DOCSLIB.ORG

Towards a Macrosociology of Dialogic Globalization

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Towards a Macrosociology of Dialogic Globalization Critical Rationalism And Macrosociology of Globalisation By Masoud Mohammadi Alamuti Submitted to the Graduate School Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in a partial fulfillment of the requirements for The degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Politics The School of Geography, Politics and Sociology Department of Politics Newcastle University June 2011 Critical Rationalism And Macrosociology of Globalisation i Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................. vi Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ vii Part I: A Critical Rationalist Approach to Globalisation Chapter 1 Principal Argument and Thesis Structure 1.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Principal Argument ......................................................................................................... 7 1.3 Thesis Structure ............................................................................................................... 23 Chapter 2 Critical Rationalism and Research Methodology 2.1 The Nature of a (Historical) Macrosociology of Globalisation .................................... 30 2.2 Critical Rationalism and the Logic of the Social Sciences ........................................... 32 2.1.1 Historical Background of Popper’s Conjectural Theory of Knowledge ............................. 34 2.2.2 The Two Contexts of the Logic of Scientific Discovery ................................................ 37 2.2.3 From ‘Empirical Falsificationism’ to ‘Inter-Subjective Criticism’ ............................... 39 2.2.4 The Situational Analysis and the Hermeneutic Logic of the Social Sciences ................ 40 2.3 A Critical Rationalist Approach to Critical Social Theory ......................................... 49 2.3.1 Adorno’s Critique of Popper’s Logic of the Social Sciences ........................................ 50 2.3.2 Critical Rationalism and the Logic of Critical Social Sciences ..................................... 53 2.4 The Logic of Macrosociology of Globalisation: A Critical Rationalist Approach .... 57 Part II: Introducing the Idea of Open Global Society Chapter 3 Three Normative Critiques of Contemporary Globalisation 3.1 David Held’s Normative Critique of Globalisation ...................................................... 63 3.1.1 The Ideal Type of Global Social Democracy ................................................................. 63 3.1.2 Globalisation as a Shift in the Scale of Human Organisation ......................................... 66 3.1.3 Globalisation’s Democratic Deficit ............................................................................... 69 ii 3.1.4 The Problematic Nature of Held’s Normative Critique ................................................. 70 3.2 Richard Falk’s Normative Critique of Globalisation ................................................... 71 3.2.1 The Ideal Type of Humane Global Governance ............................................................ 72 3.2.2 Globalisation-From-Above: Liberal Ideology and Capitalist Interests .......................... 73 3.2.3 The Absence of a People-Driven Globalisation.............................................................. 74 3.2.4 Falk’s Normative Critique: A Weak Link between ‘Culture’ and ‘Politics’ .................. 77 3.3 Jürgen Habermas’ Normative Critique of Globalisation ............................................. 77 3.3.1 The Ideal Type of Dialogic World Society ..................................................................... 78 3.3.2 Globalisation as the Emergence of a Post-National Constellation.................................. 79 3.3.3 Globalisation’s Societal Deficits: Culture, Politics and Economy.................................. 83 3.3.4 Communicative Rationality and Dialogue of Civilisations ............................................ 86 Chapter 4 The Ideal Type of an Open Global Society 4.1 Critical Rationalism and Popper’s Philosophy of the Open Society ........................... 90 4.1.1 Critical Rationalism and the Conception of Human Nature ........................................... 90 4.1.2 Critical Rationalism and the Meaning of Open Society ................................................. 93 4.1.3 Critical Rationalism and Social Philosophy of the Open Society ................................... 98 4.2. Critical Rationalism and the Ideal Type of an Open Global Society ......................... 99 4.2.1 Developing Popper’s Normative Conception of the Person ........................................... 100 4.2.2 Epistemology and Social Philosophy of an Open Global Society .................................. 104 4.2.3 An Institutional Outlook for an Open Global Society .................................................... 115 4.3 Towards the Normative Vision of a Dialogic Globalisation ......................................... 119 Part III: Developing a Critical Macrosociology of Globalisation Chapter 5 Towards an Analytical Framework for a Macrosociology of Globalisation 5.1 Introducing a Critical Rationalist Model of Human Action ........................................ 123 5.1.1 Three Competing Models of Human Action .................................................................. 123 5.1.2 Critical Rationalism and the Origins of Action-Goals .................................................... 137 5.2 Critical Rationality and Social Learning for Building an Open Society ..................... 144 5.2.1 A Critical Rationalist Model of Social Learning ............................................................ 