Chicago School Biographical Sketch: Charles Horton Cooley Talcott Parsons: Action Theory Biographical Sketch Alfred Schutz The Lifeworld Biographical Sketch Part II CONTEMPORARY THEORY 4. Contemporary Theoretical Portraits of the Social World Structural Functionalism The Functional Theory of Stratification and Its Critics Talcott Parsons's Structural Functionalism Robert Merton's Structural Functionalism Biographical Sketch Conflict Theory The Work of Ralf Dahrendorf Niklas Luhmann's General System Theory Autopoietic Systems Society and Psychic Systems Differentiation 5. Contemporary Grand Theories A Structural Functional Theory of Change: Talcott Parsons on Social Evolution Neo-Marxian Theory Critical Theory and the Emergence of the "Culture Industry" Monopoly Capitalism: The Changing Nature of the Capitalist Economy From Fordism to Post-Fordism Rational Choice Theory: James Coleman and the Rise of the Corporate Actor Biographical Sketch Micro-Macro Analysis: Norbert Elias and the Civilizing Process Biographical Sketch Analyzing Modernity: Jurgen Habermas and the Colonization of the Life World Biographical Sketch Analyzing Modernity: Anthony Giddens' "Juggernaut" and Ulrich Beck's Risk Society Biographical Sketch: Anthony Giddens Analyzing Modernity: George Ritzer's "McDonaldization of Society" Analyzing Modernity: Manuel Castells' Informationalism and the Network Society 6. Contemporary Theories of Everyday Life Dramaturgy (And Other Aspects of Symbolic Interaction): Erving Goffman Biographical Sketch Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis: Harold Garfinkel Biographical Sketch Exchange Theory: George Homans Biographical Sketch Rational Choice Theory: James Coleman The Everyday World from a Feminist Perspective Modernity, Identity and Intimacy: Anthony Giddens 7. Contemporary Integrative Theories The Micro Foundations of Macrosociology Autobiographical Sketch: Randall Collins The Work of Richard Emerson and His Disciples on a More Integrated Exchange Theory Biographical Sketch: Richard Emerson Toward a More Integrative Rational Choice Theory: James Coleman Structuration Theory: Anthony Giddens Culture and Agency: Margaret Archer Habitus and Field: Pierre Bourdieu Biographical Sketch: Pierre Bourdieu Colonization of the Life-World: Jurgen Habermas An Integrated Feminist Sociological Theory 8. Contemporary Feminist Theories The Basic Theoretical Questions Contemporary Feminist Grand Theories Gender Difference Cultural Feminism Explanatory Theories Existential and Phenomenological Analyses Gender Inequality Liberal Feminism Biographical Sketch: Jessie Bernard Gender Oppression Psychoanalytic Feminism Radical Feminism Biographical Sketch: Dorothy E. Smith Structural Oppression Socialist Feminism Intersectionality Theory Biographical Sketch: Patricia Hill Collins 9. Postmodern Grand Theories Toward Postmodern Grand Narratives: Daniel Bell and the Transition from Industrial to Post-Industrial Society Postmodern Analysis: Michel Foucault and Increasing "Governmentality" Biographical Sketch From Modern to Postmodern: Zygmunt Bauman Postmodern Analysis: Jean Baudrillard's Rise of Consumer Society, Loss of "Symbolic Exchange" and Increase in "Simulations" Postmodern Analysis: The Consumer Society and the New Means of Consumption Biographical Sketch: George Ritzer Feminism and Postmodern Social Theory

Appetites : Food and Sex in Post-Socialist China

Abstract: Judith Farquhar’s innovative study of medicine and popular culture in modern China reveals the thoroughly political and historical character of pleasure. Ranging over a variety of cultural terrains--fiction, medical texts, film and television, journalism, and observations of clinics and urban daily life in Beijing— Appetites challenges the assumption that the mundane enjoyments of bodily life are natural and unvarying. Farquhar analyzes modern Chinese reflections on embodied existence to show how contemporary appetites are grounded in history. From eating well in improving economic times to memories of the late 1950s famine, from the flavors of traditional Chinese medicine to modernity’s private sexual passions, this book argues that embodiment in all its forms must be invented and sustained in public reflections about personal and national life. As much at home in science studies and social theory as in the details of life in Beijing, this account uses anthropology, cultural studies, and literary criticism to read contemporary Chinese life in a materialist and reflexive mode. For both Maoist and market reform periods, this is a story of high culture in appetites, desire in collective life, and politics in the body and its dispositions.

