Myth As a Means of Ordering and Organizing Social Reality
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Sociology As Self-Transformation
SOCIOLOGY AS BOURDIEU'SSELF-TRANSFORMATION CLASS THEORY The Appeal &The Limitations Academic of as the Revolutionary Work of Pierre Bourdieu DYLAN RILEY ierre Bourdieu was a universal intellectual whose work ranges from P highly abstract, quasi-philosophical explorations to survey research, and whose enormous contemporary influence is only comparable to that previously enjoyed by Sartre or Foucault. Born in 1930 in a small provincial town in southwestern France where his father was the local postman, he made his way to the pinnacle of the French academic establishment, the École Normale Supérieur ( ENS), receiving the agrégation in philosophy in 1955. Unlike many other normaliens of his generation, Bourdieu did not join the Communist Party, although his close collaborator Jean-Claude Passeron did form part of a heterodox communist cell organized by Michel Foucault, and Bourdieu was clearly influenced by Althusserian Marxism in this period.1 Following his agrégation, Bourdieu’s original plan was to produce a thesis under the direction of the eminent philosopher of science and historical epistemologist Georges Canguilhem. But his philosophical career was interrupted by the draf. The young scholar was sent to Algeria, evidently as 1 David Swartz, Culture and Power: The Sociology of Pierre Bourdieu (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997), 20. Catalyst SUMMER 2017 punishment for his anticolonial politics,2 where he performed military service for a year and subsequently decided to stay on as a lecturer in the Faculty of Letters at Algiers.3 Bourdieu’s Algerian experience was decisive for his later intellectual formation; here he turned away from epistemology and toward fieldwork, producing two masterful ethnographic studies: Sociologie de l’Algérie and Esquisse d’une théorie de la pratique. -
Durkheim's Sui Generis Reality and the Central Subject Matter of Social Science
DURKHEIM’S SUI GENERIS REALITY AND THE CENTRAL SUBJECT MATTER OF SOCIAL SCIENCE Eric Malczewski ABSTRACT Purpose À The purpose of this chapter is twofold: one, to shed light on the nature of the central subject matter of social science; and, two, to demonstrate that E´mile Durkheim’s theory of collective representations identifies this subject matter. Design/methodology/approach À Durkheim’s methodological and theo- retical framework is assessed and compared with influential readings of it so as to show that Durkheim’s main theoretical contributions have been overlooked and to draw out insights of use to contemporary theory. Findings À Defining the nature of human social reality and the central subject matter of social science forms the core of Durkheim’s project. Durkheim saw the central subject matter of social science as a single order of reality. Social Theories of History and Histories of Social Theory Current Perspectives in Social Theory, Volume 31, 161À175 Copyright r 2013 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 0278-1204/doi:10.1108/S0278-1204(2013)0000031004 161 162 ERIC MALCZEWSKI Research limitations/implications À This argument draws attention to the methodological and theoretical coherence of Durkheim’s thought, thereby helping to resolve the debate over how to interpret the work of this central figure and contributing a view of use to contemporary theory. Originality/value À In rendering palpable the nature of the essential rea- lity that is the object of Durkheim’s work, the argument advanced in this chapter resolves what are interpreted as anomalies in Durkheim’s thought and draws out the implications for better understanding Durkheim and the order of reality that traditionally has been referred to as culture or society. -
Quinney: the Social Reality of Crime
Michigan Law Review Volume 69 Issue 5 1971 Quinney: The Social Reality of Crime Melvin M. Belli Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr Part of the Criminal Law Commons, and the Law and Politics Commons Recommended Citation Melvin M. Belli, Quinney: The Social Reality of Crime, 69 MICH. L. REV. 978 (1971). Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol69/iss5/9 This Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Michigan Law Review at University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Michigan Law Review by an authorized editor of University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. RECENT BOOKS BOOK REVIEWS THE SocIAL REALITY OF CRIME. By Richard Quinney. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. 1970. Pp. vi, 339. $6.95. There is probably no more frightening word in our daily vocabu lary than "crime," especially if it appears in the phrase "crime in the streets." The very mention of the word strikes terror into the hearts of all "good" citizens and evokes endless rhetoric and political bell ringing from elected officials. But just what is "crime"? Certainly everyone is aware that the concept of criminality varies with the mores of society. For example, by 1500 English law still recognized only eight major capital offenses;1 by way of contrast, in 1819 it was estimated that the number of capital offenses was as high as 223.2 Of course, not all change in our notion of crime is either gradual or logical. -
Pragmatism, Ontology and Philosophy of the Social Sciences in Practice