144 5.2.2 Civil Society and Social Learning for Creating an Open Society ................................... 155 5.3 Macrosociology of Globalisation: A Critical Rationalist Analytical Model .............. 158 iii Chapter 6 A New Macrosociology of Contemporary Globalisation 6.1 Two Competing Approaches to Globalisation .............................................................. 161 6.1.1 Globalisation as the Expansion of Global Interconnectivity .......................................... 161 6.1.2 Globalisation as the Emergence of Institutions of Planetary Scope ............................... 163 6.2 Global Social Learning: An Epistemic-Institutional Approach to Globalisation ...... 164 6.3 The Emergence of Global Liberalism: A Global Epistemic Shift................................ 165 6.3.1 Towards a Cultural History of the Western Liberal-Democracy .................................... 166 6.3.2 The Emergence of the Western Liberal-Democracies’ Bloc .......................................... 178 6.4 The Cultural Logic of Global Liberalism and Political Collapse of the Cold War .... 180 6.4.1 The Emergence of a Bipolar Political Order................................................................... 180 6.4.2 The Cultural Logic of a Bipolar Cold War and Its Political Outcomes .......................... 182 6.4.3 Inter-Bloc Social Learning and Institutional Reforms .................................................... 185 6.4.4 The Collapse of the Cold War and the Emergence of Global Governance ..................... 188 6.5 The End of the Cold War and the Emergence of a Transnational Economy ............. 192 6.5.1 The Liberal Logic of Economic Competition ................................................................. 192 6.5.2 The Cultural Politics of the Emergence of a Transnational Economy ............................ 194 6.5.3 Economic Dynamics of the Transnational Economy ...................................................... 195 Chapter 7 Unsocial Sociability of Liberal Globalisation 7.1 A Critical Review of Liberal Social Philosophy ............................................................ 201 7.1.1 From Locke’s Theological Liberalism to Hume-Smith’s Secular Liberalism ................ 201 7.1.2 Friedrich Hayek, Human Ignorance, and a Liberal Society ............................................ 204 7.1.3 John Rawls, Political Liberalism, and a Well-Ordered Society ...................................... 207 7.1.4 A Kantian-Inspired Critique of Liberal Democracy ....................................................... 212 7.2 The Cultural Shortfalls of Liberal Globalisation .......................................................... 217 7.3 The Political Insufficiencies of Liberal Globalisation ............................................... 218 7.4 The Economic Deficits of Liberal Globalisation ........................................................... 221 7.5 A Macrosociological Critique of Liberal Globalisation ................................................ 226 Chapter 8 Towards a Dialogic Globalisation: The Formation of an Open Global Society 8.1 The Cultural Logics of Civilisational Formation .......................................................... 231 8.1.1 Civilisations as ‘Highest Cultural Grouping of People’ ................................................. 231 8.1.2 ‘Rationale Systems’ and the ‘Logics of Cultural Grouping’ of People .......................... 238 iv 8.2 ‘Rationality’ and ‘Social Organisation’ in Three World Civilisations........................ 241 8.2.1 Islamic Civilisation: The Wisdom of God and Islamic Social Order ............................. 247 8.2.2 Western Civilisation: Liberal Wisdom and Liberal Democracy ....................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • An Application of Bayesian Model Averaging with Rural Crime Data ______
    International Journal of Criminology and Sociological Theory, Vol. 4, No. 2, December 2011, 683-717 Model Uncertainty in Ecological Criminology: An Application of Bayesian Model Averaging With Rural Crime Data ___________________________________________________________________________________ Steven C. Dellera Lindsay Amielb Melissa Dellerc Abstract In this study we explore the use of Bayesian model averaging (BMA) to address model uncertainty in identifying the determinants of Midwestern rural crime rates using county level data averaged over 2006-07-08. The empirical criminology literature suffers from serious model uncertainty: theory states that everything matters and there are multiple ways to measure key variables.By using the BMA approach we identify variables that appear to most consistently influence rural crime patterns. We find that there are several variables that rise to the top in explaining different types of crime as well as numerous variables that influence only certain types of crime. Introduction The empirical ecological criminology literature is vast and richly interdisciplinary. But there are at least three problem areas that have created significant confusion over the policy implications of this literature. First, the theoretical literature basically concludes that “everything matters” which makes empirical investigations difficult specifically related to model uncertainty. Second, there is sufficient fragility within the empirical results to cast a pall over the literature (Chiricos, 1987; Patterson, 1991; Fowles and Merva, 1996; Barnett and Mencken, 2002; Bausman and Goe, 2004; Chrisholm and Choe, 2004; Messner, Baumer and Rosenfeld, 2004; Phillips, 2006; Authors). Donohue and Wolfers (2005) along with Cohen-Cole, Durlauf, Fagan and Nagin (2009) note, for example, that the extensive empirical literature seeking to test the deterrent effect of capital punishment has yield nothing but contradictory and inconclusive results.
