Philosophical Foundations of the Three Sociologies (RLE Social Theory) PDF Download

Author: Ted Benton
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317651421
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
An extended historical and philosophical argument, this book will be a valuable text for all students of the philosophy of the social sciences. It discusses the serious alternatives to positivist and empiricist accounts of the physical sciences, and poses the debate between naturalism and anti-naturalism in the social sciences in new terms. Recent materialist and realist philosophies of science make possible a defence of naturalism which does not make concessions to positivism and which recognizes the force of several of the anti-positivist arguments from the main anti-naturalist (neo-Kantian) tradition. The author presents a critical evaluation of empiricist and positivist theories of knowledge, and investigates some classic attempts at using them to provide the philosophical foundation for a scientific sociology. He takes the Kantian critique of empiricism as the starting point for the main anti-positivist and anti-naturalist philosophical approaches to the social studies. He goes on to investigate the inadequacy of post-Kantian arguments from Rickert, Weber, Winch and others, both against non-positivist forms of naturalism and as the possible source of a distinctive philosophical foundation for the social studies. The book concludes with a critical investigation of the Marxian tradition and an attempt to establish the possibility of a materialist and realist defence of the project of a natural science of history, which escapes the fundamental flaws of both positivist and neo-Kantian attempts at philosophical foundation.

Author: Peter Halfpenny
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317651391
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 142

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Book Description
Any serious attempt to explain social life has to come to terms with sociology's positivist legacy. It is a heritage on the one hand from the seventeenth-century political arithmeticians and the later moral statisticians who believed that quantification would provide the basis for a dispassionate analysis of social affairs; and on the other hand from the nineteenth-century post-Enlightenment social philosophers who were eager to develop an empirical science of society that would enable them to control social conduct – just as the physical sciences had provided the knowledge to tame nature. Yet every debate about the relation between positivism and sociology is clouded by the diversity of uses of the term 'positivism' – uses that are so varied that some can pronounce positivism dead while others find it still the vital force that dominates sociology. The particular merit of Peter Halfpenny's book is that it makes this diversity of uses its central theme. In order to provide a clear basis from which to assess controversial questions about the contribution of the positivist traditions to sociology, the book reviews twelve different important uses of the term 'positivism' that have emerged at different times since the mid-nineteenth century, when Auguste Comte coined both 'positivism' and 'sociology'. This review is conducted by examining the historical development of the two independent roots of modern sociological positivism – positivist philosophy and statistics – and by analysing logical positivist philosophy, which in many ways defined the course of twentieth century philosophy of the social (as well as the natural) sciences.

Author: Geoff Payne
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317650859
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
A social science which has become so remote from the society which pays for its upkeep is ultimately doomed, threatened less by repression than by intellectual contempt and financial neglect. This is the message of the authors of this book in this reassessment of the evolution and present state of British sociology. Their investigation analyses the discipline as a social institution, whose product is inexorably shaped by the everyday circumstances of its producers; it is the concrete outcome of people’s work, rather than a body of abstract ideas. Drawing upon their varied experience as teachers and researchers, they identify three major trends in contemporary sociology. First, that the discipline’s rapid expansion has led to a retreat from rigorous research into Utopian and introspective theorising. Second, that the concept of sociological research is being taught in a totally false way because of this, and encourages ‘research’ within a wholly academic environment. Third, that the current unpopularity of sociology with academics, prospective students and politicians is no coincidence, but a reflection of the conditions under which sociology is now produced and practised. In Sociology and Social Research the authors suggest substantial changes in sociological research, the way in which it is carried out and the conditions under which it is undertaken. Their book is a timely warning to fellow sociologists when the profession is under attack as a result of public expenditure cuts.

