A DESIGN OF NORMATIVE SOCIOLOGY BASED ON THE RATIONAL CHOICE PARADIGM

Abstract  In this paper, I metatheoretically examine a design of normative sociology. Normative sociology is the normative-scientific study in sociology. The substance of normative science is the conceptual examination of values or value judgments. According to Coleman (1974) and Faran, (1989) et al., sociologists should contribute to normative science by using ideas from general sociological theory. There is a useful traditional enterprise for this aim in sociology; that is the study of the problem of order, particularly the study of it based on the rational choice paradigm. Seiyama (1992) points to the limits of the rational choice paradigm. I propose three aims of social theory, and claim that the study of the problem of order based on this paradigm is useful when our purpose is normative model-building. I call the problem of order as a subject of the study for this purpose "the value-theoretical problem of order." This examination can clear up some of the theoretical confusion surrounding the problem of order and show the methodological basis of normative sociology based on the rational choice paradigm.     

Rational choice and the sociology of age: Heuristic models

Rational choice is contrasted with the sociology of age as two broad frameworks to aid the search for conceptual models to integrate our fragmented discipline. Some suggestive differences and convergences between them point to the desirability of a more dynamic emphasis in rational choice theory, and to consideration of the philosophical and moral assumptions underlying the “purpose” of action in the sociology of age. Senior Social Scientist at the National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health. This article is adapted from the panel discussion, “The Place of Rational Choice in Sociology,” organized by Guillermina Jasso for the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in Los Angeles, August 6, 1994.     

Seeing the Invisible Children and Young People Affected by Disability

This paper presents a brief review of literature relating to children in families with a disabled member, including the 'young carers' and disability studies literature, and relevant works from the social psychology and sociology of childhood. Key themes identified in the literature are then illustrated by findings from two exploratory research studies that sought to explore the experiences and service needs of children in families with a disabled member, within two Scottish areas. The authors suggest that, although young people affected by disability in the family, including young carers, face significant problems, particularly in socially disadvantaged areas, there are other issues that need to be addressed. Alternative conceptual frameworks are proposed, which challenge the dominance of the young carers research paradigm.     

On the Contributions of Cognitive Sociology to the Sociological Study of Race

In this article, we argue for cognitive sociology as a framework for studying the sociology of race. Cognitive sociology concerns itself with classification, identity construction, meaning and collective memory and is thus centrally concerned with generic issues that apply well to racial category construction and maintenance. We, first, outline the cognitive sociology framework. We then elaborate on traditions in the sociology of race and racism that have implicit affinities to cognitive sociology. We argue that cognitive sociology provides a useful generic framework with which to look at specific issues in racial classification, the social construction of race, and to racist cognitions, while critical race theory and other sociology of race frameworks can compliment cognitive sociology by addressing issues of power and domination in cognitive frameworks.     

Black women and feminist sociology: The emerging perspective

Since the 1960s, leftists, interpretive sociologists, black nationalists and feminists have challenged the subject matter, methods, and social control functions of sociology. The feminist critique continues today, but it is arguable that a “fourth critique” of the field is in the making. This fourth critique emanates from the writings of a black feminist intelligentsia. Its theoretical anchor is a developing perspective on the intersection of race, class, and gender. This intersection is an important revision of feminist sociology and feminist theory, which tend to emphasize gender. The perspective is also corrective of race relations perspectives, which are often omissive of gender. The perspective, therefore, is recreative and may be transformatory of all prior critiques of the field. Rose M. Brewer is in the Departments of Sociology and Afro-American and African studies at the University of Minnesota. Her current research interests are race, class, and gender theory, black family formation, and welfare state policy.     

Central Analytical Issues in the Generation of Cumulative Sociological Knowledge

Abstract

The growth of theories, methodologies, and substantive/empirical areas in sociology has not led to consensus about what sociology is or how to generate cumulative knowledge. Recourse to general or “grand” theories, conceptual frameworks, and methodological advances has not proven noticeably helpful in resolving this situation. Suggesting an alternative strategy, this paper delineates nine analytical issues central to “doing” sociology. The authors contend that systematic attention to these issues will increase the generation of cumulative sociological knowledge.     