To appear in Philosophy of the Social Sciences | Revised draft, 2016-05-25 – please do not cite! Pragmatism, Ontology and Philosophy of the Social Sciences in Practice Simon Lohse Institute of Philosophy / Centre for Ethics and Law in the Life Sciences Leibniz Universität Hannover Am Klagesmarkt 14-17, 30159 Hannover, Germany Email: [email protected] Abstract In this paper, I will discuss two prominent views on the relevance and irrelevance of ontological investigations for the social sciences respectively, namely ontological foundationalism and anti- ontological pragmatism. I will argue that both views are unsatisfactory. The subsequent part of the paper will introduce an alternative role for ontological projects in the philosophy of the social sciences that fares better in this respect by paying attention to the ontological assumptions of actual social scientific theories, models and related explanatory practices. I will illustrate and support this alternative through discussion of three concrete cases. Keywords Social ontology, explanation, philosophy of science in practice, pragmatism, ontological foundationalism 1 To appear in Philosophy of the Social Sciences | Revised draft, 2016-05-25 – please do not cite! 1 Introduction This paper1 aims to contribute to the debate revolving around the relevance of ontological projects in the philosophy of the social sciences (POSS). More precisely, the paper is an attempt to respond to those neo-pragmatist philosophers who contest the usefulness of ontological investigations for the social sciences tout court and, hence, propose that we should stop pursuing ontological projects in POSS in favour of epistemological and methodological investigations (Kivinen and Piiroinen 2006, 2007; Van Bouwel and Weber 2008; Tsilipakos 2012).2 My goal here is to defend the view that ontological investigations of a certain kind can indeed be relevant for the social sciences. -
(Post-)Positivism, Social Constructionism
Alvesson 2e-3878-Ch-02:Gergen(2e)-3810-ch-06.qxp 4/7/2009 8:54 PM Page 15 2 (P OST -) POSITIVISM , SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONISM , CRITICAL REALISM : THREE REFERENCE POINTS IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE In this chapter we will discuss three overarching philosophies of science: positivism and post-positivism, social constructionism, and finally, critical realism. We take up the three orientations as a conceptual, terminologic, and thematic general background to the qualitative methodologies that follow. All three cut across the quantitative/ qualitative dividing-line. Although the main thrust of positivism is quantitative, there have been cases of qualitative positivism, for instance in historiography. Conversely, social constructionism is mainly qualitative, but quantitative social constructionist studies do exist. Finally, critical realism bridges quantitative and qualitative studies – there is no tendency for critical realists to favour either of these type of studies. During the twentieth century, positivism became, and remained for a long time, the dominating philosophy of science. Theory and data, induction and deduction, law-like statements, verification and falsification, were key words. In the second half of the century, positivism came under increasing attack from internal sources – the post-positivists – as well as external opponents; and in the last third of the century, philosophical positivism rapidly deflated. Positivism has some similarities to the data-oriented methods discussed in Chapter 3, especially grounded theory; what is perhaps less well known is that it has also been alluded to by Foucault, and has some paradoxical traits in common with postmodernism; important ideas in post-positivism have been influential to postmodernist thought (see Chapter 6). -
Visual Narratives: Image and Consciousness of Social Reality
Center for Open Access in Science ▪ https://www.centerprode.com/ojss.html Open Journal for Sociological Studies, 2017, 1(2), 73-82. ISSN (Online) 2560-5283 ▪ https://doi.org/10.32591/coas.ojss.0102.05073w _________________________________________________________________________ Visual Narratives: Image and Consciousness of Social Reality Christine Wagner ORCID: 0000-0002-3445-1446 ● ResearcherID: T-9766-2017 UNICAMP, Institute of Arts, São Paulo Received 31 October 2017 ▪ Revised 20 November 2017 ▪ Accepted 22 November 2017 Abstract This article concerns images that portray a social reality in relation to the ability that humans have to create narratives that are a configuration of the collective consciousness. According to arguments developed in the literature and broadcasted by the media, citizens’ actions guard both the public space and the configuration of culture. The images associated with relevant issues determine the public’s responses and give more power to public opinion. However, the results of innovation depend on the political will at any given time. According to Jürgen Habermas, the rationality of the discourse of decision makers guides the collective conscience through their communicative actions. In this sense, the message and its ideology can effect changes by capitalizing on belief in the narratives. Therefore, the main goal is to understand social reality in relation to the influence of visual narratives. Keywords: illusion, determination, media, transformation, cultures. 1. Introduction Cultures are a presence, an influence, and the heritage of humanity. This legacy can be universal or restricted to a small community. At the same time, a variation of cultures can be considered within the dynamic of a global metropolis, which maintains a part of its heritage together with a universal culture. -
Major Schools of Sociological Thought
