Concept Formation in Social Science (Routledge Revivals)

Concept Formation in Social Science (Routledge Revivals)

Author: William Outhwaite

Publisher: Taylor & Francis US

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 9780415611268

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First published in 1983, this book examines the problems of concept formation in the social sciences, and in particular sociology, from the standpoint of a realistic philsophy of science. Beginning with a discussion of positivistic, hermeneutic, rationalist and realistic philsophies of science, Dr Outhwaite argues that realism is best able to furnish rational criteria for the choice and specification of social scientific concepts. A realistic philosophy of science therefore acts as his reference point for the dialectical presentation of alternative accounts.


Concept Formation in Global Studies

Concept Formation in Global Studies

Author: Gennaro Ascione

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2024-06-13

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 1538178435

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The book proposes a new epistemological and methodological approach to concept formation across human and natural sciences, beyond Eurocentrism and specism. It elaborates a method enabling global epistemics to cope with multiplex challenges coming from geohistorical as well as epistemological standpoints whose methodological potential remains unexplored. It assumes monstrosity as the generative grammar of a new holistic approach to human knowledge, and draws from postcolonial, decolonial or post-western perspectives to place new methodological cornerstones, as well as from arts, astrology and magic from the Islamic and European Renaissance, indigenous knowledge, genetics, theoretical physics or Afrofuturism. The book aims at provoking a shift in critical perspectives, which do not acknowledge their own inability to steam an appropriate methodology of terminological and conceptual elaboration for the lexicon of contemporary human knowledge, out of a pressing demand: once agreed upon the world as a single yet multilayered spacetime of analysis, how should research about large-scale/long-term processes of social change advance, in order to cope with the asymmetrical power relations that materialize colonial history through heterarchies of class, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, knowledge, cosmology and ecology? This book struggles against the prejudice that the instances heterogeneous yet non canonical epistemics are in fact exclusively confined to provincial, exotic or solipsistic particularisms; therefore never as universalistic as the dominant ones. To address this problem, the book proposes: a different way to think of the relation between the abstract and the concrete; a new relation between data or histories, and concepts; an alternative pathway to cross-cultural translation in conceptual and terminological analysis; a new posture to inhabit the spacetimes at the border between translation and untranslatability.


Max Weber on Economy and Society (Routledge Revivals)

Max Weber on Economy and Society (Routledge Revivals)

Author: Robert Holton

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2010-10-22

Total Pages: 153

ISBN-13: 1136830707

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First published in 1989, this re-issue concerns itself with the relevance of Max Weber's sociology for the understanding of modern times. The book outlines key tenets of Weber's sociology and points to the valuable legacy of Weber's thought in contemporary intellectual debate, particularly with regard to secularization and rationalization of global cultures, the crisis of Marxism, the rise of the New Right and the emergence of post-modernism. This book offers an authoritative and insightful study which brings to light, not only the contemporary relevance of Weber's social theory, but also offering a broad perspective for the analysis of social questions.


An Invitation to Non-Hegemonic World Sociology

An Invitation to Non-Hegemonic World Sociology

Author: Eric Macé

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2024-07-19

Total Pages: 371

ISBN-13: 1538161036

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Although sociology is present as a discipline or as a social practice in most countries in the world, its future as a not-only Western social science has hardly been addressed before. In this book, a team of interdisciplinary scholars have been working together not so much to offer one single response to the question than to raise important issues at stake for the future of sociology. Is it universal? Can it be indigenous? How is it possible – and is it even desirable – to write its history differently so as to know better about its early world diffusion and gradual Westernization? Do we need to expand or change its canon? This collection brings together essays that are all engaged in international discussions concerning the universality of sociology, or more precisely the epistemological and theoretical conditions of this universality. The postcolonial and decolonial critiques of the Eurocentrism of sociology are the basis for a reflection on how to continue to do sociology in a non-hegemonic way. That is, sociological ways of describing reality - including the history of sociology and its canon - that are not limited by Western-centrism or other nationalist or religious hegemonies.


Reading Hayek in the 21st Century

Reading Hayek in the 21st Century

Author: T. Papaioannou

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2012-09-18

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 1137283629

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Papaioannou offers a radical new reading of Hayek in the 21st century, arguing that the moral dimension of his political theory is based on the methodological implications of an epistemologically founded morality, a morality that must respect the natural limits of human knowledge.


Routledge Revivals: What's Wrong With Ethnography? (1992)

Routledge Revivals: What's Wrong With Ethnography? (1992)

Author: Martyn Hammersley

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-02-01

Total Pages: 188

ISBN-13: 1351038001

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Originally published 1992 What's Wrong With Ethnography? provides a fresh look at the rationale for and distinctiveness of ethnographic research in sociology, education and related fields. Relativism, critical theory, the uniqueness of the case study and the distinction between qualitative and quantitative research are all examined and found wanting as a basis for informed ethnography. The policy and political implications of ethnography are a particular focus of attention. The author compels the reader to re-examine some basic methodological assumptions in an exciting way.


Sociology in Action (Routledge Revivals)

Sociology in Action (Routledge Revivals)

Author: Christopher G. A. Bryant

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-09-13

Total Pages: 377

ISBN-13: 113503673X

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This book, first published in 1976, discusses four classical paradigms for sociology – the positivism of Saint-Simon and Comte, Durkheim, Marx and Weber – and four contemporary developments or revisions of them – the sociologie active of Dumazedier and his colleagues in France, sociology in Socialist Poland, the work of Dahrendorf and the ‘new sociology’ of Mills and his successors. Christopher Bryant suggests that no neutral language exists in which to compare the characteristics of these different paradigms, yet highlights those features which are common to all of them. Unique in its approach and analysis of the relationship between sociology and action, this book is of value and interest to students of sociology and theory and professional sociologists.


Defending Objectivity

Defending Objectivity

Author: Margaret Archer

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2004-07-31

Total Pages: 503

ISBN-13: 1134303971

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Andrew Collier is the boldest defender of objectivity - in science, knowledge, thought, action, politics, morality and religion. In this tribute and acknowledgement of the influence his work has had on a wide readership, his colleagues show that they have been stimulated by his thinking and offer challenging responses. This wide-ranging book covers key areas with which defenders of objectivity often have to engage. Sections are devoted to the following: * objectivity of value * objectivity and everyday knowledge * objectivity in political economy * objectivity and reflexivity * objectivity postmodernism and feminism * objectivity and nature The diverse contributions range from social and political thought to philosophy, reflecting the central themes of Collier's work.


Revolutions, Nations, Empires

Revolutions, Nations, Empires

Author: Alexander J. Motyl

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 9780231114318

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In this concise, provocative, and trenchant book, Alexander J. Motyl argues that social scientists must pay more rigorous attention to the formulation of concepts, as they provide the basis for clear thinking, good research, and intelligent formulation of theories. Focusing his "conceptual explorations" on three phenomena--revolutions, nations and nationalism, and empires--Motyl challenges the sloppy thinking that so often surrounds these three interrelated concepts, and moves our understanding of them toward greater precision.