We kindly inform you that, as long as the subject affiliation of our 300.000+ articles is in progress, you might get unsufficient or no results on your third level or second level search. In this case, please broaden your search criteria.

Download

The Self-Reflexivity of Social Action

Author(s): Bogdan Popoveniuc / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2015

The most puzzling and striking feature of Social Theory lies in the impossibility to control its leaning toward self-fulfilling statements. In Sociology, the epistemic explanation become part of explained world and the Theory is at risk to become either futile or subjective along with the dialectic evolution of social understanding. As major mature sciences, it has solid instruments and methods for acquiring useful knowledge, self-regulatory rules for assuring the accuracy of its affirmations and errors refutation. More than any other sciences, it achieved the level of meta-theoretical thinking about its own practice and sets up its limits and expertise. However this is not enough. The understanding brought by sociological the most evolved concept of reflexivity is overwhelmed complexity of social reality, because it fails to cover the self-reference supposed by itself. The Scientific discourse of third person should be transcended toward the level of dialectical co-constructed consciousness-reality awareness, that the subjective “I”, is the condition of possibility for objective knowledge (of Science), which, in turn, represents the categorical conditions of possibility for (self-)understanding. A self-reflexive level of understanding instead, would illuminate many concealed suppositions, conundrums and inconsistencies of social discourse and reasoning. This enhancement is also required to put the present uncontrolled collective intelligent development of Mankind on a safety and desirable path.

More...

Download

Building Place Identity through Heritage

Author(s): Alexandra Păcescu,Vlad Thiery / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2015

In an increasingly globalized world, the fading specificity is producing homogeneous images that make cities more and more difficult to tell apart. The market economy tends to commodify each and every aspect of urban life, even those belonging to the cultural realm. As a consequence, a need for differentiators arises, which can be best embodied by the local heritage. The present paper is trying to establish a link between the concept of Place Identity, seen from a marketing point of view, and Heritage, as a key factor to build or emphasize a ‘point of difference’ for ‘a unique selling proposition’. Although ‘brands’ are commonly associated with globalization and its supposed tendency to erase defining characteristics, their marketing principles could prove to be the very solution to regaining the lost specificity, since they help embed local heritage, already an asset, into the ‘mix’ that determines ‘place identity’. Building and promoting an identity is also the endeavor of branding, hence the overlapping of these two concepts. It is therefore useful to examine the evolution of brands from simple marks of identity to entities which develop complex relations with the users. The need for a ‘a unique selling proposition’ that brands have already acknowledged should be considered when building the place identity so much needed by cities in their fierceful competition for attracting activities. Branding through heritage could prove to be a safe bet to reinforce the particular in the globalised market, if correctly managed and planned. Promoting the city and salvaging one of its key differentiators at the same time is, for sure, a win-win situation.

More...

Download

Întoarcerea la imaginaţia sociologică. Provocările sociologiei publice pentru România

Author(s): Delia Bădoi / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 03/2014

The present article starts with a discussion detached from the academic community of American sociologists, which is based on public sociology, with reference on relevancy and utility of sociological knowledge production: “Sociology for whom”; “What kind of sociology?” Through the scientific studies, the hypothesis of this article shows that sociology as science is at this moment unable to contribute to the use of its own results, due to the lack of a truly interested audience in the extra-academic sphere. The development of a critical and reflexive theory based on the relationship between academic sociology, public sociologist and the public sphere represents an important step in this research about public sociology. The thesis that we want to demonstrate contains, on the one side, critical explanations about the current issue of the sociologist as a public intellectual and on the other side, it refers to the scientific production of sociology in a knowledge society.However, the new risk society born in the recent era of modernity, have devoted a new type of challenges for sociology as science. In the French sociology, Pierre Bourdieu opened an important chapter on the issue of sociology as science and his reflexivity “Science of science and reflexivity” (2001) and also in the American sociology, Charles Wright Mills in “The Sociological Imagination” (1959) introduces a critical theory of scientific knowledge and the abstract empiricism of sociological research of the 1950s. More recently, the debate about the engagement of sociology as a public science continued in the American academic space,when historical controversies in the development of critical theories was resumed by Michael Burawoy in Forsociology (2004). The social significance of the article theme consists in the answer of two questions: How does a public science look like? (1) What public for public sociology? (2) From the epistemological perspective of this article analysis, the interest of exploring the “public” reality of sociology is an important objective for giving an explanation about sociological knowledge in the current social construction. In conclusion, we propose to analyze the development of the practices of sociologists as public intellectuals in international academic context, especially to illustrate the challenges of public sociology for Romanian professional sociology.