DR.ARTI RANI E-C0NTENT 25 AUG 2020 Master in Sociology Semester-3 Unit-1 CC-10 Major schools of sociological thought Functionalism Functionalism is a sociological theory that originally attempted to explain social institutions as collective means to meet individual biological needs. Later it came to focus on the ways social institutions meet social needs The central concern of functionalism is the explanation of the apparent stability and internal cohesion of societies necessary to ensure their continued existence over time. Many functionalists argue that social institutions are functionally integrated to form a stable system and that a change in one institution will precipitate a change in other institutions. Societies are seen as coherent, bounded and fundamentally relational constructs that function like organisms, with their various parts or social institutions working together to maintain and reproduce them. The various parts of society are assumed to work for the overall social equilibrium. All social and cultural phenomena are therefore seen as being functional in the sense of working together to achieve this state. These components are then primarily analysed in terms of the function they play. A function is the contribution made by a phenomenon to a larger system of which the phenomenon is a part. Functionalism addresses society as a whole in terms of the function of its constituent elements; namely norms, customs, traditions and institutions. Important sociologists associated with this approach include Auguste Comte, Emile Durkheim, Herbert Spencer, Talcott Parsons, and Robert K. Merton. A common analogy, popularized by Herbert Spencer, presents these parts of society as "organs" that work toward the proper functioning of the "body" as a whole Structuralism Structuralism is a theory of humankind in which all elements of human culture, including literature, are thought to be parts of a system of signs. -
Theoretical Approaches to Understanding the Relationship of Ideology and Everyday Life
ISSN 2039-2117 (online) Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences Vol 6 No 3 S3 ISSN 2039-9340 (print) MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy May 2015 Theoretical Approaches to Understanding the Relationship of Ideology and Everyday Life Yury Grigorievich Volkov Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don, Russian Federation Rashid Dumalichevich Khunagov Adyghe State University, Maikop, Russian Federation Aues Mukhamedovich Kumykov Kabardino-Balkaria State University, Nalchick, Russian Federation Eugenia Sergeevna Sagalaieva North Caucasus Federal University ( Law Institute), Stavropol, Russian Federation Doi:10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n3s3p357 Abstract Article is dedicated to the systematisation and synthesis of conceptual and theoretical approaches related to the clarification of the relationship of ideology and everyday life and their correlation. In addition, the article identifies the basic concepts, with theoretical and methodological importance for understanding the issues and principles of reflective analysis of the ideological everyday life. Ideology at the level of everyday life is seen in breaking through everyday human existence, being a bearer of public relations. Identification of theoretical approaches in the study of ideology in the context of everyday life allows to update subjects related to various aspects of this study and to determine the contours of its problem field when ideology at the level of everyday life is seen through the breaking of the daily existence of a human as a medium of social relations, as well as ideologically intense everyday life. Return of everyday life as the subject appears in the emphasis on everyday "establishment" of social reality in its ideological dimension. It is the coordinates of the correlation of ideology and everyday life, which can be used to construct the concept of ideological everyday life. -
Michèle Lamont Pragmatic Inquiry Brings Together A
Making Sense of Reality Together: Interdisciplinary “Ways of Seeing” Michèle Lamont Pragmatic Inquiry brings together a remarkably creative transcontinental and interdisciplinary group of researchers who met on a regular basis over four years to explore together novel analytical tools to make sense and account for social reality. It will give the reader a renewed sense of possibilities for capturing social complexity. Each chapter zooms in on a different conceptual device that aims to illuminate relatively unexplored aspects of reality. The authors draw on the work of influential scholars – for instance, Foucault’s notion of “dispositif” – but they go beyond them by digging in greater depth, extending and transposing such concepts to new objects. What is gained from the collaboration is also new “ways of seeing,” as authors elaborate novel lenses that capture realities that would not be visible otherwise. For instance, the concept of “assemblage” (discussed in the chapter by Stavrianakis) captures sets of relationships that “enable.” The concept of “qualification” (in the chapter by Kuipers and Franssen) brings together several lines of inquiry to significantly broaden our understanding of valuation. Other papers explore some of the most central and polymorphous analytical tools in contemporary sociology and anthropology, concepts such as “field” (Bartley), “institution” (Cefaï), and “narratives” (Wertsch and Batiashvili), that rival with “culture,” “structure,” and “agency” as conceptual catch-alls. The authors force us to reflect on the implicit background assumptions adopted by social scientists who have used such notions. Their chapters disentangle much telegraphic work by parceling out the roles played by shared meanings in solidifying or enabling stable patterns of social relations. -
