Postmodernism and Social Theory - Debate Over General Theory

Klappentext A new division has emerged in the social sciences between modernists and their post-modern critics. The former defend the project of a general theory with secure analytical foundations; the latter challenge the possibility and indeed the desirability of aspiring to create totalizing theories. Postmodernists contest the view of science as an autonomous sphere of knowledge and reflection. This volume brings together leading theorists in the social sciences and philosophy to debate the respective merits of modernism and postmodernism as paradigms of social inquiry. It examines the relation between science! critique and narrative! addressing questions about the moral and political meaning of science today. Zusammenfassung This volume contains contributions from social theorists which debate the relative merits of the modernist and post-modernist approach to social enquiry! examining the relations between science! crtitique and narrative. Inhaltsverzeichnis Part 1 Toward postmodernism - reconfiguring theory and politics: general social theory! irony! postmodernism! Charles Lemert; postmodern social theory as narrative with a moral intent! Steven Seidman; on the postmodern barricades - feminism! politics and theory! Linda Nicholson; the strange life and hard times of the concept of general theory in sociology - a short history of hope! Stephen Turner. Part 2 Critics of postmodernism - in defense of scientific theory: defending social science against the postmodern doubt! Robert D'Amico; the promise of positivism! Jonathan Turner; three modes of sociology - scientific! practical! and evaluative! Randall Collins; daring modesty - on metatheory! observation and theory growth! David Wagner. Part 3 Between modernism and postmodernism - towards a contextualizing general theory: social science and society as discourse - toward a sociology for civic competence! Richard Brown; culture! history! and the problem of spcificity in social theory! Craig Calhoun; the tensions of critical theory - is negative dialectics all there is?! Stanley Aronowitz; general theory in the postpositivist mode - the "Epistemological Dilemma" and the search for present reason! Jeffrey Alexander. ...

Product details

• Authors: Seidman, S Seidman, Steven Seidman, Steven (State University of New York At A Seidman, Steven (State University of New York at Albany) Seidman, Wagner
• Assisted by: Steven Seidman (Editor), David G. Wagner (Editor)
• Publisher: Wiley, John and Sons Ltd
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 29.12.1991
• EAN: 9781557862846
• ISBN: 978-1-55786-284-6
• No. of pages: 390
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Philosophy: general, reference works; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > General, dictionaries