Modern and Postmodern Social Theorizing: Bridging the Divide

✍ Scribed by Nicos P. Mouzelis

• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 327
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

There is a growing conflict between modern and postmodern social theorists. The latter reject modern approaches as economistic, essentialist and often leading to authoritarian policies. Modernists criticize postmodern approaches for their rejection of holistic conceptual frameworks which facilitate an overall picture of how social wholes (organizations, communities, nation-states, etc.) are constituted, reproduced and transformed. They believe the rejection of holistic methodologies leads to social myopia - a refusal to explore critically the type of broad problems that classical sociology deals with. This book attempts to bridge the divide between these two conflicting perspectives and proposes a novel holistic framework which is neither reductionist/economistic nor essentialist. Modern and Postmodern Social Theorizing will appeal to scholars and students of social theory and of social sciences in general.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Contents......Page 9
Figures......Page 14
Acknowledgements......Page 15
Introduction......Page 17
PART I The theoretical background: the development of the agency–structure problematic......Page 23
Introduction......Page 25
1 Parsonian functionalism: the emphasis on system/structure......Page 28
2 Interpretative micro-sociologies: the emphasis on agency......Page 31
a. The ideal-typical nature of rational-choice theory......Page 33
b. Rational-choice institutionalism......Page 35
4 Decentring the subject I: hidden codes......Page 37
a. Anthropological and Marxist structuralism......Page 38
b. Decentring and recentring the subject......Page 39
5 Decentring the subject II: subjectless practices......Page 40
a. Textualism......Page 43
b. The conflation of the discursive and the non-discursive......Page 44
c. Cultural sociology......Page 48
7 Transcending the subjectivist–objectivist divide: attempts at a post-Parsonian synthesis......Page 50
a. Giddens’ transcendence strategy......Page 51
b. Bourdieu’s transcendence strategy......Page 52
8 The overall abolition of boundaries......Page 54
Conclusion......Page 55
PART II Parsonian and post-Parsonian developments......Page 57
1 T..H. Marshall: civil, political and social rights......Page 59
a. Economic and political differentiation......Page 61
b. Educational differentiation......Page 63
3 Differentiation and the mechanisms of change......Page 65
4 Integration: balanced and unbalanced forms......Page 67
Conclusion......Page 70
1 Evolutionary universals......Page 73
2 The limits of modernization from above......Page 77
3 Some critical remarks......Page 78
Introduction......Page 81
1 The theory of action......Page 83
2 The theory of culture......Page 84
3 Action and culture: a critical assessment......Page 86
4 The theory of civil society......Page 89
5 The basic dilemma in the conceptualization of civil society......Page 90
Conclusion......Page 93
Introduction......Page 94
1 On the conceptualization of culture......Page 95
2 The environments of action......Page 97
3 Cultural narratives as second-order discourses......Page 100
Conclusion......Page 101
Introduction......Page 102
a. Teleological intentionality......Page 103
c. The passive individual......Page 104
2 Constitutive theories of action and systemic theories of differentiation......Page 105
3 Some critical remarks......Page 106
a. Restructuring Parsons’ theory of action......Page 107
b. The rapprochement between constitution and differentiation theories......Page 108
Conclusion......Page 110
PART III Agency and structure: reworking some basic conceptual tools......Page 111
1 Lockwood......Page 113
2 Habermas......Page 117
3 Giddens......Page 120
Conclusion......Page 121
7 The subjectivist–objectivist divide: against transcendence......Page 123
1 On the concept of social structure......Page 124
b. Interactive or figurational structures (box 2)......Page 127
c. Distributional structures (boxes 3 and 4)......Page 129
d. Independent variation......Page 130
a. Duality of structure: Giddens’ transcendence project......Page 131
b. Habitus: Bourdieu’s transcendence strategy......Page 135
3 A concrete example: the reproduction of the LSE as a social system......Page 137
a. Reproduction via the duality of structure......Page 138