The Sociology of Prayer: Dimensions and Mechanisms
social sciences $€ £ ¥ Article The Sociology of Prayer: Dimensions and Mechanisms Paul Froese * and Rory Jones Department of Sociology, Baylor University, One Bear Place #97326, Waco, TX 76798, USA; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: The sociology of prayer has a long history and routinely stresses the centrality of prayer to religious belief and ritual solidarity. Still, we have struggled to clearly define the parameters of prayer and the various components of this ubiquitous practice. Drawing from a comprehensive literature review of prayer research, we propose that there are four conceptually distinct dimensions of the private prayer experience which vary across religious cultures and traditions; they are (1) the quantity of prayer, (2) the style of prayer, (3) the purpose of prayer, and (4) prayer targets. Our proposed measures of these dimensions offer researchers a framework to better theorize and investigate the social mechanisms which produce variation in prayer as well as the individual and social outcomes of prayer. In particular, we discuss how each prayer dimension fits within specific theoretical framings to better test the extent to which the emotional, rational, and behavioral elements matter to prayer outcomes. Keywords: prayer; mechanisms; framework; ritual; belief; religion 1. Introduction A vast majority of humans pray daily. From folk to high church religions, prayer is a constant across religious history (Levin and Taylor 1997; Bellah 2011). In general, we know that prayer is a source of social solidarity and conflict (Layman 2001; O’Reilly 1995), an individual and collective ritual which creates an ongoing symbolic interaction with the Citation: Froese, Paul, and Rory divine realm (Collins 2004; Draper 2019), and a mechanism which enhances confidence in Jones. -
Chapter 2-3 Paradigms, Theory, Research, and Ethnics of Social
Chapter Outline Some social science paradigms Macrotheory and microtheory Chapter 2-3 Early positivism Conflict paradigm Symbolic interactionism Paradigms, Theory, Ethnomethodology Paradigms, Theory, Structural functionalism Feminist paradigms Two logical systems revisited Research, and Ethnics of Deduction and deductive theory construction Induction and inductive theory construction The link between theory and research – the wheel of sciences Social Research The importance of theory in the real world Ethnical issues in social research Voluntary participation No harm to participants Anonymity and confidentiality Deception Analysis and reporting Institutional Review Board (IRB) Professional code of ethnics What are the functions of theory? What is a paradigm? Definition of Theory: A theory is a systematic A paradigm is a fundamental model or scheme set of interrelated statements intended to that organizes our view of something. explain some aspect of social life. Social sciences use a variety of paradigms to Functions of theory: organize how they understand and inquire into Prevents "flukes”. social life. Make sense of observed patterns in ways that suggest other possibilities. Shapes and directs research efforts. What is the difference between What are the major social science macrotheory and microtheory? paradigms? Positivism - assumes we can scientifically discover the rules Macrotheory: Theories that focuses on society governing social life. at large or at least on large portions of it. Auguste Comte: societies can be studied and understood logically and rationally. Examples: government fiscal policy, international Conflict - focuses on attempts of a person or group to trade dominate and avoid being dominated. Karl Marx: class struggle Microtheory: Theories that deals with society Symbolic interactionism - examines development of shared at the level of individuals and small groups meanings and social patterns in the course of social Examples: marriage and divorce behavior, interactions. -
The Construction of Social Reality: an Exchange
American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 62: 2 (2003), 285-309 The Construction of Social Reality An Exchange By BARRY SMITH and JOHN SEARLE* ABSTRACT. In his The Construction of Social Reality, Searle presents an account of rights, responsibilities, obligations, duties, and similar entities in terms of the formula X counts as Y in context C, where “X” refers in the simplest case to some physical object or event and “Y ” to the result of imposing upon X some deontic power or func- tion. Smith attempts to show the limitations of this formula, focusing especially on the examples of contested property rights (where C is not uniquely defined), and of money in bank accounts and other phe- nomena (where no physical X-term is available). Searle responds to these criticisms, above all by pointing to the fact that some of the problems Smith raises are to be addressed not by an ontological analy- sis of social reality but rather through legal or political means. I Barry Smith: The Ontology of Social Reality A. A Two-Leveled Ontology In The Construction of Social Reality, John Searle argues for a two- level ontology along the following lines. Facts on the lower level, which he calls brute facts, can exist independently of human beings and their institutions. Facts on the upper level, which he calls insti- tutional facts, depend on human institutions and above all on an *John Searle is Mills Professor of the Philosophy of Mind and Language in the Uni- versity of California at Berkeley. He can be reached at the Department of Philosophy, 314 Moses Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-2390.