Sociology And The Demystification Of The Modern World Rle Social Theory

Author : John Rex
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 131765076X
Total Pages : 286 pages
Book Rating : 4.68/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Sociology and the Demystification of the Modern World (RLE Social Theory) written by John Rex and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-08-21 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Professor Rex’s controversial book concerns not only those who are professional sociologists but all thinking people who live in the modern world. One of the objects of sociology is to give ‘power to the people’, to make a contribution to the understanding of political problems. Rex writes from a deep conviction that sociology is a subject whose insights should be made available to the great mass of the people, so that they may liberate themselves from the mystification of social reality that is continually and routinely presented to them through the media, by those who exercise power and by those who have influence. The book is dedicated to St Augustine and Franz Fanon, both of whom, Rex points out, were conscious of living in an age which was embarking on a new barbarism, but had the courage to use their intellects to help understand the possibility of a better future. Rex continues in this tradition, and his main preoccupations are reflected in the present book. It includes a discussion of the problem of social knowledge, an analysis of the basic problems of theory building, and, with the aid of concepts derived from Max Weber, an attempt to understand the major problems of the first, second and third worlds. The author also looks at social structures and moral perspectives, and discusses the vocation of a sociologist in a collapsing civilisation. The book is certain to stimulate debate, both in sociological and political fields and more generally, and is also a serious contribution to the discussion of the methodology and purposes of sociology.

Author : John Rex
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781315763262
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.65/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Sociology and the Demystification of the Modern World (RLE Social Theory) written by John Rex and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Professor Rex's controversial book concerns not only those who are professional sociologists but all thinking people who live in the modern world. One of the objects of sociology is to give 'power to the people', to make a contribution to the understanding of political problems. Rex writes from a deep conviction that sociology is a subject whose insights should be made available to the great mass of the people, so that they may liberate themselves from the mystification of social reality that is continually and routinely presented to them through the media, by those who exercise power and by those who have influence. The book is dedicated to St Augustine and Franz Fanon, both of whom, Rex points out, were conscious of living in an age which was embarking on a new barbarism, but had the courage to use their intellects to help understand the possibility of a better future. Rex continues in this tradition, and his main preoccupations are reflected in the present book. It includes a discussion of the problem of social knowledge, an analysis of the basic problems of theory building, and, with the aid of concepts derived from Max Weber, an attempt to understand the major problems of the first, second and third worlds. The author also looks at social structures and moral perspectives, and discusses the vocation of a sociologist in a collapsing civilisation. The book is certain to stimulate debate, both in sociological and political fields and more generally, and is also a serious contribution to the discussion of the methodology and purposes of sociology.

Author : Mark Wardell
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317650999
Total Pages : 251 pages
Book Rating : 4.97/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Sociological Theory in Transition (RLE Social Theory) written by Mark Wardell and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-08-07 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Current sociological theories appear to have lost their general persuasiveness in part because, unlike the theories of the ‘classical era’, they fail to maintain an integrated stance toward society, and the practical role that sociology plays in society. The authors explore various facets of this failure and possibilities for reconstructing sociological theories as integrated wholes capable of conveying a moral and political immediacy. They discuss the evolution of several concepts (for example, the social, structure, and self) and address the significant disputes (for example, structuralism versus humanism, and individual versus society) that have dominated twentieth-century sociological thought. Their ideas and analyses are directed towards an audience of students and theorists who are coming to terms with the project of sociological theory, and its relationship with moral discourses and political practice. The authors of these essays are sociological theorists from the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. They are all established, but not ‘establishment’ authors. The book contains no orthodoxies, and no answers. However, the essays do contribute to identifying the range of issues that will constitute the agenda for the next generation of sociological theorists.

Author : Ian Craib
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317325273
Total Pages : 273 pages
Book Rating : 4.77/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Modern Social Theory written by Ian Craib and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-08-12 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The revised edition of this widely acclaimed textbook provides a clear, accessible and comprehensive introduction to modern social theory.As with the first edition, the book is based around the themes of structure and action. After the introductory chapters which examine the nature of theory and its role in the social world, the book then turns to theories of action and the inability of those theories to comprehend social structures in a coherent way.Part 1 covers: Parson's structural-functionalism and the development of conlict theory and neofunctionalism; rational choice theory; symbolic interactionism; ethnomethodology and structuration theory.Part 2 looks at structuralism, structuralist Marxism, and the development of post-structuralist and postmodernist theory.Part 3 examines Critical Theory and the work of Jurgen Habermas.In conclusion, Ian Craib discusses current trends in theory and what might be expected in the future.This second edition has been revised throughout. There are new chapters on rational choice theory and structuration theory and existing chapters have been extended to deal with the development of neofunctionalism, postmodernism and the recent works of Habermas as well as recent developments in other approaches.Throughout, the aim of the book is to demystify a diffcult subject area, emphasising the practical and everyday nature of theoretical thinking in the context of making sense of a rapidly changing world. The late Ian Craib was Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Essex.