b. Reproduction via the habitus......Page 139
c. Reproduction and the concept of strategying......Page 140
4 Concluding remarks: bridging rather than transcending the divide......Page 143
Introduction......Page 147
1 Dispositions, positions and interactions......Page 148
a. Reflexivity and contradictions between dispositions, positions and figurations......Page 149
c. Reflexivity unrelated to contradictions......Page 150
3 Bourdieu’s conception of the subject......Page 152
4 Restructuring the SDP scheme......Page 155
PART IV Bridges between modern and late/postmodern theorizing......Page 159
Introduction......Page 161
1 Modernity: mobilization/incorporation into the centre......Page 163
2 Modernity: institutional differentiation......Page 164
a. Formal and substantive differentiation......Page 166
b. Value generalization......Page 167
c. Adaptive upgrading......Page 168
3 Modernity: a non-Eurocentric conceptualization......Page 170
5 Variants of modernity......Page 172
6 Late modernity and globalization......Page 175
Conclusion......Page 177
1 The golden rule perspective......Page 180
2 On the self-evidence of the golden rule......Page 182
3 Basic assumptions and difficulties of the relativist position......Page 183
4 Stepping stones towards growing socio-cultural interpenetration......Page 185
5 Eurocentrism......Page 187
Conclusion......Page 189
1 Objectivity and the issue of mediation......Page 191
2 The postmodern critique of representation and empirical evidence......Page 194
a. The modern–postmodern debate in Greek historiography......Page 196
b. Avoiding relativism and essentialism......Page 197
3 The ‘internality’ of a discipline’s subject matter......Page 199
a. On the construction of a discipline’s subject matter......Page 200
b. In defence of the distinction between first- and second-order symbolic constructs......Page 203
Conclusion......Page 204
Introduction......Page 207
1 The Harré thesis......Page 208
2 Giddens’ conflationist strategy......Page 213
a. From structuration to morphogenesis......Page 215
b. A critique of morphogenesis......Page 216
c. Perspectival or methodological dualism......Page 219
Externality in terms of hierarchized space......Page 220
a. The internal conversation......Page 222
c. Some critical comments......Page 223
Interaction as a second mediating mechanism between agency and structure......Page 224
Linking agency and structure......Page 225
Conclusion......Page 227
PART V Towards a non-essentialist holism......Page 231
1 ‘Grand narratives’: context-sensitive and insensitive......Page 233
2 Holistic conceptual frameworks: open and closed......Page 237
b. The Parsonian closure......Page 238
3 Non-essentialist holism: three types of openness......Page 240
Introduction......Page 241
Methodological dualism......Page 242
The space and time dimension......Page 243
Institutional and figurational structures......Page 244
Symbolic or cultural structures......Page 245
Dispositional structures......Page 246
a. The intra- and interactive dimensions......Page 248
b. A concrete example......Page 250
1 Strong and weak types of essentialism......Page 253
Weak system essentialism......Page 254
Strong system essentialism (1)......Page 255
Strong system essentialism (2): teleological functionalism......Page 256
From statistical categories or quasi-groups to groups......Page 258
The pre-constituted character of actors’ identities and interests......Page 261
a. Action–system imbalance......Page 265
b. Face-to-face interaction as micro......Page 266
a. Avoiding essentialism: a balance between social- and system-integration perspectives......Page 269
b. Social and system integration: from juxtaposition to articulation......Page 271
c. Avoiding reductionism: social hierarchies......Page 273
1 Economism......Page 277
a. Systemic culturalism......Page 282
b. The theoretical primacy of the lifeworld......Page 283
c. Critique......Page 285
3 Beyond economism and systemic culturalism......Page 286
The actor–structure dimension: anti-conflationist holism......Page 290
The micro–macro dimension: anti-essentialist holism......Page 291
The inter-institutional dimension: anti-economistic holism......Page 292
1 The conflation of history and sociology......Page 295
2 The comparison with Spencer......Page 296
3 On the tenuous linkages between evidence and interpretation......Page 297
4 On the arbitrary character of grand historical sociology’s interpretations......Page 299
References......Page 301
Index......Page 315