The Reconsidered Model of Membership Categorisation Analysis

Abstract: This article briefly investigates the role that ethnomethodology has played in sociological analyses of language and interaction. The work of Harvey Sacks is investigated in relation to membership categorization and the analysis of talk-in-interaction. More specifically, the authors focus on how this strand of work has been developed in recent years and now represents a powerful apparatus for conducting sociological analyses of interaction in a diverse range of settings in a way that is sensitive to issues related to social organization, normativity, identity, macro–micro synthesis, knowledge and developments in social theory.

Agency and Archaeology: Past, Present, and Future Directions

Abstract: In light of the growing social scientific interest in agency theory, this paper sets out to examine and critically evaluate recent approaches to agency within archaeology. To this end, the paper briefly outlines the foundational theories of Pierre Bourdieu and Anthony Giddens before turning to discuss the central themes and issues that emerge from some of the more influential contemporary approaches to agency within archaeology. Drawing from these differing approaches, this paper seeks to establish conceptual clarity in archaeological thinking about agency through a discussion of the importance of distinguishing between intentions, consequences, meanings, and motives when seeking to understand the situated subjectivities of historical actors.

Face to Face: Toward a Sociological Theory of Interpersonal Behavior

Abstract: What are the processes and mechanisms involved in interpersonal behavior, and how are these constrained by human biology, social structure, and culture? Drawing on and updating classic sociological theory, and with special reference to the most recent research in evolutionary and neurophysiological theory, this ambitious work aims to present no less than a unified, general theory of what happens when people interact. Despite modern technologies that mediate communication among individuals, face-to-face interaction is still primal and primary. This book argues against recent social theory that postulates a dramatic change in the nature of human relationships under postmodernity and, instead, asserts that despite undeniable and accelerating change in people's environments, certain basic human tendencies toward emotionally inflected, physically present social interaction remain strong. Turner builds on first principles he locates in the work of Mead, Freud, Schutz, Durkheim, and Goffman. After brief overviews of previous work on the embeddedness of social interaction in sociocultural systems and in human biology, each chapter presents elements of the microdynamics involved in encounters: emotions, motivations (transactional needs), culture (normative conventions), role processes, status, demographics, and ecology. Each chapter ends with a series of testable propositions, which are then streamlined into a series of summary principles intended to motivate future research. The book concludes with some cautious hypotheses on the potential influence of microprocesses on broader social dynamics.

Actor-Centered Social Work: Re-visioning “Person-in-Environment” through a Critical Theory Lens

Abstract: The ecosystems perspective has become the most prevalent approach for understanding the relationship between person and social environment. It views the individual and larger social systems as separate but contiguous elements that transact with each other in relationships of mutual influence. This article revisions the relationship between person and social environment through the lens of critical theory. Emphasizing distinctively human characteristics, arguments define human actors as coconstructors of, not just interactors within, their social environments. It is suggested that the individual is "in" the larger social system not so much the way a smaller box is contained within a larger box but rather the way dancers are in a ballet or a football team is in a game. The dancers and the players co-constitute the dance and the game. Although human behavior is shaped by society and its structures, those very structures are recursively constructed, maintained, and reproduced by the social actions of human agents over time. Implications for social work practice, research, and education are discussed.

Risk and Technological Culture: Towards a Sociology of Virulence

Abstract: The question as to whether we are now entering a risk society has become a key debate in contemporary social theory. Risk and Technological Culture presents a critical discussion of the main theories of risk from Ulrich Becks foundational work to that of his contemporaries such as Anthony Giddens and Scott Lash and assesses the extent to which risk has impacted on modern societies. In this discussion van Loon demonstrates how new technologies are transforming the character of risk and examines the relationship between technological culture and society through substantive chapters on topics such as waste, emerging viruses, communication technologies and urban disorders. In so doing this innovative new book extends the debate to encompass theorists such as Bruno Latour, Donna Haraway, Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari and Jean-Francois Lyotard.

The Politics of Population: State Formation, Statistics, and the Census of Canada, 1840-1875

Abstract: Inspired by recent developments in social theory and based on extensive archival research, this book provides the first systematic analysis of the developing knowledge capacities of the state in Victorian Canada. No government can intensively administer citizens about whom it knows nothing. The centralization of knowledge in the form of official statistics was an important dimension of state formation. The census of population was the leading project for the production of social intelligence. .The Politics of Population. provides a detailed account of the political and social context in which census-making developed in Canada. It deals with census-making as a political project, investigating its place in and impact on party politics and ethnic, religious, and sectional struggles. It also looks closely at census-making as an administrative practice, identifying the main census managers and outlining the organization of five attempts at census-making between 1842 and 1850, before following in detail how census-making finally unfolded between 1852 and 1871. Curtis examines parliamentary debate and governmental reports, but he also follows census enumerators into the field and traces how what they saw was worked up into 'official statistics.' Theoretically, the manuscript engages in a critical dialogue with work in the history of statistics, studies of state formation, social studies of scientific knowledge, and work in the field of 'governmentality.' Winner of the Sir John A. Macdonald Prize, awarded by the Canadian Historical Association, and the John Porter Prize, awarded by the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association.

