Antipositivist Theories of the Sciences

Antipositivist Theories of the Sciences

Author: N. Stockman

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-03-09

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 9401576785

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The sciences are too important to be left exclusively to scientists, and indeed they have not been. The structure of scientific knowledge, the role of the sciences in society, the appropriate social contexts for the pursuit of scientific inquiry, have long been matters for reflection and debate about the sciences carried on both within academe and outside it. Even within the universities this reflection has not been the property of any single discipline. Philosophy might have been first in the field, but history and the social sciences have also entered the fray. For the latter, new problems came to the fore, since reflection on the sciences is, in the case of the social sciences, necessarily also reflection on themselves as sciences. Reflection on the natural sciences and self-reflection by the social sciences came to be dominated in the 1960s by the term 'positivism'. At the time when this word had been invented, the sciences were flourishing; their social and material environment had become increasingly favourable to scientific progress, and the sciences were pointing the way to an optimistic future. In the later twentieth century, however, 'positivism' came to be a word used more frequently by those less sure of nineteenth century certainties. In both sociology and philosophy, 'positivism' was now something to be rejected, and, symbolizing the collapse of an earlier consensus, it became itself the shibboleth of a new dissensus, as different groups of reflective thinkers, in rejecting 'positivism', rejected something different, and often rejected each other.


Critical Issues in Social Theory

Critical Issues in Social Theory

Author: John K. Rhoads

Publisher: Penn State Press

Published: 2010-11-01

Total Pages: 394

ISBN-13: 9780271040059

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Critical Issues in Social Theory is an analytical survey of persistent controversies that have shaped the field of sociology. It defines, clarifies, and proposes solutions to these "critical issues" through commentary on the writings of such influential social theorists as Hobbes, Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Mead, Merton, Parsons, and Schutz. Instead of being just another history, or another classification of theories, Rhoads's four-part model allows him to focus attention on issues that remain at the core of sociological theory today. First, Rhoads analyzes the controversy over positivism as the proper methodological model for the study of human society. Is there one science, of which sociology is a branch, or do the peculiarities of sociology's subject matter require a modification of the scientific method borrowed from the natural sciences? Rhoads next considers the relationship of individuals to society and its structures. Does society have a mode of existence distinct from its members, or is it merely an abstraction derived from the characteristics of individuals? Third, a discussion of social order raises the question of whether social order is the consequence of rules and their underlying moral values, or the product of continuous construction based on self-interest. Finally, the relative importance of consensus and conflict in social relationships is addressed. Is society better understood as a community united by beliefs, values, and rules, or is the social dynamic of continual conflict over beliefs, values, and rules more fundamental? In coming to grips with these issues, the author in some instances takes sides and in others arrives at a synthesis of diverse perspectives. In the final chapter he points to the limitations on the possibility of rational action that come to light in the clashes over these basic issues.


New Philosophies of Social Science: Realism, Hermeneutics and Critical Theory

New Philosophies of Social Science: Realism, Hermeneutics and Critical Theory

Author: William Outhwaite

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 1987-12-08

Total Pages: 145

ISBN-13: 1349189464

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The demise of empiricist philosophies of science has contributed to the current disarray of philosophy in the social sciences. This book argues that a realist analysis of the structures and processes which make up the social world can provide a way out of its present impasse. These processes, ranging from the interpersonal negotiation of meaning to the constraining influence of administrative or market structures, cannot be understood as mere constructs either in the minds of the theorist or of the social factors themselves, since they actually generate the social world as we know it. The author develops some implications of this approach and presents a realist view of some of the principal theoretical traditions and controversies within sociology and other social sciences.


Formal Theory in Sociology

Formal Theory in Sociology

Author: Jerald Hage

Publisher: SUNY Press

Published: 1994-01-01

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 9780791419519

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A group of renowned sociological theorists analyze why the attempts to make sociological theory formal in the 1960s and early 1970s failed. This becomes not only an unusual and interesting analysis in the sociology of knowledge, but several of the articles move to the level of analyzing the entire discipline, explaining why positivism did not take hold and what are the distinctive characteristics of sociology as a discipline. Anyone interested in sociology as a discipline and more specifically sociological theory will find interesting analytical models.


