Download or read book Social Theory as Science Routledge Revivals written by Russell Keat and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2011-01-31 with total page 531 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book, written by a philosopher interested in the problems of social science and scientific method, and a sociologist interested in the philosophy of science, presents a novel conception of how we should think about and carry out the scientific study of social life. This book combines an evaluation of different conceptions of the nature of science with an examination of important sociological theorists and frameworks. This second edition of the work was originally published in 1982.
Download or read book Sociological Impressionism written by David Frisby and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When "Sociological Impressionism" was first published in 1981, it was the first comprehensive study on Simmel s social theory to appear in English since 1925. A pioneering work, it did much to bring about the rediscovery of Georg Simmel as one of the key sociologists of the twentieth century. David Frisby provides a provocative introduction to aspects of Simmel s social theory, seriously challenging many interpretations of his work, most notably the view that Simmel produced a "formal "sociology. By drawing on many little-known essays and pieces by Simmel and his contemporaries, the book locates him within the social and intellectual milieu in which he was working. This is a reissue of the second edition, published in 1992, which includes a new afterword confronting critical responses to the first edition. This is an important work, which will be of interest to students of sociology and social philosophy in Germany in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
Download or read book The Concept of Social Change Routledge Revivals written by Anthony D. Smith and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-01-14 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Anthony Smith's important work on the concept of social change, first published in 1973, puts forward the paradigm of historical change as an alternative to the functionalist theory of evolutionary change. He shows that, in attempting to provide a theory of social change, functionalism reveals itself as a species of 'frozen' evolutionism. Functionalism, he argues, is unable to cope with the mechanisms of historical transitions or account for novelty and emergence; it confuses classification of variations with explanation of processes; and its endogenous view of change prevents it from coming to grips with the real events and transformations of the historical record. In his assessment of functionalism, Dr Smith traces its explanatory failures in its accounts of the developments of civilisation, modernisation and revolution. He concludes that the study of 'evolution' is largely irrelevant to the investigation of social change. He proposes instead an exogenous paradigm of social change, which places the study of contingent historical events at its centre.
Download or read book Knowledge Ideology Discourse written by Tim Dant and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-12-19 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This student textbook, originally published in 1991, tackles the traditional problems of the sociology of knowledge from a new perspective. Drawing on recent developments in social theory, Tim Dant explores crucial questions such as the roles of power and knowledge, the status of rational knowledge, and the empirical analysis of knowledge. He argues that, from a sociological perspective, knowledge, ideology and discourse are different aspects of the same phenomenon, and reasserts the central thesis of the sociology - that knowledge is socially determined.
Download or read book Capitalism and Leisure Theory Routledge Revivals written by Chris Rojek and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-12-19 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1985, this title explores theories of leisure in a capitalist society. Basing his argument on a refutation of the conventional association of leisure with freedom and free time, Chris Rojek examines the four main structural characteristics of modern leisure practice: privatisation, individuation, commercialisation and pacification. The writings of Marx, Durkheim, Weber, and Freud are used to locate the question of leisure in more mainstream social theory. This interesting reissue will be of particular value to students of sociology and leisure studies, and those with an interest in the relationship between leisure and power.
Download or read book Sociology as Social Criticism Routledge Revivals written by Tom B. Bottomore and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-09-10 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1975, this collection of essays embodies a conception of sociological thought as a critical analysis of social theories and doctrines, of social institutions and political regimes, of recent social movements. They deal, in particular, with some conservative versions of sociology and with attempts to develop more radical theories; they extend the author's previous writings on classes, elites and politics; and they analyse some of the problems of socialism in the late twentieth century. There is a close unity of theme througout the book in its critical attempt to formulate new intellectual bases for future radical and egalitarian politics. It is written with that quiet wisdom and impressive command of sources which readers have come to associate with Professor Bottomore's work.
Download or read book Hermeneutics and Social Science Routledge Revivals written by Zygmunt Bauman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-03-23 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in 1978, this important work, by one of the leading European social theorists, is arguably the best introduction to the hermeneutic tradition as a whole. It is designed to help students of sociology and philosophy place the problems of "understanding social science" in their historical and philosophical context. It does so by presenting the major current in sociological thought as responses to the challenge of hermeneutics. The idea that true knowledge of social life can be attained only if human conduct is seen as meaningful action whose meaning is accordingly grasped has been presented as a discovery of recent sociology. In fact its history is long and its connections plentiful, reaching beyond the boundaries of sociology itself. Yet it is in sociology that the hermeneutic tradition has attracted most interest but most misinterpretation. The debate is in full swing and there is no attempt to offer "correct" solutions - the emphasis instead is upon revealing the strengths and weaknesses of each of the main approaches. However it is Bauman's view that the theory of understanding may achieve valid results only if it treats the problem of understanding as an aspect of the ongoing process of social life.
