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Margaret R Somers - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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symposium on Historical Sociology and rational choice theory we re no angels realism rational choice and relationality in social science1
American Journal of Sociology, 1998Co-Authors: Margaret R SomersAbstract:An alarm has been sounded that Historical Sociology is subverting the theoretical aims of social science. Criticizing an array of widely influential scholars, Kiser and Hechter propose that rational choice theory can avoid the trend toward "empiricism" that results from the import of history into Sociology. Their position is based on theoretical realism–a radically antipositivist thesis that uses ontological and theoretical postulates to theorize about reality beyond positive appearance. A close examination of theoretical realism casts doubts on the epistemological foundations of rational choice theory. Relational realism, the alternative introduced here, places greater emphasis on the pragmatic elements of explanation, supporting a more relational, causal‐Historical, and problem‐driven view of theory. A renewed appreciation of what is defined as Kuhn's Historical episte‐mology provides the foundation for evaluating these competing research programs.
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what s political or cultural about political culture and the public sphere toward an Historical Sociology of concept formation
Sociological Theory, 1995Co-Authors: Margaret R SomersAbstract:The English translation of Habermas's The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere converges with a recent trend toward the revival of the 'political culture concept" in the social sciences. Surprisingly, Habermas's account of the Western bourgeois public sphere has much in common with the original political culture concept associated with Parsonian modernization theory in the 1950s and 1960s. In both cases, the concept of political culture is used in a way that is neither political nor cultural. Explaining this peculiarity is the central problem addressed in this article and one to follow. I hypothesize that this is the case because the concept itself is embedded in an Historically constituted political culture (here called a conceptual network)-a structured web of conceptual relationships that combine into Anglo-American citizenship theory. The method of an Historical Sociology of concept formation is introduced to analyze Historically and empirically the internal constraints and dynamics of this conceptual network. The method draws from new work in cultural history and Sociology, social studies, and network, narrative, and institutional analysis. This research yields three empirical findings: this conceptual network has a narrative structure, here called the Anglo-American citizenship story; this narrative is grafted onto an epistemology of social naturalism; and these elements combine in a metanarrative that continues to constrain empirical
Michael Hechter - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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the debate on Historical Sociology rational choice theory and its critics
American Journal of Sociology, 1998Co-Authors: Edgar Kiser, Michael HechterAbstract:In the past two decades, many sociologists have denied the use‐fulness of general theories in favor of more particularistic ap‐proaches to Historical explanation, which makes it difficult to specify both the causal relations and the causal mechanisms that account for social outcomes. This article offers some philosophical and theo‐retical justifications for the use of general theory in Historical analy‐sis and contends that general theory guides the selection of facts, provides a source of generalizable causal mechanisms, facilitates the cumulation of knowledge across substantive domains, reveals anom‐alies that lead to new questions, and creates the conditions under which existing theories can be supplanted by superior ones. The au‐thors further outline the concrete research practices that flow from their approach and discuss several empirical studies that exemplify these five advantages.
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the role of general theory in comparative Historical Sociology
American Journal of Sociology, 1991Co-Authors: Edgar Kiser, Michael HechterAbstract:The methodological foundations of comparative-Historical Sociology have been transformed dramatically in recent years. Arguments against general theoretical models have proliferated, while the complexity and uniqueness of Historical events and the virtues of inductive methods have been emphasized. The growing convergence of Sociology and history has led to a decline in the use of general theories. This article begins with a description and analysis of the recent transformation of the methodology of comparative-Historical Sociology. An overreliance on inductive methods has resulted in inadequate specifications of causal relations and causal mechanisms in recent comparative-Historical Sociology. The concluding section discusses a nascent rational choice research program in political Sociology to illustrate an alternative methodology.
Syed Farid Alatas - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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the Historical Sociology of muslim societies khaldunian applications
International Sociology, 2007Co-Authors: Syed Farid AlatasAbstract:This article argues that the theoretical perspective on the rise and decline of states developed by `Abd al-Rahmān Ibn Khaldūn (723—808 AH/1332—1406 AD) should not be confined to Historical interes...
