The Reflexive Initiative

The Reflexive Initiative
Author: Stanley Raffel
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2016-03-31
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1317433769

The Reflexive Initiative is an authoritative intervention in the practice and tradition of reflexive social theory. It demonstrates the importance of the reflexive imperative, not only in the investigation of everyday life but across a wide range of human sciences and philosophical perspectives. Forty years after the publication of On the Beginning of Social Inquiry, the chapters in this collection range from re-appraisals of earlier essays on topics such as ‘reunions’, ‘rethinking art’ and ‘expats’ to contributions emphasising the opening of radical dialogues with other reflexive traditions and perspectives. These include psychoanalysis, Lacan, Hegel, Rene Girard, Daseinanalysis, dialectical method, critical feminism, and the dialogical tradition. In this dialogical spirit, the book contributes to the continuing project of analytic theorizing associated with the work of Alan Blum and Peter McHugh, and the recent turn to more ‘existential’ topics and politically engaged forms of reflexive research. It will be of particular use to students working in interpretive traditions of sociology, Critical theory, Postmodern thought and debates associated with reflexivity and dialectics in other disciplines and research programmes.

The Reflexive Diversity Research Programme

The Reflexive Diversity Research Programme
Author: Andrea D. Bührmann
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2021-02-04
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1527565742

Diversity is both a cause for controversial discussions and an opportunity to reflect on social participation. This book offers a basic introduction to important currents in diversity research by presenting central theoretical determinants of the research perspective. An analysis of the diversity strategy and its implementation at the University of California, Berkeley serves as an empirical-practical example in this regard. In particular, this case study illustrates the intersectional research perspective and the multi-level and multi-method research design of reflexive diversity research. In the sense of reflexive constructivism, the practice of research itself is reflected using the example of the case study.

The Reflexive Initiative

The Reflexive Initiative
Author: Stanley Raffel
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2019-12-12
Genre:
ISBN: 9780367873424

The Reflexive Initiative is an authoritative intervention in the practice and tradition of reflexive social theory. It demonstrates the importance of the reflexive imperative, not only in the investigation of everyday life but across a wide range of human sciences and philosophical perspectives. Forty years after the publication of On the Beginning of Social Inquiry, the chapters in this collection range from re-appraisals of earlier essays on topics such as 'reunions', 'rethinking art' and 'expats' to contributions emphasising the opening of radical dialogues with other reflexive traditions and perspectives. These include psychoanalysis, Lacan, Hegel, Rene Girard, Daseinanalysis, dialectical method, critical feminism, and the dialogical tradition. In this dialogical spirit, the book contributes to the continuing project of analytic theorizing associated with the work of Alan Blum and Peter McHugh, and the recent turn to more 'existential' topics and politically engaged forms of reflexive research. It will be of particular use to students working in interpretive traditions of sociology, Critical theory, Postmodern thought and debates associated with reflexivity and dialectics in other disciplines and research programmes.

Constructionist Controversies

Constructionist Controversies
Author: Gale Miller
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2017-07-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1351526308

"Constructionist Controversies" reviews the substantial contributions to social problems theory that have been made by social constructionist theorists and examines debates about the future of this perspective. Intended for the student, the volume provides a succinct formulation of all the major issues of social constructionism by contributors who are well recognized within the field for the strength with which they articulate their own widely varied viewpoints.

Methodological Concepts

Methodological Concepts
Author: Martyn Hammersley
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2023-02-21
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 100083400X

Methodological Concepts: A Critical Guide clarifies many key terms and issues in social research methodology. It outlines the conventional meanings of these terms, but also addresses their contentious character. The aim is to offer interpretations of them that provide a coherent conception of the nature of social science. This book is premised on the idea that more clarity about the meaning of major methodological concepts is essential, and that the disagreements which pervade the field must be addressed. Numerous key terms are discussed across 13 chapters, including ‘methodology’, ‘method’, ‘inquiry’, ‘research’, ‘science’, ‘truth’, ‘fact’, ‘rigour’, ‘bias’, ‘objectivity’, ‘data’, ‘evidence’, ‘induction’, ‘deduction’, ‘abduction’, ‘understanding’, ‘explanation’, ‘reflexivity’, ‘triangulation’, ‘theory’, and ‘researcher integrity’. These concepts have been implicated in fundamental divisions among social scientists, exemplified by the ‘paradigm wars’ of the past few decades. The chapters of this book provide an overview of the various meanings given to these terms, whilst also offering distinctive interpretations designed to provide a sound basis for social research. Methodological Concepts: A Critical Guide will be of great use to any student or researcher working in the social sciences.

