A Critique of Contemporary American Sociology

A Critique of Contemporary American Sociology
Author: Ted R. Vaughan
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 360
Release: 1993
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9781882289028

Part 1 Part I: Introduction Chapter 2 The Crisis in Contemporary American Sociology: A Critique of the Discipline's Dominant Paradigm Chapter 3 The Bureaucratization of Sociology: Its Impact on Theory and Research Chapter 4 Ethnicity and Gender: The View from Above versus the View from Below Part 5 Part II: Introduction Chapter 6 Bureaucratic Secrets and Adversarial Methods of Social Research Chapter 7 Sociologist as Citizen-Scholar: A Symbolic Interactionist Alternative to Normal Sociology Chapter 8 The Rise of the Wisconsin School of Status-Attainment Research Chapter 9 Academic Labor Markets and the Sociology Temporary Chapter 10 Ideology and the Celebration of Applied Sociology Chapter 11 Western Sociology and the Third World: Asymmetrical Forms of Understanding and the Inadequacy of Sociological Discourse Chapter 12 The Rise and Fall of The American Sociologist

Sociological Paradigms and Organisational Analysis

Sociological Paradigms and Organisational Analysis
Author: Gibson Burrell
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2017-03-02
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1351899147

The authors argue in this book that social theory can usefully be conceived in terms of four broad paradigms, based upon different sets of meta-theoretical assumptions with regard to the nature of social science and the nature of society. The four paradigms - Functionalist, Interpretive, Radical Humanist and Radical Structuralist - derive from quite distinct intellectual traditions, and present four mutually exclusive views of the social work. Each stands in its own right, and generates its own distinctive approach to the analysis of social life. The authors provide extensive reviews of the four paradigms, tracing the evolution and inter-relationships between the various sociological schools of thought within each. They then proceed to relate theories of organisation to this wider background. This book covers a great range of intellectual territory. It makes a number of important contributions to our understanding of sociology and organisational analysis, and will prove an invaluable guide to theorists, researchers and students in a variety of social science disciplines. It stands as a discourse in social theory, drawing upon the general area of organisation studies - industrial sociology, organisation theory, organisational psychology, and industrial relations - as a means of illustrating more general sociological themes. In addition to reviewing and evaluating existing work, it provides a framework for appraising future developments in the area of organisational analysis, and suggests the form which some of these developments are likely to take.

American Sociology

American Sociology
Author: S. Turner
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2016-01-12
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1137377178

American Sociology has changed radically since 1945. This volume traces these changes to the present, with special emphasis on the feminization of sociology and the decline of the science ideal as well as the challenges sociology faces in the new environment for universities.

Rethinking Contemporary Social Theory

Rethinking Contemporary Social Theory
Author: Roberta Garner
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2016
Genre: Sociology
ISBN: 9781612055992

Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Part I Paradigms -- Introduction to Part I -- Chapter One Paradigms in Sociology -- Chapter Two Conflict Constructionism: Elements of the Paradigm -- Chapter Three History of a Paradigm -- Part II Paradigm Change in Selected Subfields -- Introduction to Part II -- Section 1 Deep Impact: The New Paradigm Becomes Dominant -- Chapter Four Constructing Difference and Dominance: Race-Ethnicity and Gender -- Chapter Five Culture in an Era of Globalization -- Chapter Six Media in the Information Age: Surface Intensities and Total Symbolic Environments -- Chapter Seven Sociology of the Self: From Personality to Persona -- Section 2 Paradigms in Play -- Chapter Eight Political Sociology and the Analysis of Collective Action: Old and New in Harmony -- Chapter Nine Urban Sociology and Spatial Analysis: Paradigms in Coexistence -- Chapter Ten Disruptions in the Field Formerly Known as Sociology of Deviance -- Section 3 Paradigm Limited -- Chapter Eleven Social Class and Socioeconomic Inequality -- Chapter Twelve Contemporary Theories of Family Life -- Section 4 Paradigms Reconstituted in a Transdisciplinary Field -- Chapter Thirteen The Sociology of Health, Illness, and Medical Practice -- Conclusion -- Glossary and Concepts -- References -- Suggested Readings -- Index -- About the Authors and Contributors

Sociology in America

Sociology in America
Author: Craig Calhoun
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 929
Release: 2008-09-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0226090965

Though the word “sociology” was coined in Europe, the field of sociology grew most dramatically in America. Despite that disproportionate influence, American sociology has never been the subject of an extended historical examination. To remedy that situation—and to celebrate the centennial of the American Sociological Association—Craig Calhoun assembled a team of leading sociologists to produce Sociology in America. Rather than a story of great sociologists or departments, Sociology in America is a true history of an often disparate field—and a deeply considered look at the ways sociology developed intellectually and institutionally. It explores the growth of American sociology as it addressed changes and challenges throughout the twentieth century, covering topics ranging from the discipline’s intellectual roots to understandings (and misunderstandings) of race and gender to the impact of the Depression and the 1960s. Sociology in America will stand as the definitive treatment of the contribution of twentieth-century American sociology and will be required reading for all sociologists. Contributors: Andrew Abbott, Daniel Breslau, Craig Calhoun, Charles Camic, Miguel A. Centeno, Patricia Hill Collins, Marjorie L. DeVault, Myra Marx Ferree, Neil Gross, Lorine A. Hughes, Michael D. Kennedy, Shamus Khan, Barbara Laslett, Patricia Lengermann, Doug McAdam, Shauna A. Morimoto, Aldon Morris, Gillian Niebrugge, Alton Phillips, James F. Short Jr., Alan Sica, James T. Sparrow, George Steinmetz, Stephen Turner, Jonathan VanAntwerpen, Immanuel Wallerstein, Pamela Barnhouse Walters, Howard Winant

Changing Theories

Changing Theories
Author: Roberta Garner
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2009-03-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1442635835

Influenced by Thomas Kuhn's work on paradigm shifts in the social sciences, this overview of contemporary theory identifies major themes, charts the impact of social change on theories, acquaints readers with a sample of individual theorists (the "transitional giants" who shaped contemporary theories), explores the impact of contemporary theories on various areas of sociology, and traces how the great social theories of the past are being reinterpreted and incorporated into new theories. The result is an original interpretation of the important role that theory plays both in the real world and in the shaping of an academic discipline.

Contemporary Sociological Theory

Contemporary Sociological Theory
Author: Doyle Paul Johnson
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 632
Release: 2008-03-29
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0387765220

This volume is designed as a basic text for upper level and graduate courses in contemporary sociological theory. Most sociology programs require their majors to take at least one course in sociological theory, sometimes two. A typical breakdown is between classical and contemporary theory. Theory is perhaps one of the bro- est areas of sociological inquiry and serves as a foundation or framework for more specialized study in specific substantive areas of the field. In addition, the study of sociological theory can readily be related to various aspects of other social science disciplines as well. From the very beginning sociology has been characterized by alternative theoretical perspectives. Classical theory includes the European founding figures of the dis- pline whose works were produced during the later half of the nineteenth century and the first couple of decades of the twentieth century plus early American th- rists. For most of the second half of the twentieth century, a fairly high consensus has developed among American sociologists regarding these major founders, p- ticularly with regard to the works of Durkheim and Weber in analyzing the overall society and of Simmel in analyzing social interaction processes. Since the late 1960s and early 1970s the influence of Marx has also been recognized. Recent decades have also witnessed an increased emphasis on the important contributions of several pioneering feminist perspectives in the early years of sociology.