On Diversity,Empathy, and Community: The Relevance of Johann Gottfried Herder

Abstract The writings of Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803) foreshadowed several of the dominant theories of sociology, social psychology, aesthetics, linguistics and literary theory. His ideas impacted generations of thinkers, but today he is uncelebrated, mostly unknown. His writings on populism, expressionism, and pluralism are relevant to contemporary sociology, especially community sociology. Here we consider his views on the nature and meaning of community, and his methods of studying and interpreting communities. These include an emphasis on the essential particularity of human communities and their connection to wider systems and networks. Herder urges special attention to the elements of context (place, time, language, culture) within which communities are situated. Herder's is an embedded particularism, a focus on individuality and diversity within larger unities. He also sensitizes us to the multivalence and multiplicity of social phenomena. As the proper stance for community research he counsels involvement and empathy rather than objectivity and emotional distance, and he urges researchers to be sensitive to data from all of their senses, not merely sight. Drawing upon Herder's writings, we conclude with several important methodological principles relevant to improving current work on the nature and conceptualization of communities.     

“Machinisme”, Marxism,humanism: Georges Friedmann before and after WW II

Georges Friedmann (1902–1977) is known for the humanist sociology of work he founded after World War II. Before the war he was a Marxist intellectual, close to the French Communist Party and an admirer of the young Soviet Union. The effect of this political and ideological itinerary on his sociology of work has never been analyzed systematically. Here the question is handled by following the presence of a central concept in his work, “machinisme” [see note¹]. This concept does not come from Marx's thinking but from that of the Romantic historian Jules Michelet, whose writings Friedmann was fully familiar with. A key term in Friedmann's early writings, it was abandoned after World War II in favor of the “natural milieu/technical milieu” conceptual pair. This terminological change went together with a radical change in Friedmann's point of view.     

Mutual Tuning of Multiple Trajectories

In this article, I offer a pragmatist conceptual framework to link the sociology of health and illness with the sociology of science and technology. Starting from an examination of the practice of doing medicine and science, I extend Anselm Strauss's trajectory concept to analyze the temporality and processual character of an evolving phenomenon in two important ways. First, I analyze how a single trajectory emerges out of the interaction of multiple trajectories and how emerging and existing trajectories shape each other with differential power. Second, in accord with recent writings in science and technology studies, agency is extended from humans to non-humans. I discuss different origin and ending strategies of trajectories and the management of trajectories over time.     

The Specificity of Marxist Sociology in Gramsci's Theory

This paper analyzes the relationship between sociology and Marxism and attempts to delineate the fundamental components of sociology within the framework of Marxist theory as presented in the voluminous writings of Gramsci. After reviewing Gramsci's systematic critique of positivist sociology and that brand of Marxism which accepts any positivist canon of analysis, the paper focuses on certain Gramscian concepts hermeneutically useful for a macro-sociology of social structures. Of great importance is the concept of catharsis , that is the development of a given fundamental social group from a mere economic to an hegemonic entity, entailing a process of transformation of the structure of a given historical bloc and the nature and functions of intellectuals in the organization of the ideological, juridical, and political superstructure. The paper concludes that Gramsci's sociology contains specific sociohistorical criteria very useful in understanding how dominant hegemonic systems disintegrate and new ones are formed.     

Art as Propaganda: Bringing Du Bois into the Sociology of Art

We examine WEB Du Bois's writings about the arts in the NAACP journal The Crisis from 1910–1934 in order to construct a Du Boisian social theory of the arts. The key elements of this theoretical framework are: artists, money, freedom, organization, truth, beauty, and propaganda. The most surprising element is propaganda, which for Du Bois meant that art needs to address racial politics. There is a strong sense in Du Bois's writings that art can and should have socially transformative effects. Comparing Du Bois's work to current theories from the sociology of art, we find that Du Bois emphasizes the role of art in social change, while current work treats art primarily as a tool for social reproduction. We argue for expanding the theoretical toolbox of the sociology of the arts through greater consideration of Du Bois's propaganda concept.     