More...

4.50 €

Preview

REVISITING TRUTH IN PHILOSOPHY`

Author(s): Tibor R. Machan / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2016

What I want to explore in this paper is whether there are any truths in philosophy. The issue arises because of the widespread controversies about nearly every topic those working in the discipline consider. Unlike in physics or biology, although not so much in economics and literary criticism, in philosophy there is no commonly accepted method by which the truth of an idea or school of thought may be established. Everything is debated, even if by some reasonable accounts not everything is really debatable.

More...

Download

Postutopijsko društvo i novi društveni pokreti

Author(s): Enver Halilović / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 02/1997

Mnogi savremeni teoretičari društva, sociolozi, politolozi, filozofi, etičari itd. smatraju da je savremeno društvo po svojoj ideji zajednica izobilja. Zbog njegove utemeljenosti na vrijednostima te vrste, oni ga nazivaju permisivnim društvom. Etimologija naziva ovog društva znači da je u njemu sve dopušteno i sve se može imati. Pojam permisivno društvo uglavnom se odnosi na društvo u kojem progresivno smanjenje važnosti moralnih mjerila prati sve veća zaokupljenost materijalnim i osjetilnim zadovoljstvima.

More...

Download

Homo sociologicus: Co se skrývá za tématem sociálních rolí

Author(s): Jiří Šubrt / Language(s): Czech Issue: 2/2017

Homo Sociologicus: What is Behind the Theme of Social Roles? This study is focused on the topic of social roles and concepts associated with it. It concerns the thematic and paradigmatic contexts in which the concept of social roles appeared and what perspectives it has opened in sociology. Special attention is paid to Dahrendorf´s book Homo Sociologicus, to the questions raised by this work, and how answers to them have been sought. The study goes on to explain how during the 70's and 80's the interest of sociologists moved from the topic of roles to the issue of social actors. In conclusion it considers why today it could be helpful to go back to the concept of social roles and how lines of reasoning on this issue could be promising and beneficial for the further development of sociological theory.

More...

Download

Џаред Дајмонд и Питер Турчин: две савремене теорије друштвеног колапса

Author(s): Aleksandar Saša Gajić / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 146/2014

Theories of social collapse are not only the views that characterize “societies deep in crisis”, but rather an expression of lack of belief in prosperity and central importance of the civilization in which we live. These theories follow processes of degradation of human societies, the decline of civilization`s powers and the loss of its cultural values resulting in their complete disappearance. This paper defines the subject of study and provides an overview of the history of these theories and their contemporary types by taking the main causes of collapse criteria as the basis for theory building. After the review of contemporary multi-factor analysis of collapse, mainly within the science of complex systems, full attention is focused on two atypical, yet very productive, contemporary theories of social collapse that are elaborated in detail: Jared Diamond`s theory, which studies social collapses by observing relations of other variables that can lead to collapse with environmental problems as central; and Peter Turchin`s theory which, revitalizing with modern scientific achievements Ibn Khaldun`s classical theory of “asabia” (group feeling, spirit of community), sees social collapses as a consequence of the decline of cohesion provided by asabia. The final part of the work gives a critical review of these two theories and their relation with classical theories of social collapse (primarily those of Arnold Toynbee) and points to their mutual productive complementarity.

More...

Download

Czego może nauczyć młode pokolenia socjologów wychowania spuścizna po Florianie Znanieckim?

