On the structuralist constraints in social scientific theorizing

Several case studies and theoretical reports indicate that the structuralist concept of a constraint has a central role in the reconstruction of physical theories. It is surprising that there is only little theoretical discussion on the relevance of constraints for the reconstruction of social scientific theories in the literature. Almost all structuralist reconstructions of social theorizing are vacuously constrained. Consequently, constraints are methodologically irrelevant.In this paper I reconstruct three cases selected from social scientific theorizing. The first case is a generalization of Gross, Mason and McEachern's (1958) role expectation conflict theory, which is a qualitative theory. The second case is Cohen and Lee's (1975) quantitative theory of social conformity, which essentially utilizes the theor of Markov chains. The third case is the explanation schema of folk psychology which is one of the most important methodological frameworks in the social sciences.In all the three cases important constraints emerge. From an epistemological point of view it seems that the related constraints work as higher-order laws. In any case, purely conceptual arguments are insufficient to justify them.The three cases,mutatis mutandis, cover nearly all types of social scientific theorizing, so that in my view constraints play a crucial methodological role in the social sciences precisely as they have in the natural sciences.     

Hustinx,Lesley, Von Essen,Johan, Haers,Jacques, Mels,Sara (eds.): Religion and Volunteering: Complex,Contested and Ambiguous Relationships

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations -     

Gendered Violence and Politics in Indigenous Communities

This article examines the depoliticization of violence against women in indigenous communities. It argues that there is a pressing need to examine the ways in which gendered violence is explained, addressed and often sanctioned in indigenous communities. The article draws on Crenshaw's concept of political intersectionality and examines responses to gendered violence in indigenous communities through two groups: Aboriginal women in Canada and Sámi women in Scandinavia.     

Book Review: Peter Dobkin Hall,Inventing the Nonprofit Sector and Other Essays on Philanthropy,Voluntarism and Nonprofit Organizations,The Johns Hopkins University Press,Baltimore and London, 2002, 349 pp., endnotes, $16.95

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations -     

Book Review: Civil Society: The Critical History of an Idea,by John Ehrenberg. New York University Press,New York and London, 1999

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations -     

Conceptual correlation: An example of two social psychological theories

In the present paper Cohen's and Lee's theory of social conformity and Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance are first reconstructed according to a revised form of the so-called structuralist theory-conception developed by Sneed and Stegmüller with their collaborators. Then the two theories are conceptually correlated in the sense of a technical notion of conceptual correlation which can be shown to be an essential generalization of the theory-relations handled by the structuralists.It will turn out that there is no unique way to connect these theories with each other. However, it is shown that two ontologically and conceptually different theories can be correlated. This in turn gives in principle an opportunity to compare critically these two theories given that the constructed conceptual correlation is sufficiently sound and that the theories are empirically testable to a sufficient extent.     

Continuing Validity of the Collective Behavior Approach

This study evaluates the collective behavior (CB) approach that dominated studies of social movements from the 1920s to the 1970s. Its roots lie in five scholarly traditions: Durkheim (collective consciousness), Mill (a sum of individual cost‐benefit calculations), Weber (charisma and bureaucracy), Simmel (interaction of individuals), and European mass psychology. CB studies began in Chicago University in the 1920s by Robert E. Park. His pupil Herbert Blumer made the basic classifications in the field. In the interactionist school, Ralph Turner and Lewis Killian stressed the emerging norms that modify CB, and Kurt and Gladys Engel Lang focused on collective processes. In the structure‐functionalistic school, Talcott Parsons stressed the impact of cultural trends in movement emergence, and Neil Smelser developed a value‐added theory of how social movements form. CB tradition was attacked in the 1960s when its theories did not fit into the student movement and there was a paradigm shift to resource mobilization and Marxist approaches. However, with the rise of constructivism, the ideas of CB have been reinvented in new social movement studies.     

An econometric analysis of the total demand for alcoholic beverages in Finland, 1960 to 1980

The subject considered in this paper is the building of an econometric model of the demand for alcoholic beverages in Finland. The aim is to develop a model which satisfies various theoretical, statistical and prognostic criteria and which is easy to interpret. Comparisons are made with the models made for the UK by McGuinness, Walsh and Duffy and attention is drawn to their shortcomings. The final model is a semilogarithmic model in a difference form which has good prognostic properties.