Durkheim's Response to Spencer: An Essay Toward Historicism in the Historiography of Sociology*

Merton has made an important distinction between the “history” any “systematics” of sociological theory, and outlined the valuable functions of the former. Most histories of sociology, however, have been “presetist” or “Whiggish” in perspective; we propose an “historicist” alternative. Within this perspective, Durkheim's response to Spencer is analyzed in three areas: (1) the relation between “individual” and “society;” (2) evolution and social change; and (3) the scope and method of sociology. In these areas, Durkheim's critical style reveals a repetitive theme which is termed “inversion.” The essay concludes by re-affirming Merton's distinction and urging that the “historicist” perspective is the most valid and useful approach to the history of sociology.     

Investment and the Swedish economy

The causes of the high rate of investment in the Swedish economy are discussed with particular emphasis on the relevance of restructuring; however, restructuring may be more difficult in future. The source of funds and the function of the Investment Bank are described and the debate on the scale of future investment is summarised.     

Regression Shrinkage Methods and Autoregressive Time Series Prediction

The pros and cons of applying regression shrinkage prediction arguments and methods to autoregressive time series forecasting are discussed. Simulation evidence of the performance of a Stein regression prediction formula suggests that the overall dominance of the shrunken predictor over least squares in regression no longer holds in time series samples of a reasonable length. Rather, shrinkage appears the better of the two, with respect to prediction mean squared error, only for weaker relationships and seems to be inferior to the least squares predictor when the autoregressive relationship is strong.     

The value of information in Newcomb's Problem and the Prisoners' Dilemma

The acts in Newcomb's Problem and the Prisoner's Dilemma are viewed as experiments. The cost of the information yielded by each act-experiment is compared to the value of information in the two problems, which is zero. The non-dominant act-experiments cost more than their information is worth, and are therefore rejected.     

Disabling masculinity: the isolation of a captive audience

In this article, I propose that disabled people tend to engage with and interpret images of people with impairments in a variety of ways that have some degree of correspondence to their structural contexts and their differential access to discursive resources. Contending that gender concerns play a crucial role in the interpretative performances of both disabled and non-disabled participants, it is argued that soap operas are an alienating experience for men in general. I propose that the placement of impairment and disability narratives within the soap opera's structure, as a specific genre, is a particularly demeaning experience for disabled men. Finally, I raise some questions about agency and resistance in such viewing practices, making specific reference to the experiences of disabled men.     

Alexithymia: Inner speech and linkage impairment

This essay seeks to contribute to the theoretical base guiding the treatment of alexithymia by highlighting the concepts of two scholars, psychologist Lev Vygotsky and psychoanalyst W.R. Bion. While their research was not directly concerned with alexithymia, their formulations, nonetheless, make a singular contribution to understanding its dynamics. The author demonstrates these concepts with clinical case material