Critical Theory and Methodology

Critical Theory and Methodology

Author: Raymond A. Morrow

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Published: 1994-06-24

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 1506320945

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Recipient of Choice Magazine′s 1996 Outstanding Academic Book Award Author Raymond Morrow outlines and recounts the development of the major tenets of critical theory, exemplifying them through the works of two of their most influential, recent adherents: Jürgen Habermas and Anthony Giddens. Beginning with a comprehensive yet meticulous explication of critical theory and its history, the author next discusses it within the context of a research program; his work concludes with an examination of empirical methods. Emphasizing the connections between critical theory, empirical research, and social science methodology, Morrow′s volume offers refreshing insights on traditional and current material.


Variations in Organization Science

Variations in Organization Science

Author: Joel A. C. Baum

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Published: 1999-05-14

Total Pages: 465

ISBN-13: 1452221685

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In my judgment this book in honor of Donald T. Campbell will be very influential and highly cited. . . . It will become a must read for Ph.D. students and scholars in strategy and organization theory. —Arie Lewin, Duke University "The topics in this volume are cutting edge, and the contributors are first-rate. The book is well anchored—Donald T. Campbell has had a profound influence on the field. Moreover, the book is well-conceptualized—socio-cultural evolution, co-evolution, methods modeling, and epistemology are key issues in organization science right now. —Michael Tushman, Harvard University If he were an assistant professor today, what would social science giant Donald T. Campbell be pursuing in the field of organization science? Joel A. C. Baum and Bill McKelvey explore this question in Variations in Organization Science. This volume reveals and celebrates Campbell′s many contributions to organization science by presenting new variations that stem directly from his work. Rather than analyze Campbell′s theories, the authors present ideas that Campbell might have pursued if he were currently a doctoral student. This volume is unique in its focus on coevolution and multilevel coevolutionary analysis, as well as in its range of subject matter from empirical studies to leading-edge epistemological discourses. Each of the book′s four main sections focuses on a major aspect of Campbell′s legacy: blind variation, selection, and retention; multilevel coevolution; process level analysis and modeling; and epistemology and methodology. In addition, the volume includes a Foreward by Barbara Frankel Campbell and an unusual Appendix: Donald Campbell′s complete curriculum vitae. Variations in Organization Science should be on the top of the reading list for any organization scientist interested in organizational evolution, change, and competitiveness. This volume will also appeal to any scholar interested in the human and social capital base of firms and how organizational knowledge and learning work to provide the basis of competitive advantage.


Critical theory and epistemology

Critical theory and epistemology

Author: Anastasia Marinopoulou

Publisher: Manchester University Press

Published: 2017-06-26

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 1526105381

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This volume in the Critical Theory and Contemporary Society series explores the arguments between critical theory and epistemology in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Focusing on the first and second generations of critical theorists and Luhmann’s systems theory, the book examines how each approaches epistemology. It opens by looking at twentieth-century epistemology, particularly the concept of lifeworld (Lebenswelt). It then moves on to discuss structuralism, poststructuralism, critical realism, the epistemological problematics of Foucault’s writings and the dialectics of systems theory. The aim is to explore whether the focal point for epistemology and the sciences remain that social and political interests actually form a concrete point of concern for the sciences as well.


Reading Science

Reading Science

Author: Ben Agger

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 1989

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 9780930390938

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To find more information about Rowman and Littlefield titles, please visit www.rowmanlittlefield.com.


A Critical Theory Of Public Life

A Critical Theory Of Public Life

Author: Ben Agger

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-10-31

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 1134080387

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This text collects together Ben Agger's essays on the origins, significance and applications of critical theory - a perspective associated with the Frankfurt School. The essays address a variety of topics including the viability of Marxist theory and new social movements.