Purpose and Necessity in Social Theory

Purpose and Necessity in Social Theory PDF Author: Maurice Mandelbaum
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421431920
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
Originally published in 1987. Philosopher Maurice Mandelbaum offers a broad-ranging essay on the roles of chance, choice, purpose, and necessity in human events. He traces the many changes these concepts have undergone, from the analyses of Hobbes and Spinoza, through the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries. Mandelbaum examines two contrary tendencies in the history of social theories. Some thinkers, he shows, have explained the character of institutions in terms of their individual purposes, whereas others have stressed relationships of necessity among society's institutions. Mandelbaum discusses chance, choice, and necessity at length and reaches some provocative conclusions about the ways in which they are interwoven in human affairs.

Purpose and Necessity in Social Theory

Purpose and Necessity in Social Theory PDF Author: Maurice Mandelbaum
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421431920
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
Originally published in 1987. Philosopher Maurice Mandelbaum offers a broad-ranging essay on the roles of chance, choice, purpose, and necessity in human events. He traces the many changes these concepts have undergone, from the analyses of Hobbes and Spinoza, through the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries. Mandelbaum examines two contrary tendencies in the history of social theories. Some thinkers, he shows, have explained the character of institutions in terms of their individual purposes, whereas others have stressed relationships of necessity among society's institutions. Mandelbaum discusses chance, choice, and necessity at length and reaches some provocative conclusions about the ways in which they are interwoven in human affairs.

The Misguided Search for the Political

The Misguided Search for the Political PDF Author: Lois McNay
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0745681158
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
There has been a lively debate amongst political theorists about whether certain liberal concepts of democracy are so idealized that they lack relevance to ‘real’ politics. Echoing these debates, Lois McNay examines in this book some theories of radical democracy and argues that they too tend to rely on troubling abstractions - or what she terms ‘socially weightless’ thinking. They often propose ideas of the political that are so far removed from the logic of everyday practice that, ultimately, their supposed emancipatory potential is thrown into question. Radical democrats frequently maintain that what distinguishes their ideas of the political from others is the fundamental concern with unmasking and challenging unrecognized forms of inequality and domination that distort everyday life. But this supposed attentiveness to power is undermined by the invocation of rarefied models of political action that treat agency as an unproblematic given and overlook certain features of the embodied experience of oppression. The tendency of radical democrats to define democratic agency in terms of dynamics of perpetual flux, mobility and agonism passes over too swiftly the way in which objective structures of oppression are often taken into the body as subjective dispositions, leaving individuals with the feeling that they are unable to do little more than endure a state of affairs beyond their control. Drawing on the work of Adorno, Bourdieu and Honneth, amongst others, McNay argues that in order to make good the critique of power, radical democratic theory should attend more closely to a phenomenology of negative social experience and what it can reveal about the social conditions necessary for effective political agency.

False Necessity--anti-necessitarian Social Theory in the Service of Radical Democracy

False Necessity--anti-necessitarian Social Theory in the Service of Radical Democracy PDF Author: Roberto Mangabeira Unger
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 661

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Book Description


Social Theory

Social Theory PDF Author: Roberta Garner
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1442606487
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 673

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Book Description
The organization of this popular social theory reader, which pairs classical articles with contemporary theoretical and empirical studies, highlights the historical flow of social theory and demonstrates how disagreements and confrontations shape theory over time. Written in clear, down-to-earth language, the introductions to each selection link theorists to one another, illustrating how theoretical traditions are not rigidly separate but are always in conversation, addressing and challenging each other. The third edition incorporates significant changes: more readings reflecting a wide diversity of theorists, a completely revamped chapter on gender, new chapters on race and culture, and unique material on the "transitional giants" who have helped to transform classical theory into contemporary theory. As well, new contextual and biographical materials surround each reading and each chapter includes a study guide with key terms and innovative discussion questions and classroom exercises. The result is a fresh take on social theory that foregrounds a plurality of perspectives and reflects contemporary trends in the field, while still managing to be a teachable and affordable text.

The Necessity of Social Control

The Necessity of Social Control PDF Author: István Mészáros
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 1583675388
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description
As John Bellamy Foster writes in his foreword to the present book, “István Mészáros is one of the greatest philosophers that the historical materialist tradition has yet produced. His work stands practically alone today in the depth of its analysis of Marx’s theory of alienation, the structural crisis of capital, the demise of Soviet-style post-revolutionary societies, and the necessary conditions of the transition to socialism. His dialectical inquiry into social structure and forms of consciousness—a systematic critique of the prevailing forms of thought—is unequaled in our time.” Mészáros is the author of magisterial works like Beyond Capital and Social Structures of Forms of Consciousness, but his work can seem daunting to those unacquainted with his thought. Here, for the first time, is a concise and accessible overview of Mészáros’s ideas, designed by the author himself and covering the broad scope of his work, from the shortcomings of bourgeois economics to the degeneration of the capital system to the transition to socialism.

Social Theory: Volume II

Social Theory: Volume II PDF Author: Roberta Garner
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1442607386
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
The organization of this popular social theory reader, which pairs classical articles with contemporary theoretical and empirical studies, highlights the historical flow of social theory and demonstrates how disagreements and confrontations shape theory over time. Written in clear, down-to-earth language, the introductions to each selection link theorists to one another, illustrating how theoretical traditions are not rigidly separate but are always in conversation, addressing and challenging each other. Volume II: From Modern To Contemporary Theory uses key transitional theorists to illustrate how contemporary theory emerged from the past. New chapters on race, on culture, and on media, as well as a significantly reworked gender chapter deepen coverage. As well, new contextual and biographical materials surround each reading and each chapter includes a study guide with key terms and innovative discussion questions and classroom exercises. The result is a volume of readings that offers instructors flexibility in how they approach teaching, and students an affordable and accessible introduction to the most important contemporary social theorists.

Purpose and Necessity in Social Theory

Purpose and Necessity in Social Theory PDF Author: Maurice Mandelbaum
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780608067117
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description


Liberal Purposes

Liberal Purposes PDF Author: William A. Galston
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521422505
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
A major contribution to the current theory of liberalism by an eminent political theorist challenges the views of such theorists as Rawls, Dworkin, and Ackerman, who believe that the essence of liberalism is neutrality.

Social Theory: Power and identity in the global era

Social Theory: Power and identity in the global era PDF Author: Roberta Garner
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1442601558
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 439

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Book Description
First edition published by Broadview Press 2004.

Sociological Theory

Sociological Theory PDF Author: George Ritzer
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISBN: 1506337724
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 672

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Book Description
The authors are proud sponsors of the 2020 SAGE Keith Roberts Teaching Innovations Award—enabling graduate students and early career faculty to attend the annual ASA pre-conference teaching and learning workshop. Now with SAGE Publishing, and co-authored by one of the foremost authorities on sociological theory, the Tenth Edition of Sociological Theory by George Ritzer and Jeffrey Stepnisky gives readers a comprehensive overview of the major theorists and schools of sociological thought, from sociology′s origins through the early 21st century. Key theories are integrated with biographical sketches of theorists, and are placed in their historical and intellectual context. This text helps students better understand the original works of classical and contemporary theorists, and enables them to compare and contrast the latest substantive concepts.