Meanings and Situations (RLE Social Theory)

Meanings and Situations (RLE Social Theory) PDF Author: Arthur Brittan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000155862
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
Meanings and Situations is an account of the ‘interactionist’ position. It is a committed account in the sense that it sees the central concerns of social psychology and sociology as being located in an interpretative and humanistic framework. At the same time, it argues for a bio-social image of man which does not do violence to the way in which men in interaction continuously construct and renegotiate ‘meaning’. This is in contrast to some of the highly fashionable ‘exchange’ and ‘game’ models of interaction which dominate the thinking of proponents of ‘respectable’ behavioural science. Hence, so the author urges, the current upsurge of interest in social phenomenology, ethnomethodology and symbolic interactionism is more than a reaction to the reigning paradigm in behavioural science. Arthur Brittan believes this new interest is essentially a return to the humanistic sources of these disciplines which have been in constant danger of being overwhelmed by the ‘behavioural ideology’.

Meanings and Situations (RLE Social Theory)

Meanings and Situations (RLE Social Theory) PDF Author: Arthur Brittan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000155862
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 316

Get Book

Book Description
Meanings and Situations is an account of the ‘interactionist’ position. It is a committed account in the sense that it sees the central concerns of social psychology and sociology as being located in an interpretative and humanistic framework. At the same time, it argues for a bio-social image of man which does not do violence to the way in which men in interaction continuously construct and renegotiate ‘meaning’. This is in contrast to some of the highly fashionable ‘exchange’ and ‘game’ models of interaction which dominate the thinking of proponents of ‘respectable’ behavioural science. Hence, so the author urges, the current upsurge of interest in social phenomenology, ethnomethodology and symbolic interactionism is more than a reaction to the reigning paradigm in behavioural science. Arthur Brittan believes this new interest is essentially a return to the humanistic sources of these disciplines which have been in constant danger of being overwhelmed by the ‘behavioural ideology’.

Meanings and Situations

Meanings and Situations PDF Author: Arthur Brittan
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780415727310
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


Sociological Theory in Use (RLE Social Theory)

Sociological Theory in Use (RLE Social Theory) PDF Author: Kenneth Menzies
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317657195
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
Central to most sociologists’ self-image is the claim that their theories are based on research. However, using a random sample of 680 articles appearing in major American, British and Canadian journals, Dr Menzies shows that in some areas of sociology the wide gap between theory and research means that much of sociological theory is virtually untested. He explains how theory is embodied in eight particular types of research, critically examines these research theories, and contrasts them with the positions of modern theorists. The sample of journal articles also permits a comparison of British, American and Canadian sociology. By contrasting on how researchers us theories, Dr Menzies is able to reassess several theories. For instance, symbolic interactionist research uses embedded causal claims and stands in a dialectical relationship to other sociological research, while the research version of conflict theory depends on external causes to explain social change. The implications of using statistical techniques like factor analysis and regression are also considered in relation to the form of explanation.

Pattern and Meaning in History (RLE Social Theory)

Pattern and Meaning in History (RLE Social Theory) PDF Author: H.P. Rickman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000155870
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 194

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Book Description
'One may state Dilthey's significance in most general fashion by characterizing his work as the first thorough-going and sophisticated confrontation of history with positivism and natural science. Dilthey's sweep was universal: he strove to reduce to order the multifarious realms of knowledge, the conflicting traditions of cultural study, that he had embraced. Thus Dilthey laid out a program that no mortal – and certainly no one whose mind had been formed in the third quarter of the nineteenth century – could hope to bring to completion. Yet despite its inconclusiveness, Dilthey's work exerted enormous influence. The distinction he had drawn between natural and cultural science became standard for historians and, to a lesser extent, for social scientists also. After Dilthey historians no longer needed to apologize for the "unscientific" character of their discipline: they understood why its methods could never be quite the same as those of natural science. And the contemporary tradition of intellectual history grew naturally out of Dilthey's teaching.' – H. Stuart Hughes

Structure, Interaction and Social Theory (RLE Social Theory)