On the social control of industries

One of the master trends of modern society is the emergence and growth of large, differentiated industry complexes. Yet out theory of social control is largely focused on the control of individuals, not industries. Understanding the processes of control requires integrating perspectives of several disciplines--economics, law, political science, and sociology. A relatively comprehensive theoretical framework of the middle range is proposed consisting of five main conceptual clusters, norms, performance curves, structural context, compliance capability and readiness, surveillance and sanction capacity of control agent. The framework helps us identify areas for further research and conceptualization, stakes out a sociological claim for involvement in an area of great policy relevance, and helps bridge the gap between two levels of analysis, society and complex organization.     

Embodiment, experience and theory: in defence of the sociological tradition

This paper examines whether the theoretical analyses and ambitions of sociologists of the body are increasingly making obstructive and irrelevant the subject boundaries and methodological conventions associated with their parent discipline. Concerns about the utility of the discipline have been expressed by a number of body studies emanating from within and outside of sociology. These imply that it is necessary to reject the dominant problematic of sociology and utilise non disciplinary resources if we are to understand issues surrounding the ‘lived experience’ of embodiment. In opposing this rejection of sociology, if not the use of other intellectual resources, I argue that the discipline contains much valuable theorising about experience which has yet to be developed by body theorists. Many of sociology's central concepts, indeed, evoke dimensions of human experience that remain highly pertinent to an understanding of the individual and societal significance of the body in the contemporary era. In order to illustrate this argument, I focus on the writings of Durkheim and Simmel. Their work is rarely central to writings on the body, but provides good examples of the diversity of theoretical approaches within sociology that remain relevant to body theorists. Specifically, I want to use it to develop the outlines of a theory of embodiment as a medium for the constitution of society which has at its centre a concern with human experience. I conclude by reassessing the strategic options sociologists of the body confront in developing their analyses.     

The Sociological Insight of W.E.B. Du Bois

W.E.B. Du Bois discussed key aspects of the new field of sociology in his early writings. This article presents Du Bois’ conception of the developing field and his sociological perspective based on nine of his key original sociological writings. Rather than generating theoretical formulations and studying abstract concepts, Du Bois insisted that sociology be an empirical science adhering to the methods utilized by the physical sciences. Sociology's major objectives are to study the “deeds of men” and to provide a science of human action. Sociological research seeks the discovery of “truth” which can form the basis of social policy. Noting that the regularity of human behavior is evidence of laws and acknowledging that human behavior is also subject to chance factors, sociology must seek to determine the limits of each. Du Bois’ research methods, based on methodological triangulation, were formulated to provide the “truths” which he eagerly sought. Du Bois was convinced that these truths were worth knowing and that sociology had the promise of becoming one of the “greatest sciences.” Attention directed toward Du Bois’ key sociological writings within sociology curricula will introduce current and future readers to the groundbreaking sociological work of the pioneer sociologist.     

Operationalizing Max Weber's probability concept of class situation: the concept of social class

In this essay I take seriously Max Weber's astonishingly neglected claim that class situation may be defined, not in categorial terms, but probabilistically. I then apply this idea to another equally neglected claim made by Weber that the boundaries of social classes may be determined by the degree of social mobility within such classes. Taking these two ideas together I develop the idea of a non-categorial boundary 'surface' between classes and of a social class 'corridor' made up of all those people who are still to be found within the boundaries of the social class into which they were born. I call social mobility within a social class 'intra-class social mobility' and social mobility between classes 'inter-class social mobility'. I also claim that this distinction resolves the dispute between those sociologists who claim that late industrial societies are still highly class bound and those who think that this is no longer the case. Both schools are right I think, but one is referring to a high degree of intra-class social mobility and the other to an equally high degree of inter-class mobility. Finally I claim that this essay provides sociology with only one example among many other possible applications of how probability theory might usefully be used to overcome boundary problems generally in sociology.     