    [Show full text]
  • Centennial Bibliography on the History of American Sociology
    University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Sociology Department, Faculty Publications Sociology, Department of 2005 Centennial Bibliography On The iH story Of American Sociology Michael R. Hill [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/sociologyfacpub Part of the Family, Life Course, and Society Commons, and the Social Psychology and Interaction Commons Hill, Michael R., "Centennial Bibliography On The iH story Of American Sociology" (2005). Sociology Department, Faculty Publications. 348. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/sociologyfacpub/348 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Sociology, Department of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Sociology Department, Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Hill, Michael R., (Compiler). 2005. Centennial Bibliography of the History of American Sociology. Washington, DC: American Sociological Association. CENTENNIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN SOCIOLOGY Compiled by MICHAEL R. HILL Editor, Sociological Origins In consultation with the Centennial Bibliography Committee of the American Sociological Association Section on the History of Sociology: Brian P. Conway, Michael R. Hill (co-chair), Susan Hoecker-Drysdale (ex-officio), Jack Nusan Porter (co-chair), Pamela A. Roby, Kathleen Slobin, and Roberta Spalter-Roth. © 2005 American Sociological Association Washington, DC TABLE OF CONTENTS Note: Each part is separately paginated, with the number of pages in each part as indicated below in square brackets. The total page count for the entire file is 224 pages. To navigate within the document, please use navigation arrows and the Bookmark feature provided by Adobe Acrobat Reader.® Users may search this document by utilizing the “Find” command (typically located under the “Edit” tab on the Adobe Acrobat toolbar).
    [Show full text]
  • References.Pdf
    REFERENCES (References to primary articles examined in chapters 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, and 10 are provided in end-of-chapter reference lists and appendices or are mentioned in passing within the text.) Abt, Helmut A. “Some Trends in American Astronomical Publications.” Publica- tions of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 93 (1981): 269-73. Agassi, Joseph. Faraday as a Natural Philosopher. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971. American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1976. Aristotle. Posterior Analytics. 2. Hugh Tredennick. Cambridge: Harvard Univer- sity Press, 1960. Aristotle. Rhetoric. Tr. Lane Cooper. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1932. Austin, J. L. How to Do Things with Words. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1962. Bacon, Francis. The Advancement of Learning. London, 1603. Bacon, Francis. Magna Instauratio. London, 1620. Bachelard, G. Le Materialisme Rationnel. Paris: PUF, 1953. Baddam. Memoirs of the Royal Society, vol. 1. London, 1738. Baldauf, R. B., and B. H. Jernudd. “Language of Publications as a Variable in Scientific Communication.” Australian Review of Applied Linguistics 6 (1983): 97-108. Barnes, Barry, Scientific Knowledge and Sociological Theory. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1974, Barnes, Barry, and Steven Shapin. Natural Order: Historical Studies of Scientific Culture. Beverly Hills: Sage, 1979. Barnes, Sherman B. “The Editing of Early Learned Journals.” Osiris I (1936): 155-72. Bazerman, Charles. “How Natural Philosophers Can Cooperate.” In Text and Profession, ed. Bazerman and Paradis, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, forthcoming. Bazerman, Charles. The Informed Writer. 3d edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1989. Bazerman, Charles. “Scientific Writing as a Social Act.” In New Essays in Tech- nical Writing and Communication, ed.