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the Historical Sociology of muslim societies khaldunian applications
Social Science Research Network, 2007Co-Authors: Syed Farid AlatasAbstract:This article argues that the theoretical perspective on the rise and decline of states developed by 'Abd al-Rahman Ibn Khaldiin (723-808 AH/1332-1406 AD) should not be confined to Historical interest but is of relevance for the study of various aspects of the history of Muslim societies. The reasons for the relative neglect or marginalization of Ibn Khaldun as a source of theory to be applied to definite Historical empirical situations is partly due to the predominance of Eurocentrism in the social sciences. The manner in which Eurocentrism has defined Khaldunian studies is discussed, but the main focus of this article is the possibilities of a Khaldunian Historical Sociology of Muslim societies that is founded on a non-Eurocentric approach to his work. The article specifies what is meant by non-Eurocentric readings and applications of Ibn Khaldun's theory. Several illustrations of these applications are provided. The serious consideration of Ibn Khaldun's status as a founder or precursor of Sociology would require such theoretical applications. Ibn Khaldun's work should no longer be regarded as a mere source of Historical data or an outdated perspective.
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a khaldunian exemplar for a Historical Sociology for the south
Current Sociology, 2006Co-Authors: Syed Farid AlatasAbstract:The purpose of this article is to raise certain problems in the study of state formation in parts of the Muslim world and elsewhere as distinctly Khaldunian problems that can be approached by applying a framework that integrates Ibn Khaldūn's theory of state formation with modern concepts in Sociology. This is done by selecting a number of Historical cases of state formation where a Khaldunian model has potential applicability and which may provide the empirical ground on which to develop a general Khaldunian Sociology. An attempt is made to present Ibn Khaldūn's Sociology as an exemplar for a Sociology of the South by discussing selective applications of his theory to regions and periods outside of his own.
Daniel A Mcfarland - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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toward a Historical Sociology of social situations1
American Journal of Sociology, 2010Co-Authors: David Diehl, Daniel A McfarlandAbstract:In recent years there has been a growing call to historicize Sociology by paying more attention to the contextual importance of time and place as well as to issues of process and contingency. Meeting this goal requires bringing Historical Sociology and interactionism into greater conversation via a Historical theory of social situations. Toward this end, the authors of this article draw on Erving Goffman's work in Frame Analysis to conceptualize experience in social situations as grounded in multilayered cognitive frames and to demonstrate how such a framework helps illuminate Historical changes in situated interaction.
Edgar Kiser - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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the debate on Historical Sociology rational choice theory and its critics
American Journal of Sociology, 1998Co-Authors: Edgar Kiser, Michael HechterAbstract:In the past two decades, many sociologists have denied the use‐fulness of general theories in favor of more particularistic ap‐proaches to Historical explanation, which makes it difficult to specify both the causal relations and the causal mechanisms that account for social outcomes. This article offers some philosophical and theo‐retical justifications for the use of general theory in Historical analy‐sis and contends that general theory guides the selection of facts, provides a source of generalizable causal mechanisms, facilitates the cumulation of knowledge across substantive domains, reveals anom‐alies that lead to new questions, and creates the conditions under which existing theories can be supplanted by superior ones. The au‐thors further outline the concrete research practices that flow from their approach and discuss several empirical studies that exemplify these five advantages.
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the role of general theory in comparative Historical Sociology
American Journal of Sociology, 1991Co-Authors: Edgar Kiser, Michael HechterAbstract:The methodological foundations of comparative-Historical Sociology have been transformed dramatically in recent years. Arguments against general theoretical models have proliferated, while the complexity and uniqueness of Historical events and the virtues of inductive methods have been emphasized. The growing convergence of Sociology and history has led to a decline in the use of general theories. This article begins with a description and analysis of the recent transformation of the methodology of comparative-Historical Sociology. An overreliance on inductive methods has resulted in inadequate specifications of causal relations and causal mechanisms in recent comparative-Historical Sociology. The concluding section discusses a nascent rational choice research program in political Sociology to illustrate an alternative methodology.