My notes on Betta, M., & Swedberg, R. (2018). Heuristics and Theorizing as Work on the Self. Sociologica, 12(1), 21-25. Heuristics are commonly seen as either rules of thumb, simple tricks used under conditions of uncertainty, or tools for discovery, practical steps facilitating knowledge about what was previously concealed. However in this short paper, Betta […]
Tag: theory
My notes on Latz, A. B. (2015). Gillian Rose and Social Theory. Telos, 173, 37-54. and Fuller, B. W. (2018). Back to Hegel? On Gillian Rose’s critique of sociological reason. The British journal of sociology, 69(2), 265-285 The figure of Gillian Rose was a continual presence in the Sociology department at Warwick in the time […]
My notes on Lichterman, P (2017) On Social Theory Now: Communicating Theory Now. Perspectives 39(2) In this response to Social Theory Now, Paul Lichterman offers a compelling vision of social theory as sociology’s meta-conversation, with communicating theory being “to keep track of and facilitate that conversation, treating it as always in movement”. It is a sprawling conversation about […]
From On Sociology by John Goldthorope, pg 7. This is a really nice description of the intellectual conditions necessary for someone like Žižek to come along and publish 55 books in 14 years: Such a response, it may be noted, is highly congenial to those theorists who would believe that the main task of theoretical […]
From pg 67 of his Wasted Lives: With the passage of time, successive layers of emergent realities come into view, each calling for a deeper and more comprehensive revision of received beliefs and our conceptual net than was required by the one before in order for it to be scanned and its significance revealed. We […]
I’m just doing some late stage proof reading for the collection of Margaret Archer’s papers I’ve edited with Tom Brock and Graham Scambler. This passage from the revised introduction to the Social Origins of Educational Systems really jumped out to me, both because of the forcefulness with which it sets out her intellectual project and also […]
I really like this idea – see the full post here. I was always quite taken with the method for social ontology which Dave Elder-Vass elaborated for what I think were quite similar reasons. There’s far too much attention paid to theory and far too little attention paid to theorising. Following this, Swedberg suggested that learning to theorise can […]
A really nice interview with Doug Porpora by Tim Rutzou. But it ends on a jarring suggestion: “in an ideal world, American sociology would look like British sociology before it became Americanised”.
I just came across this section in Islamic State: The Digital Caliphate, by Abdel Bari Atwan, pg 141. I think that philosophical debates about humanism are often self-important, resting on an inflated sense of the significance these obtuse words hold for the affairs of the world, but I do think the social scientific evidence about […]
This looks like it’ll be very interesting: The International Origins of Social and Political Theory What is the relationship between history and theory? Much of the time, theory is held to stand outside history. Theoretical systems are applied to, rather than drawn from, historical events. Structural functionalism in sociology, neorealism and neoliberalism in International Relations, […]
The Social Theory Research Cluster invites paper proposals for its first Symposium for Early Career Theorists. SECT is a special one-day group of sessions at the Canadian Sociological Association that spotlights the work of emerging social theorists at a relatively early stage in their careers (PhD Candidates who are ABD status and those who are […]
Is American sociology much more openly hierarchical than UK sociology? Or am I just reading too much into the name? Either way, it looks good, even if I dislike the title and concept slightly: SUBMISSION DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 13, 2015 We invite submissions for extended abstracts for the 9th Junior Theorists Symposium (JTS), to be held […]
At IACR earlier today I heard two interesting talks about Realist Evaluation. I had previously had a vague idea about what this involved, largely through encountering citations from Pawson in other texts, without ever having really grasped what it was in a concrete sense. Now I have, I’m very interested. All the more so because of […]
Theorizing Roles and Collective Intentionality: Contemporary Perspectives Monday 5 May 2014, 1-5pm Seminar Room 3, Chrystal MacMillan Building 15a George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9LD Overview: Despite the arguments of committed critics, notions of roles and collective intentionality have persisted in social science and philosophy. They provide ways of conceptualizing aspects of our sociality and […]
This looks fascinating, shame it’s so far away from me: International conference Moments of rupture: Event and negativity in modern thought October 29 & 30, 2014 Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago de Chile Keynote speakers: Andreas Kalyvas (The New School, USA) Eduardo Sabrovsky (Universidad Diego Portales, Chile) Rupture is a motif central to modernity. A certain […]
Workshop ORIENTATING FEMINISM(S): FEMINIST ‘TURNS’ AND THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION The Centre for the Study of Women and Gender, University of Warwick Friday 28th February 28th, 2014, 2.00pm – 4.00pm Social Sciences Building, Room A0.23 Speakers: · Prof. Clare Hemmings (LSE) · Dr. Carolyn Pedwell (Newcastle) · Dr. Rebecca Coleman (Goldsmiths) · Prof. Valerie Hey (Sussex) · Prof. Lisa Blackman (Goldsmiths) (More speakers may […]
Brendan Halpin just linked to this on my last post. It’s my new favourite xkcd: Sociology seems to produce a number of co-existing and mutually exclusive (semi) paradigms which continually split and re-form in different combinations. Those who are committed to the idea of the necessity of a ‘theoretical core’ frequently argue that such a […]
SA: Early Career Theorists’ Symposium 6th June, 2014, held at the London School of Economics Call for Abstracts The Early Career Theorists’ Symposium is a special one-day symposium for up-and-coming theorists, organized on behalf of the British Sociological Association’s Theory Study Group. This symposium aims to bring together sociologists at a relatively early stage in their career […]
BSA Annual Conference 2014: Changing Society Call for Papers Theory Stream Submissions This stream welcomes abstracts on any aspect of theory as well as abstracts for the following Study Groups: · Bourdieu · Historical and Comparative Sociology · Realism and Social Research · Weber The Realism and Social Research group would also like to invite abstracts under the theme “What is Realism for?” The group is particularly interested in papers that consider any of the following issues: The relevance of realist theory to substantive social, economic and political issues. The practical implications of methodologically operationalising different forms of realist thought. Those from other schools of thought who wish to engage critically in a dialogue with realist theory. How to submit All abstracts and proposals for other events can be submitted online at: http://www.britsoc.co.uk/events/bsa‐annual‐ conference/submissions.aspx The deadline for submission of abstracts is 18th October 2013. For further information contact the Theory stream coordinators: Gurminder K Bhambra E: g.k.bhambra@warwick.ac.uk Tom Brock E: T.Brock@mmu.ac.uk Alternatively, contact the BSA Events Team E: events@britsoc.org.uk
‘theory’ is what happens when common starting-points can no longer be taken for granted. For example, literary critics in the English-speaking world in the 1950s and 1960s disagreed about many things – about the authorship of certain Jacobean plays or about the influence of Keats on Tennyson or about whether D. H. Lawrence was a […]
