Are you looking for read ebook online? Search for your book and save it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Download The Explanation of Social Action PDF full book. Access full book title The Explanation of Social Action by John Levi Martin. Download full books in PDF and EPUB format.
Author: John Levi Martin Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0199773440 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 400
Book Description
The Explanation of Social Action is a sustained critique of the conventional understanding of what it means to "explain" something in the social sciences. It makes the strong argument that the traditional understanding involves asking questions that have no clear foundation and provoke an unnecessary tension between lay and expert vocabularies. Drawing on the history and philosophy of the social sciences, John Levi Martin exposes the root of the problem as an attempt to counterpose two radically different types of answers to the question of why someone did a certain thing: first person and third person responses. The tendency is epitomized by attempts to explain human action in "causal" terms. This "causality" has little to do with reality and instead involves the creation and validation of abstract statements that almost no social scientist would defend literally. This substitution of analysts' imaginations over actors' realities results from an intellectual history wherein social scientists began to distrust the self-understanding of actors in favor of fundamentally anti-democratic epistemologies. These were rooted most defensibly in a general understanding of an epistemic hiatus in social knowledge and least defensibly in the importation of practices of truth production from the hierarchical setting of institutions for the insane. Martin, instead of assuming that there is something fundamentally arbitrary about the cognitive schemes of actors, focuses on the nature of judgment. This implies the need for a social aesthetics, an understanding of the process whereby actors intuit intersubjectively valid qualities of complex social objects. In this thought-provoking and ambitious book, John Levi Martin argues that the most promising way forward to such a science of social aesthetics will involve a rigorous field theory.
Author: John Levi Martin Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0199773440 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 400
Book Description
The Explanation of Social Action is a sustained critique of the conventional understanding of what it means to "explain" something in the social sciences. It makes the strong argument that the traditional understanding involves asking questions that have no clear foundation and provoke an unnecessary tension between lay and expert vocabularies. Drawing on the history and philosophy of the social sciences, John Levi Martin exposes the root of the problem as an attempt to counterpose two radically different types of answers to the question of why someone did a certain thing: first person and third person responses. The tendency is epitomized by attempts to explain human action in "causal" terms. This "causality" has little to do with reality and instead involves the creation and validation of abstract statements that almost no social scientist would defend literally. This substitution of analysts' imaginations over actors' realities results from an intellectual history wherein social scientists began to distrust the self-understanding of actors in favor of fundamentally anti-democratic epistemologies. These were rooted most defensibly in a general understanding of an epistemic hiatus in social knowledge and least defensibly in the importation of practices of truth production from the hierarchical setting of institutions for the insane. Martin, instead of assuming that there is something fundamentally arbitrary about the cognitive schemes of actors, focuses on the nature of judgment. This implies the need for a social aesthetics, an understanding of the process whereby actors intuit intersubjectively valid qualities of complex social objects. In this thought-provoking and ambitious book, John Levi Martin argues that the most promising way forward to such a science of social aesthetics will involve a rigorous field theory.
Author: K. McClelland Publisher: Springer ISBN: 1137108096 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 336
Book Description
Control Systems Theory, a newly developing theoretical perspective, starts from an important insight into human behaviour: that people attempt to control the world around them as they perceive it. This book brings together for the first time the work of prominent sociologists contributing to the development of this wideranging theoretical paradigm.
Author: Philip Nyden Publisher: SAGE Publications ISBN: 1412982634 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 337
Book Description
This book highlights the variety of ways in which sociology brings about social change in community settings, assists nonprofit and social service organizations in their work, and influences policy at the local, regional, and national levels. It also spotlights sociology that informs the general public on key policy issues through media and creates research centers that develop and carry out collaborative research. The book details a broad range of sociology projects. The 33 case studies are divided into 8 sections. Each section also includes sidebars of include non-sociologists writing about the impact of selected research projects. In some cases these are interdisciplinary projects since solutions to social problems are often multifaceted and do not fit into the disciplines as defined by universities. Further, it emphasizes actions and connections. This is not armchair sociology where self-proclaimed public sociologists just write articles suggesting what government, corporations, communities, or others "ought to do." The authors are interested in the active connections to publics and users of the research, not the passive research process.