    [Show full text]
  • Mass Incarceration, Macrosociology, and the Poor 167
    475421ANNXXX10.1177/0002716213475421The Annals of the American AcademyMass Incarcera- tion, Macrosociology, and the Poor 2013 The U.S. prison and jail population has grown fivefold in the 40 years since the early 1970s. The aggregate consequences of the growth in the penal system are widely claimed but have not been closely studied. We survey evidence for the aggregate relationship among the incarceration rate, employment rates, single- parenthood, public opinion, and crime. Employment among very low-skilled men has declined with rising incarceration. Punitive sentiment in public opinion has also softened as imprisonment increased. Single- Mass parenthood and crime rates, however, are not system- atically related to incarceration. We conclude with a discussion of the conceptual and empirical challenges Incarceration, that come with assessing the aggregate effects of mass Macrosociology, incarceration on American poverty. Keywords: incarceration; macrosciology; poverty; and the Poor racial inequality he growth of the American penal system since the mid-1970s has been concentrated By T from among African Americans and the poor. BRUCE WESTERN During the period of the prison boom, African and Americans were about six to seven times more CHRISTOPHER MULLER likely than whites to be incarcerated. By 2008, young men who had dropped out of high school were about 20 times more likely to be incarcer- ated than those who had attended college. The inequalities of race and class combine to pro- duce astonishing rates of penal confinement among black men with little schooling. Chances that a black man with no college education would serve time in prison were about 12 percent in the late 1970s, compared to 35 percent today Bruce Western is a professor of sociology and director of the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy at Harvard University.
    [Show full text]
  • Curriculum Vitae Bruce Western August, 2016
    Curriculum Vitae Bruce Western August, 2016 Address: Department of Sociology E-mail: [email protected] Harvard University Phone: (617) 495-3879 33 Kirkland Street Fax: (617) 496-5794 Cambridge, MA 02138 Education B.A. (Hons.) First Class, Government, University of Queensland (Australia), 1987. M.A., Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles, 1990. PhD., Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles, 1993. Appointments Distinguished Visiting Professor, T.C. Beirne School of Law, University of Queens­ land. Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Professor of Criminal Justice Policy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 2013 to present. Faculty Chair, Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 2013 to present. Director of the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 2011 to 2016. Professor of sociology, Harvard University, 2007 to present. Director of the Multidisciplinary Program in Inequality and Social Policy, Harvard University, 2007 to 2011, 2013–2014. Professor of sociology, Princeton University, July 2000 to June, 2007. Faculty associate, Office of Population Research, Princeton University, September 1993 to present. Associate professor of sociology, Princeton University, 1998–2000. Assistant professor of sociology, Princeton University, 1994–1998. Lecturer with the rank of assistant professor, Princeton University, 1993–1994. 1 Books and Monographs Travis, Jeremy, Bruce Western, and Stephens Redburn (eds.). 2014. The Growth in Incarceration Rates in the United States: Exploring Causes and Consequences. Washington DC: The National Academies Press. Grusky, David, Bruce Western, and Christopher Wimer (eds.). 2011. The Great Re­ cession. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Loury, Glenn and Bruce Western.
    [Show full text]
  • Thickening Comparison on the Multiple Facets of Comparability
    Secondary publication on the edoc server of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Chapter in an edited volume Thickening Comparison On the Multiple Facets of Comparability Jörg Niewöhner∗ Thomas Scheffer 2010 Abstract: This is the introductory chapter of the book, which provides discussion of attempts to use ethnographic methods in order to build objects of comparison and relate them to each other as a means of improving analytical clarity. Comparability is the result of the ethnographic inquiry, not its natural starting point. The authors in the book reflect the role of ethnographic comparison in putting complex worlds into words: they describe the process of and inquire about producing comparability, how they themselves as well as their respective fields get involved in this process, how this co-production succeeds and how it fails, how it meanders and how it becomes productive in a mode of doing comparison. Ethnographic comparison is analytical ethnography in a radical sense. This chapter presents an overview of how other chapters of the book are organised. Keywords: ethnographic comparison, qualitative social inquiry, sociolegal comparison This is the accepted manuscript (postprint) of a chapter in an edited volume pub- lished as follows: Title Thickening Comparison Subtitle On the Multiple Facets of Comparability Authors Niewöhner, Jörg; Scheffer, Thomas Date of publication 2010 Title of the edited volume Thick Comparison: Reviving the Ethnographic Aspiration Editors Scheffer, Thomas; Niewöhner, Jörg Pages 1–15 Publisher Brill DOI 10.1163/ej.9789004181137.i-223.6 ∗[email protected]; ORCiD: 0000-0002-9034-9761 Thickening Comparison On the Multiple Facets of Comparability Jörg Niewöhner Thomas Scheffer 2010 Qualitative social inquiry in crisis Since the early 1980s, qualitative social inquiry has lost some of its taken-for-grantedness.
