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Author: John Carroll Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1317651219 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 216
Book Description
John Carroll contends that since 1918 sociology has distinguished itself by making society appear as dull as it is at its worst. Using barbaric jargon, legalistic syntax and vacuous statistical tables, and driven by an obsession with the humdrum, it has exhibited some of the worst traits of the culture it should have been laying bare. Sceptical Sociology examines where sociology went wrong, and what ought to be done to transform it into a worthwhile enterprise. In a series of studies of contemporary Western society, the author puts into practice the principles of a ‘sceptical sociology’. There are enquiries into the cleanliness compulsion among housewives, the conflicting dream and reality of the tourist, the moral centrality of the car, the tactics of the latest shopping palaces. There is an allegory on fur hats, a dark portrait of a typical modern marriage, a putting of intellectuals in their place, and a pursuit of the sociology of space through the universal longing for home. The author contends that sociology ought to be the important stories about a society and its times, well told. Sceptical Sociology attempts to show that it can be well done.
Author: John Carroll Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1317651219 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 216
Book Description
John Carroll contends that since 1918 sociology has distinguished itself by making society appear as dull as it is at its worst. Using barbaric jargon, legalistic syntax and vacuous statistical tables, and driven by an obsession with the humdrum, it has exhibited some of the worst traits of the culture it should have been laying bare. Sceptical Sociology examines where sociology went wrong, and what ought to be done to transform it into a worthwhile enterprise. In a series of studies of contemporary Western society, the author puts into practice the principles of a ‘sceptical sociology’. There are enquiries into the cleanliness compulsion among housewives, the conflicting dream and reality of the tourist, the moral centrality of the car, the tactics of the latest shopping palaces. There is an allegory on fur hats, a dark portrait of a typical modern marriage, a putting of intellectuals in their place, and a pursuit of the sociology of space through the universal longing for home. The author contends that sociology ought to be the important stories about a society and its times, well told. Sceptical Sociology attempts to show that it can be well done.
Author: Mark Wardell Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1317650999 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 251
Book Description
Current sociological theories appear to have lost their general persuasiveness in part because, unlike the theories of the ‘classical era’, they fail to maintain an integrated stance toward society, and the practical role that sociology plays in society. The authors explore various facets of this failure and possibilities for reconstructing sociological theories as integrated wholes capable of conveying a moral and political immediacy. They discuss the evolution of several concepts (for example, the social, structure, and self) and address the significant disputes (for example, structuralism versus humanism, and individual versus society) that have dominated twentieth-century sociological thought. Their ideas and analyses are directed towards an audience of students and theorists who are coming to terms with the project of sociological theory, and its relationship with moral discourses and political practice. The authors of these essays are sociological theorists from the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. They are all established, but not ‘establishment’ authors. The book contains no orthodoxies, and no answers. However, the essays do contribute to identifying the range of issues that will constitute the agenda for the next generation of sociological theorists.
Author: Colin Fletcher Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1317651472 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 116
Book Description
Sociology is about society, but what about people? The person in the sight of sociology is all too often a matchstick being. In this original and stimulating book the person is characterized by what is inherent in a social being, and the result is a rich narrative, the story of the person told through events in life. The author holds that for sociological purposes, the person must be seen as perfect: perfectible, perfecting and perfect. He outlines the ‘trialectical’ nature of such a theory, offers a test of it in the making of madness and claims that such a change in vision is appropriate for the sociologist’s critical engagement in the world. It may be claimed that Colin Fletcher has created a new realm of theorizing and a piece of literature for sociology. And, perhaps as important, the reader may catch the rare experience of being spoken with as a person by another person.
Author: Philip Corrigan Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1000155811 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 364
Book Description
This is an exhilarating book, written by one of sociology’s most imaginative theorists and critics. Professor Corrigan proceeds by turning old answers into new questions. He draws on a rich tradition of thought from sociology, philosophy, structuralism, post-structuralism, and literary criticism to explore major ongoing problems in everyday life: moral regulation, schooling, the capitalist world economy, intellectuals, and the problem of difference, masculinity. The result is one of the most dazzling contributions to critical sociology published in recent years.