Structure, Interaction and Social Theory (RLE Social Theory) PDF Author: Derek Layder
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317650670
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
A central problem in contemporary social theory is that of providing an account of social interaction that does justice both to the self-monitoring capacities of the individuals involved and to the society that ‘frames’ the interaction. This book attempts to resolve this problem, arguing for an objectivist or ‘structuralist’ account which does not undervalue the importance of the indexical and negotiated aspects of interaction, and which takes seriously the Marxist-rationalist critique of empiricism and humanism and the associated idea that society should be treated as a supra-individual, preconstituted and constraining object of scientific analysis. First, Dr Layder pinpoints certain of the strengths and weaknesses of various schools of thought: social psychology (scrutinized in both its sociological and psychological forms), sociology, the Marxist-rationalist approach. Whilst rejecting the mechanistic or naively deterministic theories which are often associated with an objectivist stance, he argues that the productive activities of situated actors must be understood as existing in an articulated relationship with, and within, sets of preconstituted contextual constraints. This thesis is illustrated conceptually by the development of a framework which distinguishes two types and levels of social structure, with different modes of production and reproduction, and empirically by an analysis of aspects of interaction in the occupation of acting.

Approaches to Sociology (RLE Social Theory)

Approaches to Sociology (RLE Social Theory) PDF Author: John Rex
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317652525
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 279

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Book Description
These essays, commissioned by John Rex, reflect the state of sociology in Britain today. Leading representatives of the diverse ‘schools’ provide lucid accounts of their own particular approaches to this complex discipline and in doing so demonstrate the techniques described. Topics covered include the empirical study of stratification, social evolution, survey techniques, mathematical sociology, systems theory, phenomenological approaches, Weberian sociology, structuralism, contemporary Marxism, and the development of theory after Talcott Parsons.

Structure, Interaction and Social Theory (RLE Social Theory)

Structure, Interaction and Social Theory (RLE Social Theory) PDF Author: Derek Layder
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317650662
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
A central problem in contemporary social theory is that of providing an account of social interaction that does justice both to the self-monitoring capacities of the individuals involved and to the society that ‘frames’ the interaction. This book attempts to resolve this problem, arguing for an objectivist or ‘structuralist’ account which does not undervalue the importance of the indexical and negotiated aspects of interaction, and which takes seriously the Marxist-rationalist critique of empiricism and humanism and the associated idea that society should be treated as a supra-individual, preconstituted and constraining object of scientific analysis. First, Dr Layder pinpoints certain of the strengths and weaknesses of various schools of thought: social psychology (scrutinized in both its sociological and psychological forms), sociology, the Marxist-rationalist approach. Whilst rejecting the mechanistic or naively deterministic theories which are often associated with an objectivist stance, he argues that the productive activities of situated actors must be understood as existing in an articulated relationship with, and within, sets of preconstituted contextual constraints. This thesis is illustrated conceptually by the development of a framework which distinguishes two types and levels of social structure, with different modes of production and reproduction, and empirically by an analysis of aspects of interaction in the occupation of acting.

Social Theory and Political Practice (RLE Social Theory)

Social Theory and Political Practice (RLE Social Theory) PDF Author: Brian Fay
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317652290
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 124

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Book Description
This book examines the question of how our knowledge of social life affects, and ought to affect, our way of living it. In so doing, it critically discusses two epistemological models of social science – the positivist and the interpretive – from the viewpoint of the political theories which, it is argued, are implicit in these models; moreover, it proposes a third model – the critical – which is organised around an explicit account of the relation between social theory and practical life. The book has the special merit of being a good overview of the principal current ideas about the relation between social theory and political practice, as well as an attempt at providing a new and more satisfactory account of this relationship. To accomplish this task, it synthesises work from the analytic philosophy of social science with that of the neo-Marxism of the Frankfurt school.

The Future of the Sociological Classics (RLE Social Theory)

The Future of the Sociological Classics (RLE Social Theory) PDF Author: Buford Rhea
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000155749
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 309

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Book Description
In this important volume of specially commissioned essays, nine leading sociologists present their answers to the question, 'What use are the sociological classics today?' They report on the latest scholarship, on neglected features of the various masters, on promising applications and unrecognised implications.

Talcott Parsons on Economy and Society (RLE Social Theory)

Talcott Parsons on Economy and Society (RLE Social Theory) PDF Author: Bryan S. Turner
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317652258
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 136

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Book Description
'In this remarkable collection of essays, Holton and Turner demonstrate that Parsonian sociology addresses the most central problems of our time – issues of sickness and health, power and inequality, the nature of capitalism and its possible alternatives. They develop a mature and original perspective on Parsons as the only classical theorist who avoided crippling nostalgia. Holton and Turner not only talk about Parsonian sociology in a profound and insightful way, they do it, and do it well. As sociology moves away from the rigid dichotomies of earlier debate, this book will help point the way.' – Jeffrey Alexander, Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in Sociology, UCLA