Author : Hermann Strasser
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781138790612
Total Pages : 275 pages
Book Rating : 4.13/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Normative Structure of Sociology (RLE Social Theory) written by Hermann Strasser and published by . This book was released on 2014-08-05 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this provocative analysis of the central issues and developments in modern social theory, Dr Strasser contends that enquiry into the function, tasks and mission of sociology as a discipline can be understood only in relation to the subject's historical development. He believes that a discussion of the origin and intention of sociology, particularly in relation to the established social order, enables us to grasp fully the nature of sociological theory, both past and present. He maintains that a sociologist's own position in society, and consequently his views on its development and his way of expressing those views, will affect the theoretical position he takes up.

Author : Kenneth Menzies
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317657195
Total Pages : 265 pages
Book Rating : 4.94/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Sociological Theory in Use (RLE Social Theory) written by Kenneth Menzies and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-08-21 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Central to most sociologists’ self-image is the claim that their theories are based on research. However, using a random sample of 680 articles appearing in major American, British and Canadian journals, Dr Menzies shows that in some areas of sociology the wide gap between theory and research means that much of sociological theory is virtually untested. He explains how theory is embodied in eight particular types of research, critically examines these research theories, and contrasts them with the positions of modern theorists. The sample of journal articles also permits a comparison of British, American and Canadian sociology. By contrasting on how researchers us theories, Dr Menzies is able to reassess several theories. For instance, symbolic interactionist research uses embedded causal claims and stands in a dialectical relationship to other sociological research, while the research version of conflict theory depends on external causes to explain social change. The implications of using statistical techniques like factor analysis and regression are also considered in relation to the form of explanation.

Author : Anthony Giddens
Publisher : Stanford University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780804713566
Total Pages : 324 pages
Book Rating : 4.61/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Social Theory and Modern Sociology written by Anthony Giddens and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 1987 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book Anthony Giddens addresses a range of issues concerning current developments in social theory, relating them to the prospects for sociology in the closing decades of the twentieth-century.

Author : Tosco Raphael Fyvel
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000155730
Total Pages : 109 pages
Book Rating : 4.30/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Frontiers of Sociology (RLE Social Theory) written by Tosco Raphael Fyvel and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-08-26 with total page 109 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The six essays in this volume are designed to introduce the general reader to some of the main issues in the fields of education, industry, politics, family changes and the like, which concern British sociologists. While each of the essays is independently conceived, their joint aim is to show how sociologists can use empirical methods to throw fresh light on current social problems and also to convey the distinctive approach, the distinctive view of the world towards which sociologists are striving.

Author : Bryan S. Turner
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317652258
Total Pages : 136 pages
Book Rating : 4.50/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Talcott Parsons on Economy and Society (RLE Social Theory) written by Bryan S. Turner and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-08-27 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'In this remarkable collection of essays, Holton and Turner demonstrate that Parsonian sociology addresses the most central problems of our time – issues of sickness and health, power and inequality, the nature of capitalism and its possible alternatives. They develop a mature and original perspective on Parsons as the only classical theorist who avoided crippling nostalgia. Holton and Turner not only talk about Parsonian sociology in a profound and insightful way, they do it, and do it well. As sociology moves away from the rigid dichotomies of earlier debate, this book will help point the way.' – Jeffrey Alexander, Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in Sociology, UCLA

Author : Joe Bailey
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317651774
Total Pages : 199 pages
Book Rating : 4.72/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Ideas and Intervention (RLE Social Theory) written by Joe Bailey and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-08-13 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Theorizing in sociology has increasingly become a self-generating and self-fulfilling activity, as sociologists absorb theory as an isolated and formalist part of their discipline. Joe Bailey believes that sociological theory should be a contribution to practical social intervention. His book presents a practical view of social theorizing as an activity at which sociologists are skilled and which they could teach to the interventionist professions. The relation between theory and practice is defined as one in which theory guides practice and makes explicit necessary choices. A description of disciplines and professions is provided as a basis for examining social intervention in three areas – law, social work and urban planning. The author considers some exemplary contributions which sociological theorizing could and should provide, and concludes by proposing a pluralist view of theory as the best strategy for a sociology relevant to practice.