Can Social Systems Be Autopoietic? Assessing Luhmann's Social Theory:

Abstract: The theory of autopoiesis, that is systems that are self-producing or self-constructing, was originally developed to explain the particular nature of living as opposed to non-living entities. It was subsequently enlarged to encompass cognition and language leading to what is known as second-order cybernetics. However, as with earlier biological theories, many authors have tried to extend the domain of the theory to encompass social systems, the most notable being Luhmann. The purpose of this article is to consider critically the extent to which the theory of autopoiesis, as originally defined, can be applied to social systems - that is, whether social systems are autopoietic. And, if it cannot, whether some weaker version might be appropriate.

Addressing Technological Change: The Challenge to Social Theory

Abstract: Technology is central to contemporary theories of social, cultural and economic change, yet its treatment is still predominantly one of technological determinism. This article examines the development of the social studies of science and technology (STS) and its critique of this dominant position. It provides an account of the principal concepts that inform the area, which emphasize that technology is a socio-technical product, patterned by the conditions of its creation and use. Technology and society, rather than being separate spheres, are mutually constituted. In this way, STS adds an important dimension missing in recent social theory, one that is sensitive to the materiality of social relations and the power of objects. Finally, the article explores the contribution of scholars of gender and technology to both STS and feminist theory. For all the diversity to be found within the field, what has emerged is a powerful legacy of theory and research that promises to make a significant contribution to pu...

Social Structure and Organizations Revisited

Abstract: This work gives practical voice to the theoretical questions and research designs of an emerging agenda for organization theory that engages questions about broader social structure and organizations with theory in cultural analysis, stratification, and entrepreneurship.

Using Conflict Theory

Abstract: Human conflict - from family feuds, to labor strikes, to national warfare - is an ever-present and universal social problem and the methods to manage it, a challenge for everyone, from average citizens to policymakers and social theorists. Using Conflict Theory will educate students about how, under what conditions, and why conflict erupts, and how it can be managed. It is a unique classroom book blending theory and practical application and the first to bridge for students the science of social theory and the art of practice. The authors extract from classical sociological theory (Marx, Dahrendorf, Weber, Durkheim, and Parsons), and interpret for the student how these theoretical perspectives have contributed to understanding social conflict (its sources, the causes of escalation and de-escalation of violence, the negotiations process). The perspectives of contemporary theorists (such as Randall Collins, James Coleman, Joseph Himes, Hubert Blalock) are also brought to bear on these questions.

Sociological theory and the environment : classical foundations, contemporary insights

Abstract: Part 1 Preface Part 2 I Introduction and Overview Chapter 3 1 Sociological Theory and the Environment: An Overview and Introduction Part 4 II The Classical Tradition and Environmental Sociology Chapter 5 2 Environmental Sociology and the Classical Sociological Tradition: Some Observations on Current Controversies Chapter 6 3 A Green Marxism? Labor-Processes, Alienation, and the Division of Labor Chapter 7 4 Ecological Materialism and the Sociology of Max Weber Chapter 8 5 Has the Durkheim Legacy Misled Sociology? Part 9 III Environmental Sociology and Twentieth Century Sociological Theory Chapter 10 6 Social Theory and the Environment: A Systems-Theoretical Perspective Chapter 11 7 Dynamic Constellations of the Individual, Society, and Nature: Critical Theory and Environmental Sociology Chapter 12 8 World-System Theory and the Environment: Toward a New Synthesis Part 13 IV Sociological Theory and Environmental Sociology in the Late 1990s: Modernity, Culture, and the Natural World Chapter 14 9 Modernity, Politics, and the Environment: A Theoretical Perspective Chapter 15 10 Inconspicuous Consumption: The Sociology of Consumption, Lifestyles, and the Environment Chapter 16 11 Social Theory and Ecological Politics: Reflexive Modernization or Green Socialism? Chapter 17 12 The Social Construction of Environmental Problems: A Theoretical Review and Some Not-Very Herculean Labors Chapter 18 13 When the Global Meet the Local: Critical Reflections on Reflexive Modernisation Chapter 19 14 Cultural Analysis and Environmental Theory: An Agenda Part 20 V Sociological Paradigms and Environmental Sociology Chapter 21 15 Paradigms, Theories, and Environmental Sociology Part 22 Index Part 23 About the Editors 24 About the Contributors