    [Show full text]
  • Globalization and Historical Macrosociology
    GLOBALIZATION AND HISTORICAL MACROSOCIOLOGY Giovanni Arrighi Published in Janet Abu-Lughod, ed., Sociology for the Twenty-First Century. Continuities and Cutting Edges. Chicago:Chicago University Press 2000, pp. 117-133. An earlier version of the paper was presented at the ASA/ISA North American Conference, "Millennial Milestone. The Heritage and Future of Sociology," Toronto, Canada, August 7-8, 1997. Globalization and Its Contents History continually makes untidy the neat conceptual frameworks and theoretical speculations with which we endeavor to understand the past and forecast the future of the world we live in. In our attempt to cope with the "chaos of existential judgements" (Max Weber's phrase) engendered by events and processes that challenge our understanding of the world, we tend to deny or exaggerate the novelty of what is actually happening. Denial leads to changes in the familiar meaning of words. Exaggeration leads to the coinage of new words of uncertain meaning. Either way, to paraphrase John Ruggie (1994, p. 553), "[t]imes of change are also times of confusion." Some twenty-to-thirty years ago the main source of confusion in the study of the global political economy was the persistent use of the term "imperialism" to designate tendencies that in key respects were antithetical to the tendencies that had been the object of classical theories of imperialism, both liberal and Marxist. In a critique of this anachronistic use of the term, I underscored how the establishment of US hegemony after the Second World War had dissolved the very explicandum of classical theories of imperialism, namely, the tendency of intercapitalist competition to translate into open and generalized warfare.
    [Show full text]
  • Historical/Comparative Methods
    Comparative / Historical Methods A GRADUATE SEMINAR / DEPT OF SOCIOLOGY, RUTGERS, SPRING 2017 / 16.920.520.01 WEDNESDAYS, 4:10-6:50 PM, SEMINAR ROOM, DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY, DAVISON HALL (DC) Convenor: József Böröcz [email protected] office hours: TBA This is a graduate reading and “hands-on” research seminar on comparative-historical methods, geared toward the needs of advanced graduate students in sociology. There is, of course, no method without a theory, so this is, at least implicitly, a theory-intensive course. There is no thinking without comparing, so this material could be useful for all people who think (including sociologists). All social objects have historicity, so, strictly speaking, sociology of any time point, including the present, ought to incorporate a historical dimension. In sociology, as it is done in north America today, ‘comparative-historical’ is a label under which we tuck a very heterogeneous set of research practices that: - use more than one “case(s)” to address a substantive problem, - address some aspect of social change instead of stagnancy, - focus on places other than the U.S., - emphasize the connectedness of various geographically defined units of analysis, instead of separating them, including those that prefer thinking of such networks of connectedness as “systems”, e.g., world-~, etc.; - try to understand a social phenomenon anchored in a time point other than, or not only, “now,” - see the present (or any other time) as connected, in meaningful ways, to the past, and - various combinations / critiques of the above. This course is appropriately heterogeneous. In it, we discuss readings and do a set of exercises designed to enhance your skills in the comparative-historical “area.” The readings fall under the following types: (1) texts about various aspects of comparative-historical methods (research designs and techniques) and (2) examples as scholars employ those methods.
    [Show full text]
  • Theoretical Sociology
    Theoretical Sociology Theoretical Sociology A Concise Introduction to Twelve Sociological Theories Jonathan H. Turner To the memory of my dear friend, Clara Dean, who in 1969 began typing all my manuscripts and who, University of California, Riverside at age 85, retired in 2010 from typing, only to die in 2012. I will forever be grateful to her friendship and incredible competence for over forty years in getting my manuscripts ready for publication. Theoretical Sociology A Concise Introduction to Twelve Sociological Theories Jonathan H. Turner To the memory of my dear friend, Clara Dean, who in 1969 began typing all my manuscripts and who, University of California, Riverside at age 85, retired in 2010 from typing, only to die in 2012. I will forever be grateful to her friendship and incredible competence for over forty years in getting my manuscripts ready for publication. FOR INFORMATION: Copyright 2014 by SAGE Publications, Inc. SAGE Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or 2455 Teller Road utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, Thousand Oaks, California 91320 including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage E-mail: [email protected] and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. SAGE Publications Ltd. 1 Oliver’s Yard 55 City Road London EC1Y 1SP Printed in the United States of America United Kingdom Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data SAGE Publications India Pvt. Ltd. B 1/I 1 Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area A catalog record of this book is available from the Library of Mathura Road, New Delhi 110 044 Congress.
