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Author: Alex Law Publisher: SAGE ISBN: 1473911141 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 659
Book Description
This book is distinctive for extending the usual sociological reach, reopening territory that has lain fallow, set aside from the well-ploughed fields of orthodox social theory. In doing so, Law not only produces fresh insight into familiar theorists but guards against collective forgetting of the sociological canon. - Professor Bridget Fowler, University of Glasgow "An excellent book, it will be welcomed and read widely by advanced undergraduates, postgraduates and scholars in sociology, cultural studies, social theory and beyond." - Professor Chris Shilling, University of Kent Social Theory for Today guides students through the ‘turns’ of past and present social theory as it attempts to wrestle with a recurring sense of crisis in social relations and social theory. Drawing on both classical and contemporary sources, Alex Law provides readers with a firm grasp of competing perspectives. Too often social theories attempt to dominate the field by casting rival theorists, past and present, as deluded fools, while the more familiar ‘big names’ in social theory are subject to ever-increasing commentary that runs in ever-decreasing circles. This survey of social theory and crisis lessens the temptation to engage in internal theoretical polemics and esoteric wordplay. Social theory must become practical and specific if it is to become a means of orientation for uncertain times. This is a must-read for upper level undergraduate and postgraduate students looking for a vibrant and extended understanding of social theory.
Author: Alex Law Publisher: SAGE ISBN: 1473911141 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 659
Book Description
This book is distinctive for extending the usual sociological reach, reopening territory that has lain fallow, set aside from the well-ploughed fields of orthodox social theory. In doing so, Law not only produces fresh insight into familiar theorists but guards against collective forgetting of the sociological canon. - Professor Bridget Fowler, University of Glasgow "An excellent book, it will be welcomed and read widely by advanced undergraduates, postgraduates and scholars in sociology, cultural studies, social theory and beyond." - Professor Chris Shilling, University of Kent Social Theory for Today guides students through the ‘turns’ of past and present social theory as it attempts to wrestle with a recurring sense of crisis in social relations and social theory. Drawing on both classical and contemporary sources, Alex Law provides readers with a firm grasp of competing perspectives. Too often social theories attempt to dominate the field by casting rival theorists, past and present, as deluded fools, while the more familiar ‘big names’ in social theory are subject to ever-increasing commentary that runs in ever-decreasing circles. This survey of social theory and crisis lessens the temptation to engage in internal theoretical polemics and esoteric wordplay. Social theory must become practical and specific if it is to become a means of orientation for uncertain times. This is a must-read for upper level undergraduate and postgraduate students looking for a vibrant and extended understanding of social theory.
Author: Charles H. Powers Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield ISBN: 9781442201194 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 298
Book Description
Making Sense of Social Theory opens by carefully exploring what it means to follow the scientific method in a field like sociology. The author goes on to analyze sociology as a genuine science with a body of explanatory insights. It does this by (a) considering the major insights of key thinkers (including Marx, Durkheim, Weber, and Mead, among others), (b) distinguishing different analytical frameworks (especially exchange, symbolic interactionism, conflict, and structural-functionalism) in terms of their underlying assumptions, and (c) revealing compelling social science explanatory insights in the form of predictive principles that can be applied in understanding processes of change at work in the social world (from face-to-face encounters to major historical trends). Sociological theory is applied in ways that make its relevance and power apparent. In reading this book, theory no longer stands divorced from real-world research or practice. Making Sense of Social Theory clearly establishes the pertinence of sociology's great theoretical insights for all social science researches and practitioners. Book jacket.
Author: Alan Sears Publisher: University of Toronto Press ISBN: 1442600977 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 249
Book Description
This highly original and compelling book offers an introduction to the art and science of social inquiry, including the theoretical and methodological frameworks that support that inquiry. The new edition offers coverage of post-modernism and Indigenous ways of knowing, as well as a discussion of the research process and how to communicate arguments effectively. The result is a book that blends the best of earlier editions with updates that provide a strong foundation in critical thinking, rooted in the social sciences but relevant across disciplines.
Author: Phil Musson Publisher: Critical Publishing ISBN: 1911106678 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 174
Book Description
Do you struggle to get your head around the application of theory and associated methods of intervention to social work practice? Making sense of theory and its application to social work practice is here to help you with a fresh approach written with the ‘non- theoretician’ in mind. After exploring the expectations and limits of application of theory to practice, Phil Musson sets about describing theories of explanation and their associated methods of intervention in an accessible way. He follows this by looking at theoretically driven approaches and their associated methods of intervention. One generic case study is used throughout, tweaked slightly but maintaining the same service users and issues so you can see how the theory of explanation or approach and the associated method of intervention is applied. You are also able to sharpen up your critical thinking skills as the author invites you to reflect on the theories of explanation and approaches discussed. Making Sense of Theory and its Application to Social Work Practice will be immensely valuable to both social work students and practitioners.
Author: Nicholas Onuf Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1136219463 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 280
Book Description
Nicholas Onuf is a leading scholar in international relations and introduced constructivism to international relations, coining the term constructivism in his book World of Our Making (1989). He was featured as one of twelve scholars featured in Iver B. Neumann and Ole Wæver, eds., The Future of International Relations: Masters in the Making? (1996); and featured in Martin Griffiths, Steven C. Roach and M. Scott Solomon, Fifty Key Thinkers in International Relations, 2nd ed. (2009). This powerful collection of essays clarifies Onuf’s approach to international relations and makes a decisive contribution to the debates in IR concerning theory. It embeds the theoretical project in the wider horizon of how we understand ourselves and the world. Onuf updates earlier themes and his general constructivist approach, and develops some newer lines of research, such as the work on metaphors and the re-grounding in much more Aristotle than before. A complement to the author’s groundbreaking book of 1989, World of Our Making, this tightly argued book draws extensively from philosophy and social theory to advance constructivism in International Relations. Making Sense, Making Worlds will be vital reading for students and scholars of international relations, international relations theory, social theory and law.
Author: Ian Craib Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1317325273 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 273
Book Description
The revised edition of this widely acclaimed textbook provides a clear, accessible and comprehensive introduction to modern social theory.As with the first edition, the book is based around the themes of structure and action. After the introductory chapters which examine the nature of theory and its role in the social world, the book then turns to theories of action and the inability of those theories to comprehend social structures in a coherent way.Part 1 covers: Parson's structural-functionalism and the development of conlict theory and neofunctionalism; rational choice theory; symbolic interactionism; ethnomethodology and structuration theory.Part 2 looks at structuralism, structuralist Marxism, and the development of post-structuralist and postmodernist theory.Part 3 examines Critical Theory and the work of Jurgen Habermas.In conclusion, Ian Craib discusses current trends in theory and what might be expected in the future.This second edition has been revised throughout. There are new chapters on rational choice theory and structuration theory and existing chapters have been extended to deal with the development of neofunctionalism, postmodernism and the recent works of Habermas as well as recent developments in other approaches.Throughout, the aim of the book is to demystify a diffcult subject area, emphasising the practical and everyday nature of theoretical thinking in the context of making sense of a rapidly changing world. The late Ian Craib was Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Essex.
Author: Alex Law
Author: Alex Law
Author: Charles H. Powers
Author: Alan Sears
Author: Jon Elster
Author: Malcolm Williams
Author: Phil Musson
Author: Nicholas Onuf
Author: Steven Yearley
Author: Roger Sibeon
Author: Ian Craib