Redefining the Situation

Redefining the Situation
Author: Peter McHugh
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2019-05-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0773558187

Peter McHugh (1929–2010) was an internationally known sociologist within the field of anti-positivist social theory. As the only collection of McHugh's sole-authored writings, Redefining the Situation presents a comprehensive yet surprising view of this key theorist's influence in his field. Redefining the Situation is a compendium of McHugh's published and unpublished short-form writings, along with three new essays on McHugh's work, one by his long-time collaborator and friend Alan Blum. The collection contributes to the project of reinventing social theory by providing a new perspective from which to imaginatively rethink the development of sociology over the last fifty years. It locates McHugh's work not only within the modern and postmodern sociological tradition but also within contemporary social theory broadly, including hermeneutics, critical theory, deconstruction, and Hannah Arendt's political theory. The essays in this volume show the development of a method to analyze everyday behaviour in light of fundamental questions, exploring conflicts and connections between socialization and recidivism, fragmentation and ethnic cleansing, justice and affirmative action, teaching and university politics, and intimacy and aesthetics. This book moves beyond contemporary debates about big data/postmodernism, and along the way it identifies convergences in Anglo-American and Continental thought. By tracing the development of Analysis, the tradition of social inquiry, from its beginnings until today, Redefining the Situation re-establishes a prominent sociologist as one of the leading intellectuals in the field of interpretive social theory.

Reconsidering Social Constructionism

Reconsidering Social Constructionism
Author: Gale Miller
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 573
Release: 2017-09-29
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1351494449

With the impact of social interactionist and ethnographic methodology twenty-five years ago, the research agenda in social problems began to shift its focus, giving rise to the Social Constructionism movement. The present volume and the related shorter text, Constructionist Controversies, review the substantial contributions made by social constructionist theorists over that period, as well as recent debates about the future of the perspective. These contributions redefine the purpose and central questions of social problems theory and articulate a research program for analyzing social problems as social constructions. A generation of theorists has been trained in the constructionist perspective and has extended it through numerous analyses of diverse aspects of contemporary social life.The debates in this volume pose fundamental questions about the major assumptions of the perspective, the ways in which it is practiced, and the purposes of social problems theory. Their point of departure is Ibarra and Kitsuse's essay, cutting new theoretical ground in calling for ""investigating vernacular resources, especially rhetorical forms, in the social problems process.""Contributors are forceful proponents both within and outside of the social constructionist community, who take a broad array of positions on the current state of social problems theory and on the rhetorical forms that need exploring. They also lay down the general lines for diverse and often competing programs for the future development of the constructionist agenda.

Designing Transformative Multicultural Initiatives

Designing Transformative Multicultural Initiatives
Author: Sherry K. Watt
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2023-07-03
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1000979830

Higher education is facing a perfect storm as it contends with changing demographics, shrinking budgets and concerns about access and cost, while underrepresented groups – both in faculty ranks and students – are voicing dissatisfaction with campus climate and demanding changes to structural inequities.This book argues that, to address the inexorable changes ahead, colleges and universities need both to centralize the value of diversity and inclusion and employ a set of strategies that are enacted at all levels of their institutions. It argues that individual and institutional change efforts can only be achieved by implementing “diversity as a value” – that is embracing social change efforts as central and additive rather than episodic and required – and provides the research and theoretical frameworks to support this approach, as well as tools and examples of practice that accomplish change.The contributors to this book identify the elements that drive successful multicultural initiatives and that strengthen the effectiveness of campus efforts to dismantle systemic oppression, as well as the individual and organization skills needed to manage difference effectively. Among these is developing the capacity of administrators, faculty and student affairs professionals as conscious scholar practitioners to sensitively manage conflicts on campus, deconstruct challenging structures and reconstruct the environment intentionally to include in respectful ways experiences of historically marginalized groups and non-dominant ways of being in the world. The books’ focus on developing capacities for multicultural competence aligns with higher education’s increasing emphasis on civic engagement and institutional goals promote skills to interact in meaningful and responsible ways around difference, whether of people, ideas or identities.Designing Transformative Multicultural Initiatives provides guiding principles and practical strategies to successfully transform higher education to become fully inclusive and advance the success of all constituents and stakeholders.

The radicalism of ethnomethodology

The radicalism of ethnomethodology
Author: Martyn Hammersley
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Total Pages: 230
Release: 2018-07-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1526124645

There have been relatively few well-informed, critical assessments of ethnomethodology and conversation analysis. This book examines some of the background to these approaches, notably the influence of Schutz and phenomenology. It also compares Garfinkel’s approach with those of Goffman and Simmel, and assesses the influence of Cicourel and conversation analysis on research methodology. The core of the book is an in-depth assessment of the rationale for ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, and of their relationship to mainstream social science. While the importance of the issues that these epistemologically and ontologically radical approaches raise is underlined, a number of fundamental problems are identified with the rationale underpinning them.

Successful Digital Transformation Initiatives in SMEs

Successful Digital Transformation Initiatives in SMEs
Author: Anna Marrucci
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 94
Release: 2023-08-23
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3031364651

While it is clear that workforce involvement is fundamental for the success of digital transformation, it is also evident that insufficient attention has been paid to emerging strategies to convince employees to become involved. To do so, this book considers Relational Goods, the intersubjective and reflexive relationships existing between employees, within the DOI framework to evaluate how they influence digital transformation success alongside innovation traits, time and communication channels. The focus for this book is SMEs, as these businesses experience greater difficulties than their larger counterparts in keeping up with the digital revolution. The authors develop the Relational Goods model to a refined DOI framework including the role of relationship and managerial support in the adoption of technologies that may transform the business. It will be of great interest to scholars and students of management, digital transformation and SMEs, as well as HRM professionals.