Author: Barry Hindess Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1317652142 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 142
Book Description
Choice, Rationality and Social Theory is a powerful rebuttal of the remarkably influential theories underlying 'rational choice analysis'. Rational choice analysis maintains that social life is principally to be explained as the outcome of rational choices on the part of individual actors. Adherents of this view include not only philosophers, political scientists and sociologists, but also prominent politicians in Western governments – notably of the United Kingdom and the United States. Rational choice analysis is said to be rigorous, capable of great technical sophistication, and able to generate powerful explanations on the basis of a few, relatively simple theoretical assumptions. Barry Hindess argues that the theory is seriously deficient, first, because there are important actors in the modern world other than human individuals, and second, because it says nothing about those processes of deliberation that play an important part in actors' decisions. The use of highly questionable assumptions about actors and their rationality has the effect of closing off important areas of intellectual inquiry and ignoring the reality of certain forms of thought and the social conditions on which they depend. These points are established through detailed examination of the concepts of the actor and of rationality – providing an overall argument that constitutes a serious challenge to any adherent of rational choice analysis.
Author: Keith Dixon Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1000155803 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 175
Book Description
Most professional sociologists claim that sociology is, or ought to be, a theoretical science. Keith Dixon argues here that this claim is formulated in such a way that a proper evaluation of its status is extremely difficult, and that the contingent objections to the possibility of sociological theorizing are sufficiently strong for such activity to be labelled as pretence. He believes that pretence to the theoretical is a hindrance to the development of sociology proper. It devalues significant empirical work by giving status to research findings only in so far as they relate to often arbitrarily conceived 'theoretical' concerns; it leads to a systematic neglect of the historical dimension in the explanation of human behaviour; and it sets up ideals of explanation whose pursuit leads to sterility, frustration and even intellectual corruption. Keith Dixon emphasizes, however, that in attacking the contingent possibility of theory, he does not mean to devalue empirical expertise, analytic skill or the exercise of disciplined speculative intelligence. The argument of his book is that intelligence can only flourish when released from the constraints of attempting to justify the unjustifiable.
Author: Ian C. Jarvie Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1317652029 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 233
Book Description
The main concern of Dr Jarvie’s book is the relation of belief to action. He argues that people act in society because of beliefs, because of ‘the way they see things’. There is the world of physical and social conditioning – where fixed roles, tropisms, adaptations seem to operate; there is the world of mind – where action, alternatively, seems to originate; but then there is Karl Popper’s ‘third world’ – where dwell the objects of thought (ideals, theories, beliefs, values) which ‘directly affect how people act, and thus affect the way the world is’. Reform, change, improvement, modification, all proceed from the competitive interaction between our private beliefs about the world, and their ‘third world’ brothers. Jarvie contends that the struggle of privately held beliefs to realize themselves in the world through the actions of their believers is a fundamental force behind social change.
Author: Roger Sibeon Publisher: SAGE ISBN: 1847871615 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 234
Book Description
Roger Sibeon′s distinctive new book forms part of a movement towards what many others have referred to as the `return′ to sociological theory and method. Offering both description and critique of contemporary theoretical and illustrative empirical materials, the goal of this book is a renewal of sociology and social theory that will facilitate worthwhile social knowledge that contributes to an understanding of the practical problems of making sense of social theory.
Author: Joe Bailey Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1317651782 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 167
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: John Carroll
Author: John Carroll
Author: John Carroll
Author: Mark Wardell
Author: Colin Fletcher
Author: Philip Corrigan
Author: Barry Hindess
Author: Keith Dixon
Author: Ian C. Jarvie
Author: Roger Sibeon
Author: Joe Bailey