Social theory

About: Social theory is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 11421 publications have been published within this topic receiving 624898 citations.

Modern social theory: From Parsons to Habermas

Abstract: 1. Introduction: What's Wrong with Theory and Why We Still Need It. 2. Cutting a Path Through the Jungle. PART 1: THEORIES OF SOCIAL ACTION. 3. Introduction. 4. Parsons: Theory as a Filing System. 5. Structural-Functionalism. 6. Neofunctionalism. 7. Rational Choice Theory: 'The Price of Everything' Symbolic Interactionism: Society as Conversation. 8. Society as Conspiracy: Phenomenological Sociology and Ethnomethodology. 9. Structuration Theory: There's No Such Thing as Society. 10. There Is Such a Thing as Society. PART 2: FROM ACTION TO STRUCTURE. 11. Introduction. 12. The World as a Logical Pattern: An Introduction to Structuralism. 13. Structuralist Marxism: The World as a Puppet Theatre. 14. Poststructuralism and Postmodernism: The World Gone Mad. PART 3: FROM STRUCTURE OR ACTION TO STRUCTURE AND ACTION. 15. Introduction. 16. The Frankfurt School: There Must be Some Way Out of Here. 17. Jurgen Habermas: Back to the Filing Cabinet. 18. Conclusion: Playing with Ideas. Index.

Social Theory and the Study of Computerized Work Sites

Abstract: This paper is a meditation written by an ignorant trying to understand what has changed in his field, social theory, because of the development of information technology and because of the analysis of sociologists, specialists of labor relations, of organizations, of situated cognition, etc. It starts with a simple example of practice and tries to analyze it by following new concepts which seem to derive from the redistribution of humans and non-humans due to the pervasive­ness of computerized work sites. It then tries to list the services rendered to social theory by the studies made by much more knowledgeable colleagues. Finally, it tries to show, with a very clumsy vocabulary, how we could account in better terms than networks, for a social theory redistributed by information technology and its students.

Social Theory: A Historical Introduction

Abstract: * Introduction *1. The Enlightenment *1. 1 Prehistory *1. 2 The concept of modernity *1. 3 A moral science *1. 4 The development of social theory *1. 5 Inner strains *2. Hegel *2. 1 Reconciling modernity *2. 2 The labour of the negative *2. 3 The debate over modernity *3. Liberals and Reactionaries *3. 1 Post-revolutionary debates *3. 2 Agonistic liberalism: Tocqueville and Mill *3. 3 Providence and race: Maistre and Gobineau *4. Marx *4. 1 The adventures of the dialectic *4. 2 History and capitalism *4. 3 Class struggle and revolution *5. Life and Power *5. 1 Evolution before and after Darwin *5. 2 Two evolutionists: Spencer and Kautsky *5. 3 Nature as the will to power: Nietzsche *6. Durkheim *6. 1 Social evolution and scientific objectivity *6. 2 Society as a moral reality *6. 3 Meaning and belief *7. Weber *7. 1 Prussian agriculture and the German state *7. 2 Science and the warring gods *7. 3 History and rationalization *7. 4 Liberal imperialism and democratic politics *8. The Illusions of Progress *8. 1 The strange death of liberal Europe *8. 2 Objectivity and estrangement: Simmel *8. 3 The self dissected: Freud *8. 4 Memories of underdevelopment: Russian intellectuals and capitalism *9. Revolution and Counter-Revolution *9. 1 Hegelian Marxism: Lukacs and Gramsci *9. 2 Heidegger and the conservative revolution *10. The Golden Age *10. 1 Theories of capitalism: Keynes and Hayek *10. 2 Functionalist sociology: Talcott Parsons *10. 3 Despairing critique: the Frankfurt school *11. Crack-Up? *11. 1 The 1960s and after *11. 2 Structure and subject: Levi-Strauss and Althusser *11. 3 Nietzsche's revenge: Foucault and poststructuralism *11. 4 Carrying on the tradition: Habermas and Bourdieu *12. Debating modernity and postmodernity *12. 1 Postmodernity? *12. 2 Modernity and capitalism *12. 3 Reason and nature *12. 4 Theory and practice *12. 5 Universal and particular *12. 6 Beyond capitalism? *13. Changing the subject: globalization, capitalism, and imperialism *13. 1 Much ado about globalization *13. 2 The social as networks ... or as nothing *13. 3 Back to capitalism - and imperialism? *13. 4 The debate resumed * Further Reading * Index

Social Mechanisms: Social mechanisms and social dynamics

Abstract: In the various chapters of this book, social mechanisms are contrasted with theories, laws, correlations, and black boxes. There is near consensus on a hierarchy that has “mere” correlations at the bottom, with laws higher up. Laws that are black boxes (i.e., opaque as to how they work) are, even if fully reliable like the law of gravity, less helpful than laws that work transparently. Theories have less status than laws if the laws are well established and the theories not; theories built on established laws, like the theory of planetary motion, are at the summit. A pervasive question for social phenomena is the role, or the exclusive role, of “methodological individualism,” the notion that the ultimate unit of analysis is a rational, or at least a purposive , individual. For some of the authors here, any social phenomenon that can not be reduced to the behavior (choices) of individuals is a black box and therefore unsatisfactory. There is some notion that what is inside a black box must be a social mechanism, or several social mechanisms. What, though, are social mechanisms, and where do they fit? And are social mechanisms little things, big things, or great big things? Did Keynesian theory constitute a social mechanism; is the arms race a social mechanism; is inflation a social mechanism? Or is giggling such a mechanism, or yawning, or the propagation of gossip? On the relation of social mechanisms to theories, I propose that a theory may comprise many social mechanisms, but also a social mechanism may comprise many theories. And a particular issue that arises is whether a social mechanism can be purely mathematical. That may depend on what “purely” means, as I shall propose in a moment.