Reintegrating Social Theory: Reflecting Upon Human Society and the Discipline of Sociology

ISBN-13: 9783631547298 / Angielski / Miękka / 2005 / 310 str.

Strauss, Daniel F. M.

Opis

When dealing with the key concepts of sociology the coherence between this discipline and the other academic disciplines automatically emerges. In order to transcend the shortcomings of one-sided sociological theories it is necessary to hold on to the worthwhile contributions made by each of them. This goal requires an analysis of basic concepts such as social order, social stratification, social constancy and dynamics, social differentiation and integration, social sensitivity, solidarity and consciousness, social consensus and conflict, social power and control, and social symbolism, meaning and interpretation. This work therefore aims at a reintegration of social theory by including a discussion of sociological trends of thought that have been prominent during the past two centuries. It turned out that the opposition between atomistic (individualistic) and holistic (universalistic) theories practically cuts through all sociological schools of thought.

Spis treści

Contents: Preliminary questions of sociology as a discipline - Sociology as an academic discipline - The elementary basic concepts of sociology - Complex basic concepts of sociology.

O autorze

The Author: Daniël F.M. Strauss, born in 1946, enrolled in 1965 as a student at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein (South Africa) and obtained the B.A. Degree in 1967. He taught philosophy at this University since 1969. He completed his Ph.D. on the distinction between Concept and Idea in 1973 at the Free University of Amsterdam. His main academic focus during the past 35 years was on the foundational questions of the natural and social sciences. He was appointed as professor and head of the Department of Philosophy at the University of the Free State in 1977. He acted as Dean of the Faculty of the Humanities at the University of the Free State between 1997 and 2002. He published 180 articles in national and international journals and 14 books.