Author: Kathleen Odell Korgen Publisher: SAGE Publications ISBN: 1412982839 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 313
Book Description
This book provides vivid examples of how sociologists are using sociological tools to make a positive impact on our society. In each chapter, four or five public sociologists will describe, in vivid detail, how they have used sociology to understand and influence the world around them. The chapters will cover the key topics in sociology courses and the pieces will bring the subject matter of sociology to life for students, giving them clear examples of the power and usefulness of sociology as they learn the course content. The discussion questions and suggested additional readings and resources at the end of every chapter will provide students the opportunity to delve further into the topics covered and help create full and nuanced discussions, grounded in the "real world" work of public sociologists.
Author: Bruno Latour Publisher: Harvard University Press ISBN: 9780674792913 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 292
Book Description
From weaker to stronger rhetoric : literature - Laboratories - From weak points to strongholds : machines - Insiders out - From short to longer networks : tribunals of reason - Centres of calculation.
Author: Kathleen Odell Korgen Publisher: SAGE Publications ISBN: 1483310787 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 321
Book Description
The only text to provide real-life examples of how practicing sociologists use sociology to work toward social change and social justice! Providing vivid examples of how sociologists are using sociological tools to make a positive impact on our society, this one-of-a-kind book helps students better understand how their study of sociology can be put to good use in today’s world. Each of the 14 chapters, closely aligned with key topics in sociology courses, is filled with stories from practicing sociologists that help students better understand how their sociology studies can be applied and provides answers to the question, “…but what can I do with a sociology degree?” Discussion questions and suggested additional readings and resources at the end of each chapter give students the opportunity to delve further into the topics covered and carry out full and nuanced discussions, grounded in the “real world” work of public sociologists. Contributor to the SAGE Teaching Innovations and Professional Development Award Find out more at www.sagepub.com/sociologyaward
Author: Kathleen Odell Korgen Publisher: SAGE Publications ISBN: 154439473X Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 621
Book Description
Wake up your race and ethnicity classes! Race and Ethnicity: Sociology in Action helps your students learn sociology by doing sociology. Race and Ethnicity: Sociology in Action provides all the elements required to create an active learning experience for this course. Inspired by the best-selling Sociology in Action for introductory sociology, this innovative new title emphasizes hands-on work, application, and learning by example. The text features a diverse group of expert contributing authors who also practice active learning in their own classrooms. Each chapter explains key concepts and theories in race and ethnicity and pairs that foundational coverage with a series of carefully developed learning activities and thought-provoking questions. The comprehensive Activity Guide that accompanies the text will help you carry out and assess the activities that will best engage your students, fit the format of your course, and meet your course goals. This title is accompanied by a complete teaching and learning package.
Author: Anthony Giddens Publisher: Univ of California Press ISBN: 9780520039759 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 308
Book Description
"One of the most creative among the younger generation of critical social theorists, Giddens stands alone in his concern for the classical tradition on sociology; but he also makes brilliant use of the latest philosophical and theoretical work of several contemporary schools and disciplines. A very important book for all of social science."—Jeffrey C. Alexander
Author: Christian Morgner Publisher: Springer Nature ISBN: 3030263800 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 291
Book Description
Engaging with several emerging and interconnected approaches in the social sciences, including pragmatism, system theory, processual thinking and relational thinking, this book leverages John Dewey and Arthur Bentley’s often misunderstood concept of trans-action to revisit and redefine our perceptions of social relations and social life. The contributors gathered here use trans-action in a more specific sense, showing why and how social scientists and philosophers might use the concept to better understand our social life and social problems. As the first collective sociological attempt to apply the concept of trans-action to contemporary social issues, this volume is a key reference for the growing audience of relational and processual thinkers in the social sciences and beyond.
Author: Martina Löw Publisher: Springer ISBN: 1349695688 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 321
Book Description
In this book, the author develops a relational concept of space that encompasses social structure, the material world of objects and bodies, and the symbolic dimension of the social world. Löw’s guiding principle is the assumption that space emerges in the interplay between objects, structures and actions. Based on a critical discussion of classic theories of space, Löw develops a new dynamic theory of space that accounts for the relational context in which space is constituted. This innovative view on the interdependency of material, social, and symbolic dimensions of space also permits a new perspective on architecture and urban development.
Author: John Levi Martin
Author: John Levi Martin
Author: K. McClelland
Author: Philip Nyden
Author: Kathleen Odell Korgen
Author: Bruno Latour
Author: Kathleen Odell Korgen
Author: Kathleen Odell Korgen
Author: Anthony Giddens
Author: Christian Morgner
Author: Martina Löw