Higher Education's Self-Reflexive Turn: Toward an Intercultural Theory of Student Development

Abstract: This article submits survey instruments used by Tinto, Astin, and Pace to five probes from recent social theory--voice, power, authenticity, self-reflexivity, and reconstitution--and proposes a shift in focus in research from essentialized categories like culture and race to relation and learning "between" subjects

Knowledge and control in health promotion: a test case for social policy and social theory

Abstract: One of the principal features of health promotion as a field of practice and enquiry is that is very difficult to pin down for descriptive purposes ‘What health promotion is’ the subject of fierce and incessant disputes among professional practitioners and policy makers, and it must be said that the battles are waged for the most part on decidely ill-formed theoretical grounds It has long seemed to me in itself highly significant, and in itself a matter deserving social enquiry, that the large and growing enterprise of health promotion in Britain is so centrally torn apart by disagreements about its basic purposes and methods, and yet that these disagreements have received so little systematic clarification or fundamental review in the light of social theory A major aim of this chapter, therefore, is to offer a conceptual framework for deliberation on different forms of contemporary health promotion, and to use this framework:1 to illustrate the tensions and conflicts that mark the development of policy and practice in this field;2 to highlight some of the points at which debates around healthpromotion policy and practice may benefit from re-thinking within the wider terms of reference of social theory;3 to indicate some directions in which future social enquiry in health promotion could usefully proceed

The Third Delight: Internationalization of Higher Education in China

Abstract: Globalization and internationalization are salient features of our times in significant modern and post-modern social theories. This study contributes to the literature, and delineates a comprehensive picture of China's higher education internationalization, with an analysis of its costs and benefits, set in an international comparative perspective.

Knowledge by agreement

Abstract: I ought to be able to give three cheers for this book. At last, a pukka analytical philosopher (Professor in the History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge) is propounding a social theory of knowledge. After all, I have been arguing for that for twenty-five years, and so have many others. Indeed, such eminent early twentieth century thinkers as Edmund Husserl, George Herbert Mead, Alfred Schutz, and Lev Vygotsky had already pointed out that conscious human cognition could not be understood at all without reference to communal institutions such as language. Professor Kusch is a professional 'philosophical' epistemologist, so he declines to 'do' phenomenology, or sociology, or psychology. Can a serious scholar be excused for passing over such accessible insights into precisely the topics he is trying to deal with? Or does he really only know of the present-day 'sociologists of scientific knowledge', whose guidance he acknowledges? In his own discipline, however, his reading is very thorough. He lists systematically all the 'real' philosophers who have recently tackled the 'problem of knowledge'. Their views are carefully analysed and categorized under headings such as Foundationalism, Coherentism, Reliablism, Direct Realism, Consensualism, Interpretationism, Contextualism, and Communitarianism. Fortunately, the reader is not obliged to take an examination on the differential definitions of these opaquely-named '-isms', because Kusch deconstructs most of them be-

The Social Construction of Man, the State and War: Identity, Conflict, and Violence in Former Yugoslavia

Abstract: Preface Chapter 1. IR Theory and the Problem of Violence Chapter 2. What Happened in Yugoslavia Chapter 3. The Social Construction of Man: Identity, the Self and Social Theory Chapter 4. Identity and (Ethnic) Conflict in the former Yugoslavia: In Their Own Words Chapter 5. The Social Construction of the State: State-Building and State Destroying as Social Action Chapter 6. The Social Construction of War Chapter 7. Causes of War: A Constructivist Account Chapter 8. The Other Wars: The War Against Women and the War Against War Chapter 9. Identity, Conflict, and Violence

Concepts of social justice in community psychology: toward a social ecological epistemology.

Abstract: In this paper we address the pervasive tendency in community psychology to treat values like social justice only as general objectives rather than contested theoretical concepts possessing identifiable empirical content. First we discuss how distinctive concepts of social justice have figured in three major intellectual traditions within community psychology: (1) the prevention and health promotion tradition, (2) the empowerment tradition, and most recently, (3) the critical tradition. We point out the epistemological gains and limitations of these respective concepts and argue for greater sensitivity to the context dependency of normative concepts like social justice. More specifically, we point to a pressing need in community psychology for an epistemology that: (1) subsumes both descriptive and evaluative concepts, and (2) acknowledges its own embeddedness in history and culture without thereby reducing all knowledge claims to the status of ideology. Finally, we describe and demonstrate the promise of what we are calling a social ecological epistemology for fulfilling this need.