Author(s): Marek Woś / Language(s): English,Polish Issue: 2/2016

In his works, Florian Znaniecki makes connections between empirical and theoretical sociologyin the way he perceives social issues and problems. The author believed that all fields of scienceare reflected in human behaviour and that an individual is a “measure of all things”. His approachtowards studying and explaining social reality takes into account the experience of an individual orcollectivity. The knowledge of Znaniecki’s sociological hypotheses is a crucial factor in the protectionof cultural and spiritual values which are displaced by increasing aggression and social callousness.

More...

Download

Wywiad pogłębiony jako technika badawcza. Możliwości wykorzystania IDI w badaniach ewaluacyjnych

Author(s): Radomir Miński / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2017

In this paper, an attempt was made to answer a question of usability of IDI (in-depth interview) for evaluation studies. Exploring new ways of technical support of the sociological workshop, it has been decided to focus on the IDI technique. While looking through sources some inconsistencies in using the term “IDI” occurred. In the author’s opinion, some researchers use this term intuitively. They put into practice the term “IDI” toward research’s technique, which, in fact, had nothing to do with it. It seems that the exploration of creative ways of integrating traditional aspects of sociological research with this new technique should not omit a fundamental rule of field study—strict judgment of data obtained in an innovative manner. This circumstances force us to design some border between IDI and other types of interviews, which serve as field studies tools. Hence, the second purpose of this article is to systematize available knowledge on applying in-depth interview in evaluation studies. As an example of a proper application of the IDI technique a proposition of some evaluation research on the topic of sponsorship phenomena is discussed here

More...

Download

Aktualne teoretyczne, metodologiczne i tematyczne podejścia w badaniach dzieciństwa i młodzieży w perspektywie jakościowej

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish Issue: 4/2017

The last decades witnessed the beginnings of interdisciplinary studies on children and childhood and new children and childhood sociology. They were started out of a belief that the until-then definitions of “child” and “childhood” in scientific disciplines, such as sociology, psychology, anthropology, history, geography, law, economy, and others, were too narrow. New children and childhood studies opened new geographical, cultural, and thematic areas of research. New studies on children and childhood are based on presumptions that childhood is a social construct and that children are important social actors. Interpretative sociology and symbolic interactionism are important theoretical frames for new children and childhood studies. Development of new sociology of children and childhood is reflected in research networks and committees being set up in sociological associations.

More...

Download

Comments Concerning the Position of Theories in the Behavioral Sciences

Author(s): Andrzej Malewski / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2017

In this article, I tried (1) to distinguish between various meanings given to the word “theory” in the contemporary social sciences; (2) to present examples of three types of theories conceived as systems of strictly general propositions; and (3) to point out some problems suggested by the analysis of existing theories which seem to be relevant to the codification of theoretical knowledge in the social sciences. An attempt was made toward clarification of three main meanings of the term “theory.” In the first meaning the term “theory” designates speculations that have not been empirically tested and that often are not testable. In the second meaning the term is used to refer to every kind of result of scientific nativity except description. In this way “theory” is used to include: (a) new concepts, (b) operational definitions of non-operational concepts, (c) heuristic directives which describe certain classes of variables as the most important determinants of behavior, (d) models conceived as mathematical functions, sentences, diagrams, or tables concerning relationships between variables which have no empirical interpretation, (e) single general hypotheses supported by systematic evidence, (f) systems of strictly general hypotheses; and many other results of scientific work, as for example, post facto interpretations, the characteristics of a given society, metatheoretical analysis, etc. In the third meaning the term “theory” is synonymous with a system of empirical and strictly general propositions which are in some way mutually related. Theories conceived in the third sense were the main subject of our interest. I tried to give a systematic presentation of the basic proposition of three theories: (1) the theory of social comparison processes by L. Festinger; (2) the theory of interrelationships in small groups by T. Hopkins; and (3) the theory of distribution of power in formal organizations by S. M. Lipset, M. Trow, and J. Coleman. In the discussion of Festinger’s theory I tried to emphasize certain similarities between the propositions of this theory and the basic ideas of such writers as Fromm and Riesman. I suggested some implications of this theory as well. Festinger’s theory was also used as an example of a drive-reduction type of theory. It was stated that the comparison of several theories of this type (1) may suggest how the theories can be elaborated by pointing out what type of variables are used in some of them and not used in others, and (2) may help to find out which hypothetical drives have greater explanatory power than others and can be used to construct the most inclusive and most economic theories. The other problems concerned the relationship between theories that assumed a specific kind of drive and theories dealing with any kind of drive or theories that do not imply the reduction-of-tensions hypothesis. The theory formulated by T. Hopkins was used as an example of theories that describe mutual relationships within the smallest social systems. It was expected that the systematization of several such theories and their comparison could lead to the construction of a theory that would include more variables than the theories known today and that would allow us to predict more events. The other problems mentioned dealt with the possibility of generalizing at least some propositions concerning small groups to larger social systems. The theory proposed by S. M. Lipset, N. Trow, and J. Coleman was analyzed as an example of theories that consider social systems to be systems of subgroups competing for the greatest share in some scarce but desirable goods. It would seem that for an analysis of inequalities in the distribution of power within societies—as well other kinds of inequalities—taking this theory as a starting point may be fruitful. It also seems that the analysis of psychological hypotheses included in theories of this kind, in terms of general psychological theories, may be fruitful both for the development of organization theories and general theories of behavior.