Relationship Dynamics and Healthy Exchange across the Family Life Cycle: Implications for Practice

The capacity to form and develop healthy interpersonal relationships with others is fundamental for human development. In the realm of practice, the theory of social exchange is among the most prominent conceptual frameworks for examining and understanding human behaviors and relationship dynamics. While interpersonal bonds may take several forms across the family life cycle, this article addresses how healthy social exchange can provide a basis for establishing a mutually fulfilling alliance by examining three different types of interpersonal relationships: dating relationships, marital relationships, and parent–child co-residential relationships. Interventions aimed at marriage and family therapists as well as social work practitioners working with couples and families facing relationship troubles are discussed.     

Reflexivity over and above convention: the new orthodoxy in the sociology of personal life, formerly sociology of the family

There is a new orthodoxy in the field that was once understood as the sociology of the family, and is increasingly understood as the sociology of 'personal life', 'intimacy', 'relationships' and 'families'. The orthodoxy highlights the open-endedness of intimate relations at the expense of the family as an institution; that is, reflexivity over and above convention. This article argues that the new orthodoxy not only overstates reflexivity at the expense of convention, but abdicates understanding to frameworks grounded in biologistic and economistic understandings of human behaviour. The article makes its point through attention to three areas of research at odds with the new orthodoxy: paternity uncertainty, inheritance and family business. It then proposes that conceptualization of the family as an institutional regime gives due weight to the reflexive reconfiguration of family relationships and practices on the one hand, and their institutional embeddedness on the other.     

Feminist In(ter)ventions in Family Therapy†

Family therapy is often receptive to new ideas but so far it has only engaged with the second wave of feminisms in a restrained and conditional way. In this article we map the influence of feminisms on the life of family therapy and conclude that its dominant conceptual frameworks have so far resisted feminist revision. Ironically, while feminist post-modernist thought has helped to loosen the modernist grip on family therapy, family therapy's embrace of post-modernism synthesizes and displaces rather than centres feminist concerns. Since post-modernism is not post-patriarchal, the result may be exclusion of feminist perspectives that offer a principled and liberating way through current dilemmas in family therapy. Feminist perspectives are not mere voices among others; they hold promise for the development of a more inclusive theory and practice based on a valuing of inter-connectedness and an ethics of care and responsibilty.     

Public relations and historical sociology: Historiography as reflexive critique

The essay focuses on thinking about thinking about PR history. The space between history and sociology encompasses theoretical and conceptual frames and can be drawn upon to consider PR in time, across times and between times. It reflects upon the purposes and practices of historical sociology and foregrounds themes relevant to public relations, its histories and methodological approaches. The paper, which is methodological at the strategic rather than the technical level, argues that public relations historians can usefully engage with theoretical issues and problems delineated in historical sociology and historical theory. Evolutionary, functionalist and typological approaches and the cultural logics of historical periodization are discussed and contextualized.     

A feminist critique of rational-choice theories: Implications for sociology

I consider the relationship between two currents affecting sociology, rational-choice theory and interdisciplinary feminist theory. In particular, I consider how the feminist critique of the separative model of self applies to one version of rational-choice theory, neoclassical economics. In discussing this I identify four assumptions of neoclassical economics: selfishness; interpersonal utility comparisons are impossible; tastes are exogenous and unchanging; and individuals are rational. I argue that each of these harmonizes best with a view of separate rather than connected selves, and that this imbalance distorts theories, particularly those that claim to understand women’s experience. These distorting assumptions are less prevalent in sociology than in economics, but some of them are implicit in some versions of sociological rational-choice and exchange theories. I conclude by using research on marital power to illustrate how removing distorting assumptions and bringing questions about separation/connection to center stage can help illuminate sociological research. Her forthcoming book,Comparable Worth: Theories and Evidence (New York: Aldine deGruyter), discusses this controversial policy issue from a perspective that draws upon sociology, economics, and feminist theory.