Suchergebnisse

"The German sociologist Max Weber (1864-1920) is without question one of the founders of modern social science. In his methodological writings, notably his essay "The 'Objectivity' of Knowledge in Science and Policy" (1904), Weber sought reflexively to establish a trans-culturally valid basis for the historical and cultural sciences. Over the past century, however, his work has given rise to divergent interpretations and practical applications within different disciplinary and cultural contexts. In Max Weber's 'Objectivity' Reconsidered, Laurence H. McFalls and a distinguished group of contributors explore the fragmented reception of Weber's work and the legacies of his methodological writings for contemporary social science, offering their appraisals of Weber's successes and failures in laying the groundwork for an 'objective' social science. They develop a 'Weberian' theory of his reception and evaluate the possibility of an 'objectively' valid Weberian social science today. This essential volume not only contributes to the resurgence of interest in Weber's oeuvre but goes beyond the exegetic and polemical debates of the burgeoning 'Weberological' literature in offering a coherent theoretical explanation for the proliferation of interpretations that Weber's writings continue to elicit."--

AbstractThis article proposes a political culture explanation of the collapse of Communism in the GDR and of the current crisis of democracy in reunited Germany. Based on the qualitative and quantitative analysis of an original survey, it argues that the erosion of values that had stabilized East German society motivated the popular revolution of 1989. The conflict of surviving distinct values with those of the West has poisoned the socio-political climate in Germany and contributed to the rise of xenophobia. A constitutional debate accompanying reunification might have mitigated this conflict and the present crisis.

Suggests that the democratic crisis in the Federal Republic of Germany, characterized by xenophobia & intense political disillusionment, derives partly from the cultural conflict between the reunified societies, based on extensive interviews with 202 former East Germans. It is suggested that the revolution in East Germany was propelled by contradictions inherent in the communist political culture. The cultural values of East Germans conflict with Western values, & thus generate hostility, which is passed on to strangers, & increases distrust in the political system. 2 Tables. I. Shagrir

Of 'Contact Zones' and 'Liminal Spaces' introduces the publication series "Diversity / Diversité / Diversität" of the International Research Training Group (IRTG) Diversity (Trier/Montreal/Saarbrücken). The contributions to this volume address core concepts and research perspectives of our interdisciplinary research group. The IRTG Diversity focuses on a comparative and historically situated analysis of discourses and representations of diversity and cultural pluralism in North America and Europe. The empirical research published in this volume demonstrates how these discourses and representations of diversity create overlapping zones of geographical and chronological reach. These overlapping and highly dynamic zones bear the characteristics of 'contact zones' and 'liminal spaces'. However, they receive their social and cultural dynamism from everyday practices of cultural translation. Contributors: Ursula Lehmkuhl (Trier), Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink (Saarbrücken), Laurence McFalls (Montreal), Ludger Pries (Bochum), Régine Robin (Montreal/Paris), Philipp Rousseau (Montreal), Werner Schiffauer (Frankfurt/O.), Bertrand Westphal (Limoges).

Hate crime is difficult to define, measure, and explain. After summarizing some of the leading conceptual issues and theoretical perspectives, we discuss the practical difficulties associated with data collection. Although the research literature remains small and largely descriptive, recent studies have begun to relate hate crime patterns to economic cycles, population flows, and changes in the political environment. The task ahead is to extend these analyses to other settings and levels of aggregation.