In this original and controversial book Professor Rawls argues that Durkheim's The Elementary Forms of Religious Life is the crowning achievement of his sociological endeavour and that since its ...publication in English in 1915 it has been consistently misunderstood. Rather than a work on primitive religion or the sociology of knowledge, Rawls asserts that it is an attempt by Durkheim to establish a unique epistemological basis for the study of sociology and moral relations. By privileging social practice over beliefs and ideas, it avoids the dilemmas inherent in philosophical approaches to knowledge and morality that are based on individualism and the tendency to privilege beliefs and ideas over practices, both tendencies that dominate western thought. Based on detailed textual analysis of the primary text, this book will be an important and original contribution to contemporary debates on social theory and philosophy.
This book offers a reassessment of the work of Emile Durkheim in the context of a French philosophical tradition that had seriously misinterpreted Kant by interpreting his theory of the categories as ...psychological faculties. Durkheim's sociological theory of the categories, as revealed by Warren Schmaus, is an attempt to provide an alternative way of understanding Kant. For Durkheim the categories are necessary conditions for human society. The concepts of causality, space and time underpin the moral rules and obligations that make society possible. A particularly interesting feature of this book is its transcendence of the distinction between intellectual and social history by placing Durkheim's work in the context of the French educational establishment of the Third Republic. It does this by subjecting student notes and philosophy textbooks to the same sort of critical analysis typically applied only to the classics of philosophy.
Mary Douglas Perri 6, Paul Richards
2017, 2017-06-30
eBook
Mary Douglas's innovative explanations for styles of human thought and for the dynamics of institutional change have furnished a distinctive and powerful theory of how conflicts are managed, yet her ...work remains astonishingly poorly appreciated in social science disciplines. This volume introduces Douglas's theories, and outlines the ways in which her work is of continuing importance for the future of the social sciences. Mary Douglas: Understanding Human Thought and Conflict shows how Douglas laid out the agenda for revitalizing social science by reworking Durkheim's legacy for today, and reviews the growing body of research across the social sciences which has used, tested or developed her approach.
Durkheim in dialogue Hausner, Sondra L
2013., 2013, 2013-12-01, Letnik:
27
eBook
One hundred years after the publication of the great sociological treatise, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, this new volume shows how aptly Durkheim¹s theories still resonate with the study ...of contemporary and historical religious societies. The volume applies the Durkheimian model to multiple cases, probing its resilience, wondering where it might be tweaked, and asking which aspects have best stood the test of time. A dialogue between theory and ethnography, this book shows how Durkheimian sociology has become a mainstay of social thought and theory, pointing to multiple ways in which Durkheim¹s work on religion remains relevant to our thinking about culture.
Cormack investigates the broad cultural significance and relevance of academic sociology by examining its on-going relationship with modernity and mass culture.
Living Theory Hurst, Charles E
2015, 2005, 20150907, 2015-09-07, 2005-08-17
eBook
Living Theory: The Application of Classical Social Theory to Contemporary Life, 2nd edition analyzes major features of modern society from the classical theory point of view, and suggests how modern ...life might be explained from this viewpoint.
The author examines the works of four classical figures - Marx, Durkheim, Simmel, and Weber - because of their continuing influence on social theory, and because they addressed many of the central issues we confront in modern society.
Topics new to this edition include:
New electronic technologies
The battle over valued property
The role of trust in society
Governmental secrecy
Trafficking in human organs
This work relocates the origins of nineteenth-century social theory in classical Greece and focuses on three figures: Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Émile Durkheim, all of whom wrote dissertations on the ...culture and structure of ancient society. Greek philosophy, art, and politics inspired their ideas, stirred their imaginations, and defined their intellectual horizons. McCarthy rediscovers the forgotten dreams and classical horizons of these European social theorists and uncovers the close connections between sociology and philosophy, offering new insights into the methods, theories, and approaches of modern social science.
Using a broad definition of the Durkheimian tradition, this book offers the first systematic attempt to explore the Durkheimians' engagement with art. It focuses on both Durkheim and his ...contemporaries as well as later thinkers influenced by his work. The first five chapters consider Durkheim's own exploration of art; the remaining six look at other Durkheimian thinkers, including Marcel Mauss, Henri Hubert, Maurice Halbwachs, Claude Levi-Strauss, Michel Leiris, and Georges Bataille. The contributors-scholars from a range of theoretical orientations and disciplinary perspectives-are known for having already produced significant contributions to the study of Durkheim. This book will interest not only scholars of Durkheim and his tradition but also those concerned with aesthetic theory and the sociology and history of art.
