Interests and the growth of knowledge
In: Routledge library editions: social theory volume 33
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In: Routledge library editions: social theory volume 33
In: Princeton Legacy Library
Over the past quarter century, social theory has moved in diverse and often seemingly incompatible directions, exaggerating differences of approach that existed even in earlier periods. In a strikingly original book, Barry Barnes uses this intellectual diversity not only to identify but also to unify the central ways of looking at the field. Barnes frames his task by addressing the most important problem confronting all students of society today: the apparent conflict between cultural and functional methods of describing the social order, on one hand, and choice-theoretic accounts, on the o
In: Routledge Library Editions: History & Philosophy of Science
Originally published in 1974. Scientific Knowledge and Sociological Theory centres on the problem of explaining the manifest variety and contrast in the beliefs about nature held in different groups and societies. It maintains that the sociologist should treat all beliefs symmetrically and must investigate and account for allegedly ""correct"" or ""scientific"" beliefs just as he would ""incorrect"" or ""unscientific"" ones. From this basic position a study of scientific beliefs is constructed. The sociological interest of such beliefs is illustrated and a sociological perspec
`Barne's work is remarkable in its attempt to transcend previously held dualisms like causal versus voluntaristic explanations, and to advance a model of social action that can contribute to a possible resolution of the problematic relation between 'structure' and 'agency'' - Debasis Giri, Contributions to Indian Sociology. In this penetrating and assured book, one of the leading commentators in the field argues that social theory is moving in the wrong direction in its reflections on human freedom and autonomy. It has borrowed notions of 'agency' and 'choice' from everyday discourse, but incr
In: Thesis eleven: critical theory and historical sociology, Band 154, Heft 1, S. 28-37
ISSN: 1461-7455, 0725-5136
This paper focuses on what could be learned about statuses and status groups from the work of Randall Collins in the 1980s, and in particular from Weberian Sociological Theory (1986). I mention how I myself found this book useful at that time to further my own work in the sociology of science and in sociological theory, and emphasise its value in appreciating the fundamental and irremediable deficiencies of individualistic rational choice theory in both contexts. I go on to note how Collins, a 'macro' sociologist in the 1980s, was nonetheless well aware of the indispensable role of micro-sociology in advancing the fundamental understanding of the field as a whole, and his singling out of Erving Goffman and Harold Garfinkel as primus inter pares for their special theoretical importance at this time. I say a little about why these two did indeed have much to contribute to an understanding of statuses and of status groups and still do even today, and end by noting how effectively Collins has used and built upon the work of Goffman in particular since the 1980s.
In: Social epistemology: a journal of knowledge, culture and policy, Band 17, Heft 2-3, S. 115-118
ISSN: 1464-5297
In: Science, technology, & human values: ST&HV, Band 24, Heft 3, S. 376-383
ISSN: 1552-8251
In: The American journal of sociology, Band 102, Heft 1, S. 258-259
ISSN: 1537-5390
In: American political science review, Band 90, Heft 3
ISSN: 0003-0554
In: Política y sociedad: revista de la Universidad Complutense, Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociología, Heft 14-15, S. 9-19
ISSN: 1130-8001
In: Sociology: the journal of the British Sociological Association, Band 26, Heft 2, S. 259-270
ISSN: 1469-8684
Max Weber's description of how status groups monopolise goods and opportunities is now widely used by sociological theory to understand the economic and political relationships between groups. However, it is rarely recognised that a problem of collective action must be solved if a status group is to operate in this way, that it is individually irrational for members of the group to support its monopolistic activities even if they profit from them. Once the collective action problem is recognised, it is immediately apparent that Weber's own account of the definitive features of a status group identifies precisely the means by which the problem is solved. Weber on the operation of status groups and Weber on their nature may then be fused into a single coherent and comprehensive account, an account of profound and far-reaching theoretical interest.
In: Philosophy of the social sciences: an international journal = Philosophie des sciences sociales, Band 22, Heft 1, S. 112-121
ISSN: 1552-7441
In: Sociology: the journal of the British Sociological Association, Band 24, Heft 4, S. 723-724
ISSN: 1469-8684
In: Sociology: the journal of the British Sociological Association, Band 24, Heft 2, S. 311-312
ISSN: 1469-8684