    [Show full text]
  • Liberal Learning and the Sociology Major (Eberts, Paul, Carla B
    The previous version of Liberal Learning and the Sociology Major (Eberts, Paul, Carla B. Howery, Catherine White Berheide, Kathleen Crittenden, Robert Davis, Zelda Gamson, and Theodore C. Wagenaar. 1990. Liberal Learning and the Sociology Major. Washington, DC: American Sociological Association) was completed in conjunction with the Association of American Colleges national review of arts and sciences majors. This document was presented to the ASA Council at its meeting on August 18, 2004, and Council unanimously passed the following motion: “To accept the final report of the Task Force on the Undergraduate Major, to disseminate the report to departments for their information, and to thank the members of the Task Force for their hard work.” On the cover, the nautilus’ spiraled inner chambers represent the stages of growth, and development, the unfolding of knowledge, with each stage in growth depending on previous learning, yet ever expanding. © 2004 American Sociological Association 1307 New York Avenue NW Suite 700 Washington, D.C. 2005-4701 202-383-2005 http://www.asanet.org EXECUTIVE SUMMARY As part of a major Association of American Colleges (AAC)1 project, the American Sociological Association (ASA) appointed a Task Force in 19892 to assess current practices and make recommendations on the undergraduate major in sociology. After examining college catalogues and surveying sociology majors, the Task Force considered the challenges sociology departments face given the wide range of specialties in our field and various paths students take to the major. The Task Force concentrated on the goal of achieving study in depth through four levels of courses that present the sociological perspective.
    [Show full text]
  • Perspectives and Methods Used by Soci- Ological Social Psychologists
    M01_ROHA1060_02_SE_C01.qxd 12/10/09 9:29 PM Page 1 PART Perspectives 1 and Methods he first section of this book is designed to give you a basic re- view of sociological social psychology, the way that we ap- Tproach research, and the larger field of sociology. The first chapter will review concepts in sociology that sociological social psy- chologists use in developing theories and research. We will also pro- vide a basic overview of the three major perspectives in social psychology: symbolic interaction, social structure and personality, and group processes. Chapter 2 will review these perspectives extensively, providing detailed information about the theories and research within each approach. Chapter 3 will examine the major methods used in the field to study people. At the beginning of each chapter, you will find a series of questions that we will address; at the end of each section of the chapter, we re- view how we have tried to answer these questions in that section. We end each chapter with a section titled “Bringing It All Together,” where we summarize the ways in which each section of the chapter relates to the other sections. We also include a series of discussion questions to provoke additional thinking about the chapters. Finally, we provide a list of key words used in each chapter and summaries of them. We believe that these tools will help you to learn the most cen- tral concepts, theories, and research in the field of sociological social psychology. GRIDLINE SET IN 1ST-PP TO INDICATE SAFE AREA; TO BE REMOVED AFTER 1ST-PP M01_ROHA1060_02_SE_C01.qxd 12/10/09 9:29 PM Page 2 1 Introduction to Sociological Social Psychology I guess you could say that I became obsessed with figuring the man out.
    [Show full text]
  • On the Microfoundations of Macrosociology Author(S): Randall Collins Source: American Journal of Sociology, Vol
    On the Microfoundations of Macrosociology Author(s): Randall Collins Source: American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 86, No. 5 (Mar., 1981), pp. 984-1014 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2778745 . Accessed: 04/08/2011 14:39 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The University of Chicago Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to American Journal of Sociology. http://www.jstor.org On the Microfoundations of Macrosociology' Randall Collins Universityof Virginia Detailed microsociologicalstudies of everydaylife activityraise the challengeof makingmacrosociological concepts fully empirical by translatingthem into aggregates of micro-events.Micro-evidence and theoreticalcritiques indicate that human cognitive capacity is limited. Hence actors facingcomplex contingencies rely largelyupon tacit assumptionsand routine.The routinesof physicalproperty and or- ganizationalauthority are upheldby actors'tacit monitoring of social coalitions.Individuals continuously negotiate such coalitions in chains of interactionrituals
    [Show full text]