Suchergebnisse

En la actualidad, los sociolólogos enfrentan un dilema fundamental: se debe concebir el mundo social como conformado ante todo por sustancias o por procesos, por "cosas" estáticas o por relaciones dinámicas y en constante desarrollo. Los modelos basados en la teoría de elección racional y los fundados en la norma, diversos holismos y estructuralismos, y el análisis de "variables" estadísticas continúan implícita o explícitamente prefiriendo el primer punto de vista. Diferente a este último punto, este "manifiesto" presenta una alternativa que define la perspectiva "relacional", primero a partir de esquemas filosóficos amplios y luego explorando sus implicaciones tanto en la investigación teórica como en la empírica. En las páginas finales se reflexionara con respecto a algunas de las dificultades y retos que ahora enfrenta el análisis relacional, asumiendo de manera sucesiva problemas que giran en torno límites y entidades. dinámica de redes, causalidad e implicaciones normativas.

I pursue three aims in this article: (1) a contextualization of Jeffrey Alexander's cultural sociology within the broader trajectory of his intellectual development; (2) a sketch of the key ideas of his approach to cultural analysis against the backdrop of contemporary debates regarding culture and social structure; and (3) an appreciation and critical assessment of Alexander's program.

I pursue three aims in this article: (1) a contextualization of Jeffrey Alexander's cultural sociology within the broader trajectory of his intellectual development; (2) a sketch of the key ideas of his approach to cultural analysis against the backdrop of contemporary debates regarding culture & social structure; & (3) an appreciation & critical assessment of Alexander's program. 59 References. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications and Thesis Eleven Co-op Ltd, copyright 2004.]

It is quite true, as Kevin Dougherty points out, that "we need a theoretical perspective [in the study of American educational history] that synthesizes the various theories of social conflict and social integration," and that incorporates as well the insights of state- or policy-centered analysis. Such a perspective, indeed, is explicitly and deliberately what I elaborate in the above essay.

In his "Ninth Annual Report to the Massachusetts Board of Education" (1846), the Secretary of the Board, Horace Mann, discussed the teaching of moral and civic virtues inside the classrooms of American public schools. "The question now arises," he declared, "and it is a question on which the worth or worthlessness of our free institutions is suspended—whether [our schools] be put in requisition to impart a higher moral tone to the public mind; to enthrone the great ideas of justice, truth, benevolence, and reverence in the breasts of the people." For Mann, of course, the answer was self-evident: it was the special task of public schooling to carry out "a revolution…down among the primordial elements of human character" itself. "[E]very fibre in the nation," he declared, "should be strained to the endeavor…. It is the mission of our age to carry this cause one step further… in its progress of development."