Author: Joe Bailey
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317651782
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 167

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Book Description
Theorizing in sociology has increasingly become a self-generating and self-fulfilling activity, as sociologists absorb theory as an isolated and formalist part of their discipline. Joe Bailey believes that sociological theory should be a contribution to practical social intervention. His book presents a practical view of social theorizing as an activity at which sociologists are skilled and which they could teach to the interventionist professions. The relation between theory and practice is defined as one in which theory guides practice and makes explicit necessary choices. A description of disciplines and professions is provided as a basis for examining social intervention in three areas – law, social work and urban planning. The author considers some exemplary contributions which sociological theorizing could and should provide, and concludes by proposing a pluralist view of theory as the best strategy for a sociology relevant to practice.

Author: Richard Badham
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317650514
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 235

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Book Description
The concept of industrial society plays a dominant role in the social sciences. The ‘Great Divide’ between pre-industrial and industrial societies is commonly assumed to be the main bridge separating modern societies from the past, and distinguishing ‘developed’ from ‘undeveloped’ states in the present era. In history, economics, politics and sociology the concept of industrial society underlies a wide variety of discussions, particularly those relating to economic development and social progress. Outside academic writing, too, the concept exerts a great deal of influence. In the developing world, there is a widespread concern to ‘industrialise’, whilst in the developed world there is growing uneasiness as to whether ‘industrialisation’ is beneficial or not, but still the concept is central. This book examines critically the concept of industrial society, its pervasiveness and influence. It reviews all the major theories of industrial society and the research into the changing character of post-industrial societies. It argues that the decision to use the concept severely restricts the social imagination, and that the concept becomes increasingly less useful as criticism of the equating of industrialisation with social progress grows.

Author: Balihar Sanghera
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000603210
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
This book is a collection of critical engagements with Andrew Sayer, one of the foremost postdisciplinary thinkers of our times, with responses from Sayer himself. Sayer’s ground-breaking contributions to the fields of geography, political economy and social theory have reshaped the terms of engagement with issues and debates running from the methodology of social science through to the environment, and industrial development to the ethical dimensions of everyday life. Transatlantic scholars across a wide range of fields explore his work across four main areas: critical realism; moral economy; political economy; and relations between social theory, normativity and class. This is the first full-length critical assessment of Sayer’s work. It will be of interest to readers in sociology, economics, political economy, social and political philosophy, ethics, social policy, geography and urban studies, from upper-undergraduate levels upwards.

Author: Frederick NEUHOUSER
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674041453
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 351

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Book Description
This study examines the philosophical foundations of Hegel's social theory by articulating the normative standards at work in his claim that the central social institutions of the modern era are rational or good.

Author: Wooje Cho
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319999362
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 141

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Book Description
This book constitutes revised selected papers from the 16th Workshop on e-Business, WeB 2017, which took place in Seoul, South Korea, in December 2017. The purpose of WeB is to provide an open forum for e-Business researchers and practitioners world-wide, to share topical research findings, explore novel ideas, discuss success stories and lessons learned, map out major challenges, and collectively chart future directions for e-Business. The WeB 2017 theme was “Digital transformation: challenges and opportunities”. The 11 papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 43 submissions. These are original research articles with a broad coverage of behavioral issues on consumers, citizens, businesses, industries and governments, ranging from technical to strategic issues.

Author: John L. Paterson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317906527
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
The emphasis of this book is to explore two major philosophical influences in contemporary human geography, namely logical positivism and Marxism, and to explore the relationships between philosophy, methodology and geographical research. Rather than being a biography of David Harvey, the book contributes to the understanding of one of the most innovative and iconoclastic scholars in contemporary Anglo-American human geography.

Author: Various Authors
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1136875506
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1056

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Book Description
This four volume set is dedicated to the work of Emile Durkheim, one of the most important and prolific sociologists in the field, who is commonly cited as a founding father of modern social science. With volumes published between 1975 and 1991, this collection brings together a range of modern critical responses to Durkheim's work across a broad range of topics, including: epistemology, modernism and post-modernism, theories of social order, and the rise and development of modern society. The authors in the collection also draw important comparisons between Durkheim and other seminal sociologists, including Max Weber and Claude Bernard. For institutional purchases for e-book sets please contact [email protected] (customers in the UK, Europe and Rest of World)