Social Theory A Basic Tool Kit

This accessible text introduces social theory as a set of flexible and practical concepts that can be used to reflect on and make sense of social behavior. It encourages the reader to critically assess social explanations and to construct their own as active theorists in their own right. Drawing on examples chosen to appeal to a wide, international student readership, it offers a resolutely straightforward, practical and student-centered approach to theory, avoiding the heavy emphasis on individual theorists and the often difficult language of many existing texts.

John Parker, Leonard Mars, Paul Ransome, and Hilary Stanworth are all at the School of Social Sciences and International Development, University of Wales, Swansea.

List of Main Expamples

ix

List of Figures and Tables

xi

Preface

xii

Acknowledgements

xiv

Introduction: The Tool Kit

1

(10)

Being Curious about collective phenomena

1

(1)

Hypothesising and explaining

2

(2)

What the fundamental concepts do

4

(3)

Different levels and kinds of theory, and creativity in social explanation

7

(2)

How the book is organised

9

(2)

Part I The Concept of the Individual

11

(26)

1 What Do Individuals Explain?

13

(13)

Individuals as embodied objects

14

(1)

Individuals as (non-rational and rational) subjects

15

(2)

Rational choice theory

17

(1)

Differences between individuals: personalities and skill in settling a land dispute

18

(1)

Differences between collectivities, and the social patterning of action

19

(3)

Conclusion

22

(4)

2 Testing the Explanatory Value of Individuals

26

(11)

Testing for the 'sufficiency' of the individual: making ends meet in the ghetto

26

(11)

Part II The Concept of Nature

37

(32)

3 What Does Nature Explain?

39

(15)

The of the word 'nature'

39

(1)

Humans as part of nature

40

(3)

The natural environment

43

(3)

How much can technical rationality and technology explain?

46

(3)

Explaining technical development and technical choice

49

(3)

Conclusion

52

(2)

4 Testing the Explanatory Value of Nature

54

(15)

Best cases for testing the sufficiency of environmental determinism

54

(2)

The divergent technological choice of two Amazonian forest peoples

56

(4)

The Dunne-za: aboriginal hunters versus advanced industrialism in British Columbia

60

(9)

Part III The Concept of Culture

69

(36)

5 What Does Culture Explain?

71

(17)

The story so far

72

(3)

What does 'culture' mean?

75

(1)

Transmission and learning

75

(2)

Cultural production and elaboration

77

(1)

How culture binds: (a) socialisation

78

(1)

How culture binds: (b) the autonomy of culture

78

(1)

The logic of cultural systems, practices and objects

79

(1)

The deeper reaches of culture

80

(2)

Ideas and beliefs, consistency and contradictions, rationalisation

82

(2)

Conclusion

84

(4)

6 Testing the Explanatory Value of Culture

88

(17)

Introduction

88

(1)

What can consciously held ideas explain?

89

(3)

Culture at full power! What can unconscious ideas explain?

92

(1)

Explaining arbitrary ideas and practices: Jewish dietary laws and the prohibition of pork

93

(2)

Explaining contradictions between belief and behaviour: the case of homophobic acceptance of gays

95

(2)

Cultural variety among the British middle classes

97

(6)

Conclusion

103

(2)

Part IV The Concept of Action

105

(30)

7 What Does Action Explain?

107

(13)

Introduction

107

(2)

Action, actors, subjects and objects

109

(1)

Individual and collective actors

110

(1)

Social action and interaction

111

(1)

Rules, strategies and practice: what's involved in 'doing'?

112

(1)

Routines, habits, dispositions, practical consciousness

113

(1)

Contingency (accidents) in social life and the uniqueness of circumstances

114

(2)

The place of practical action in social explanation

116

(1)

Jazz and total institutions

116

(1)

Conclusion: conditioning and action

117

(3)

8 Testing the Explanatory Value of Action

120

(15)

Introduction: action, intentionality and activity in social life

120

(1)

Best cases for testing the explanatory power of action

121

(2)

Practicalities of bureaucratic action: coping with routine crises in a welfare office

123

(3)

How haematologists diagnose and treat blood disorders

126

(6)

Conclusion

132

(3)

Part V The Concept of Social Structure

135

(40)

9 What Does Social Structure Explain?

137

(19)

Social structure defined: (i) relations between positions

139

(1)

Examples of consequential arrangements: effects of serial ordering, number and scale

140

(1)

Social structure defined: (ii) distributions of power and resources

141

(1)

Social structure defined: (iii) kinds of social power and the organisation of practices

142

(1)

Structural problems of organisations

143

(1)

Advantages and limitations of bureaucracy

144

(2)

Structural contradictions: the problem of integration

146

(1)

Capitalism and its contradictions

146

(1)

Coping with structural contradictions

147

(1)

Structural positions and interests

148

(2)

What makes social structures relatively durable and resistant to change?

150

(1)

Reinforcement, multipliers, thresholds and emergence

151

(3)

Conclusion

154

(2)

10 Testing the Explanatory Value of Social Structure

156

(19)

Introduction: supremely individual acts as effects of social structure

156

(1)

The origins of modern nationalism and the nation-state

157

(3)

Egalitarianism and cultural competition

160

(4)

Modernisation and the maintenance of moral reputation: Bangladeshi women in London and Dhaka in the 1980's

164

(8)

Conclusion: the necessity of social structure and the interaction of all five concepts

172

(3)

Part VI Conclusion

175

(23)

11 Get Real: A Perspective on Social Science

177

(11)

The social theory behind the choice of concepts

177

(1)

The basic constituents of social reality

178

(1)

Social reality has human and non-human components

179

(1)

The fundamental mechanism generating variety and change of social forms

180

(2)

Human beings live in open systems

182

(1)

What kind of social science? Explanatory and therefore practical

183

(1)

What is the appropriate sort of explanation for social science?

Realism versus empiricism and idealism

184

(2)

What makes this sort of explanation scientific?

186

(2)

12 Being Practical: The Uses and Payoffs of Social Explanation

188

(10)

Why are social explanations useful?

188

(2)

The consolation of understanding: intergenerational relations

190

(1)

Social explanation, levers of power and strategies for change

191

(2)

Managing conflict between traveller-gypsies and settled society

193

(2)

Post-war slum clearance and the destruction of viable communities

195

(2)

A final word

197

(1)

Appendix: Do it Yourself: Using the Tool Kit to Develop Your Own Hypotheses

198

(6)

Glossary

204

(18)

Bibliography

222

(6)

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Social Theory A Basic Tool Kit

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials

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Social Theory A Basic Tool Kit

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials

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