More...

Download

The Theory of Defense of One’s Own Position: Self-Esteem and Conscience—The Ideologies of Privileged Groups

Author(s): Andrzej Malewski / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2017

In the last thirty years, variation of opinion in accordance with income, occupation, status in the community, or class awareness has often been investigated. 1 The results of some of these investigations have shown, for example, that in the United States and West European countries the higher income groups are more in favor of certain institutional property rights and more against government control of business and further extension of government welfare activities.

More...

Download

Narracja a biograficzna perspektywa badawcza

Author(s): Danuta Urbaniak-Zając / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2017

Biography researchers notice an increase in the number of works referring to biographical research and a simultaneous decrease in their cognitive value. One of the reasons for this state of affairs is the misjudged conviction about their simplicity emerging from transferring obviousness of natural attitudes into the ground of scientific research. The author of this paper seeks for sources of inspiration for more careful reflection on pedagogical biographical research in concepts of narration and in works of literary critics. The author presents two various ways of understanding narration. The first one acknowledges the assumptions of structuralism (narration as feature codes of prose statements). The second one – being a consequence of the theoretical expansion of the concept on the whole area of human sciences and a part of social sciences – perceives narration as a human ability to organize events and actions into comprehensive structures that evolve in time. This understanding of narration is linked to life course and its reporting and thus to biographical research.

More...

Download

Uczenie się z własnej biografii jako egzemplifikacja biograficznego uczenia się

Author(s): Elżbieta Dubas / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2017

This article presents the results of the biographical research project titled “Learning from One’s Own Biography” conducted in the years 2008–2010. Learning from one’s own biography is an exemplification of biographical learning. The text presents the results of the research project describing learning from one’s own biography in the following perspectives: ontological, epistemological, methodological and methodical. It shows a person as a biographical being and displays the process of studying/ exploring one’s own biography and the process of cognition (of reality) through biography. Furthermore, the paper discusses three contexts of understanding and experiencing learning from one’s own biography and methodical implications for adult education.

More...

Download

Badacz wobec doświadczeń dorosłych w kontekście biograficznej perspektywy badawczej

Author(s): Joanna Golonka-Legut,Martyna Pryszmont-Ciesielska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2017

Looking at today’s research practices applied in the area of social sciences one can notice a clear interest in biography. Observation of the lives of individuals, (re)cognition of social micro worlds from the perspective of individual biographies and analysis of and searching for meanings of individual life experiences are the subjects of great interest as well as confidence among researchers. It is also noticeable that researchers, with even greater attention and concern, contemplate the methodological legitimacy and correctness of the projects they carry out. This is especially important when there is a necessity to problematize and further specify the methodological identity of the biographical approach. This text is a voice in the discussion about the types and nature of the so-called biographical research conducted in the area of andragogy. Its starting point is viewing the research that uses biography through the lens of the biographical research perspective, which may adopt at least three forms: biographical approach, auto/ biographical approach and autobiographical approach. The considerations revolve around reflections about specifying the individual approaches in relation to certain research projects taking into account the specific role/roles played in them by the researcher-andragogue. The text also addresses the topic of understanding the research process from the perspective of the learning process. The reflections are based on the individual experiences of the researchers acquired during the project in which the auto/biographical approach was applied.