Download or read book Sociological Theory Routledge Revivals written by Keith Dixon and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-12-19 with total page 105 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1973, this book is concerned with the question of whether Sociology is, or ought to be, a theoretical science. Keith Dixon argues that the pretence to the theoretical is a hindrance to the development of the field of Sociology, which devalues significant empirical work by giving status to research findings only in so far as they relate to often arbitrary theoretical concerns. Dixon addresses the historical dimension in the explanation of human nature and rational action. This reissue will be of particular value to students and academics with an interest in the empirical and theoretical methodology applied to Sociological research.
Download or read book Reference Groups and the Theory of Revolution Routledge Revivals written by John Urry and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-05-13 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1973, this is a reissue of John Urry's important and influential study of the theory of revolution. Part 1 offers a detailed discussion of the concept of the reference group, tracing its development from the symbolic interactionist tradition and then showing how it came to be used in ways which emasculated some of the suppositions of that tradition. Part 2 sets out a theory of revolutionary dissent, in which Dr Urry emphasizes the interconnection between analyses on the level of the social structure and the social actor. The final section demonstrates the value of this theory by using it to account for the varying patterns of action and revolutionary thought and action in the Dutch East Indies in the first half of this century.
Download or read book Socialism and Saint Simon Routledge Revivals written by Emile Durkheim and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009-12-15 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Durkheim’s study of socialism, first published in English in 1959, is a document of exceptional intellectual interest and a genuine milestone in the history of sociological theory. It presents us with the sociological theories of a truly first-rate thinker and his extensive commentary upon another key figure in the history of sociological thought, Henri Saint-Simon. The core of this volume contains Durkheim’s presentation of Saint-Simon’s ideas, their sources and their development.
Download or read book Semantics and Social Science Routledge Revivlas written by Graham MacDonald and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2011-03-31 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in 1980, this book examines the major issues in the philosophy of social science, paying specific attention to cross-cultural understanding, humanism versus scientism, individualism versus collectivism, and the shaping of theory by evaluative commitment. Arguing for a cross-cultural conception of human beings, the authors defend humanism and individualism, and reject the notion that social inquiry is necessarily vitiated by an adherence to values.
Download or read book Socialism the Active Utopia Routledge Revivals written by Zygmunt Bauman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009-11-18 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rather than contributing to the long-standing discussion about the characteristics of the society that socialism proposes to establish, this Routledge Revival, initially published in 1976, aims to explore the impact of the ‘living utopia’ of socialism on the development of modern society. It begins with an analysis of the role of utopia in general, and of the socialist utopia in particular; Bauman considers the opposition between ‘utopian’ and ‘scientific’ social thought; He presents socialism as the ‘counter-culture’ of capitalist society; The book finally examines the reasons for the failure of socialism in its application to the peasant revolution in Russia. It then explores some possible forms that the socialist utopia might take in the industrial societies of the late twentieth century. Professor Bauman writes for those who want to understand the logic of the historical fate of socialism in the present century, who are concerned about the validity and vitality of socialist ideas on the development of modern society, and who are interested, and perhaps confused, by the cultural and ideological conflicts of the last few decades.
Download or read book Historical Materialism written by Nikolaĭ Bukharin and published by . This book was released on 1925 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Uses of Social Research Routledge Revivals written by Martin Bulmer and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-06-11 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The growth and health of the social sciences owe a good deal to the generally held belief that they are socially useful, but is this really so? Do they deliver the goods they promise? In The Uses of Social Research, first published in 1982, Martin Bulmer answers these and other questions concerning the uses of empirical social science in the policy-making process, and provides an extended analysis of the main issues. This title provides a valuable introduction to the patterns of influence exercised by the social sciences on government. It shows how the results of social research feed into the political system and what models of the relationship between research and policy are most convincing. This book will be of interest to students of the social sciences.
Download or read book Simmel and Since written by David Frisby and published by Taylor & Francis US. This book was released on 2011-03-22 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in 1992, this book, written by one of the world's leading experts on Simmel, provides a fascinating set of insights into a thinker who is fast becoming recognized as the sociologist of modernity; an indispensible resource in confronting post-modernity. It examines the relevance of his work in relation to contemporary debates on culture, aesthetics and modernity.
Download or read book Giddens Theory of Structuration written by Christopher Bryant and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-06-03 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Anthony Giddens is one of the most respected and influential social theorists at work today. This wide-ranging and stimulating volume, first published in 1991, provides an authoratative and penetrating critical assessment of social theory. It will be of use to all students of sociology and social theory.
Download or read book New Horizons in Sociological Theory and Research written by Luigi Tomasi and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-07-24 with total page 421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title was first published in 2001. This book tackles the important issue of the tasks that confront sociology in the third millennium. It examines the sociological interpretations of the World-Wide revolution which - amid unprecedented scientific and technological progress and the globalization of markets - has generated new inequalities, poverty, structural unemployment and mass conditionings. A number of the most distinguished living sociologists (including Boudon, Beck, Eisenstadt, Tiryakain, Wieviorka) furnish profound and innovative interpretations of changes in world society, while outlining the frontiers of sociological research for the 21st Century. The contributions to the book not only prompt reflection on the structure and organization of sociological research, but also revitalize sociological inquiry by conducting original and stimulating analysis of theoretical and methodological issues - an undertaking essential for the survival of the discipline itself.
