Suchergebnisse

A critique of two books by Michael Walzer: Interpretation and Social Criticism (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard U Press, 1987) & The Company of Critics: Social Criticism and Political Commitment in the Twentieth Century (see IRPS No. 44/88c01023). Focus is on Walzer's proposed methodology of social criticism & his hostility to the kind of political philosophy represented by John Rawls (no citation provided). It is concluded that Walzer fails in his attempt to drive a wedge between the method of interpretation that he endorses & that used by Rawls & others. Rather, the latter offer an interpretation of prevailing Western political ideas, which are arguably inherently universalistic, & a rival to Walzer's preferred appeal to parochial values. AA

In Political Theory and Feminist Social Criticism, first published in 2000, Brooke Ackerly demonstrates the shortcomings of contemporary deliberative democratic theory, relativism and essentialism for guiding the practice of social criticism in the real, imperfect world. Drawing theoretical implications from the activism of Third World feminists who help bring to public audiences the voices of women silenced by coercion, Brooke Ackerly provides a practicable model of social criticism. She argues that feminist critics have managed to achieve in practice what other theorists do only incompletely in theory. Complemented by Third World feminist social criticism, deliberative democratic theory becomes critical theory - actionable, coherent, and self-reflective. While a complement to democratic theory, Third World feminist social criticism also addresses the problem in feminist theory associated with attempts to deal with identity politics. Third World feminist social criticism thus takes feminist theory beyond the critical impasse of the tension between anti-relativist and anti-essentialist feminist theory

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

Marx, G. T. Introduction.--Davis, A. J. Sexual assaults in the Philadelphia prison system.--Nagel, S. and Weitzman, L. J. Sexism in the courts.--Marx, G. T. Civil disorder and the agents of social control.--Baron, H. M. Black powerlessness in Chicago.--Dolbeare, K. M. and Davis, J. W. Little groups of neighbors--American draft boards.--Lowi, T. J. Apartheid U.S.A.--Fellman, G., Brandt, B. and Rosenblatt, R. Dagger in the heart of town.--Graham, J. M. Amphetamine politics on Capital Hill.--Coles, R. Life in Appalachia--the case of Hugh McCaslin.--Nelkin, D. Invisible migrant workers.--Martinez, T. W. Why employemnt-agency counselors lower their clients' self-esteem.--Wellman, D. The wrong way to find jobs for Negroes.--Wax, R. H. The warrior dropouts.--Schafer, W. E., Olexa, C. and Polk, K. Programmed for social class: tracking in high school.--Strauss, A. L. Medical ghettos.--Titmuss, R. The gift of blood