More...

Download

Narracyjne uczenie się człowieka dorosłego. Założenia teoretyczne

Author(s): Emilia Mazurek / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2017

The paper presents the main assumptions of the narrative learning theory developed by M. Carolyn Clark and Marsha Rossiter. The theory is based on the idea that people understand themselves as well as the changes over the course of their lives narratively. Narratives are a uniquely human way of giving meaning to life experience. According to the authors, narrative learning is a twofold concept: 1) learning through stories (listening to stories, telling stories, recognizing stories), 2) conceptualizing learning as a narrative process.

More...

Download

Udane procesy kształtowania w społeczeństwie sprzeczności Możliwości oporu i rozsądku

Author(s): Heinz Sünker / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2017

The starting point of the analyses is the conviction that there is a connection between social relations and the possibilities of human formation. The author justifies this view by referring to the analyses of other theorists. In this context, the author raises the question of the possibility of successful growing up and formation in case of children and young people in capitalist societies, where the principle of equality of people is challenged and egoism is promoted, which constitutes the basis of market exchange. The material in which the author finds the exemplification of the relationship between the individual development of children and the conditions in which they live is a book by Harper Lee To Kill a Mockingbird. The novel is written from the perspective of a little girl and captures the experiences of two years of her life significant for her biography. The author reconstructs the conditions and processes of the formation of two siblings, indicating among other things how resistance is created as an attitude and as a potential of alternative acting to social pressure. Recalling the historical experience (racism, fascism, Stalinism), the author points out that looking for ties expressed in blind subordination to state power, the party, or the leader entails tragic consequences for humanity.

More...

Download

W podwojonym cieniu. Zapiski z etnografii życia

Author(s): Wojciech Józef / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2017

The paper is an attempt to present the idea of an ethnography of life understood as a formative narrative on the shaping of one’s identity diachronically as well as from the perspective of key metaphors penetrating the trajectory of the whole life. Ethnography of life is a kind of intellectual and emotional vivisection, a reflexive autotherapy which highlights the different contexts and crucial moments that shape what we often call a scientific biography. The key metaphor of this story is “the doubling of shadow” – the passing of the loved ones, and life in the shadow of the postwar reality of the People’s Republic of Poland.

More...

Download

Biografia i kształtowanie: relacje międzypokoleniowe

Author(s): Rita Braches-Chyrek / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2017

Biography and formation of human beings are interrelated research perspectives in which relationships between generations are quite significant. In social work (Soziale Arbeit), theories of formation and theories of biography constitute the context for the understanding of cultural transmission in social relationships, the analysis of patterns of living and the description of problematic situations. Although life stories and formation stories are experienced as individual and unique, yet they reflect specific structures. The structures created in the course of life are closely linked to the concept of generation. The generation perspective is expressed in family relationships, but it also has a social context. The article discusses the relationship and importance of formation and biography in intergenerational relations, in the light of social change.

More...

Download

Daughter–Father Relationships. Biographical Research from a Feminist Perspective

Author(s): Aneta Ostaszewska / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2017

This article aims to contribute to the debate about the reflection on biographical experiences, in particular, the relationship between daughter and father. It presents my research project devoted to young adult women, students, and their perceptions of their relationships with fathers. It also contains an analysis of autobiographical essays of female students (the research participants). The main idea of this research is to appreciate the women’s points of view and to underline the role of reflexivity in the constitution of self-knowledge. Also, I try to discuss my process of becoming a reflective feminist researcher.

More...