Explaining Social Processes: Perspectives from Current Social Theory and Historical Sociology

Description

This textbook considers understanding social processes to be the main task of sociology. From this perspective its authors demonstrate and explain problems which they consider to be crucial for contemporary social science. These are topics of a theoretical and epistemological nature, which are nevertheless closely connected with social development and issues arising from it. The book moves from the more general theoretical questions and dilemmas raised by key social thinkers, such as those connected with the concepts of actor, agency, institutions, structures and systems. It then leads to theoretical reflections on long-term developmental processes associated with the phenomena of power and life in current societies, including globalization, identities, migration, etc. It provides a comprehensive approach to the essential questions of sociology. Lucidly written and including the latest sociological perspectives, this book will find wide appeal among social science students and researchers, and is also for the socially aware general reader. Acknowledgments Contents About the Authors Introduction References The Society of Individuals and Figurations Individualism Versus Holism Elias´s Concept of Figuration References Rethinking the Theory of Structuration Homo Duplex The Problem of Structure from the Duplex Perspective References Actor or Homo Sociologicus Basic Approaches and Thematic Areas Role Playing: A Concept to Aid in Resolving the Relationship Between Individualism and Holism References The Systems Theory and Functionally Differentiated Society Media and Communication Resonance and Filtration Problematic Order References Time as a Sociological Problem Social Time Qualitative Discontinuous Time Confusing Number of Social Times Weaknesses and Questionable Assumptions Temporalized Sociology References Collective Memory and Historical Consciousness The Antinomies of Memory Individual Memory and Collective Memory Memory Spontaneous and Purposeful Rationality and Irrationality Spirit and Matter The Past Irrevocable and Revocable Saving and Deleting History, Myth and Science History, Memory and Identity Historical Consciousness as the Focus of Sociological Inquiry Components Shaping Historical Consciousness References Identity Building: A Complex Phenomenon Identity in Turbulent Times Complexity References Historical Sociology as a Processual Sociology The Civilising Process How to Understand Elias Today Elias´s Conception of Time What Elias Did Not Deal with What Else Is Not Reflected in Elias´s Work? References Social Power from the Perspective of Historical Sociology The Concept of Power as Central to Any Understanding of Society Forms of Social Power The Elitist School of Thought The Pluralist School of Thought One Dimensional Power Sources of Social Power Power in the Globalized World Epilogue References Current Societal Processes Modern Risks Problem of Interdisciplinary Communication Multicentric World The Question of Supervision The Risky Liberties of Flexible Man Searching for Social Capital The End of Ideologies: Why Did It Not Occur? References A Hypothesis for a Sociology of Ignorance in the Twenty-First Century Sociology of Ignorance Science and Social Actors Ignorance and Ignorance Communication Ignorance and Culture Final Remarks References The Dimensions of Globalization Major Social Factors in the Development of Globalized Sociology What Is Globalization? The Dimension and Forms of Globalization Different Schools and Theories of Globalization World-System Theory Theories of Global Capitalism The Network Society Theories of Space, Place and Globalization Theories of Transnationality and Transnationalism Modernity, Post-modernity and Globalization Global Age: An Alternative Theory of Globalization Theories of Global Culture Major Historical Waves of Globalization Final Remark References A Few Notes About the Open Future (in Place of a Conclusion) References