Sociology and the Unintended: Robert Merton Revisited

ISBN-13: 9783631621202 / Angielski / Twarda / 2012 / 390 str.

Adriana Mica; Arkadiusz Peisert; Jan Winczorek

Opis

This collection of essays aims to revive the sociological debate on the unintended, unanticipated and unexpected consequences of social action, as started by Robert K. Merton in a classic study of 1936. The contributing authors provide insights on both Merton s work and the reception it received in the academia. They also go beyond his original formulations to encompass new theoretical perspectives and empirical interests that have emerged in the intellectual circumstances different from, or opposed to, his functionalist theory. The contributing authors delve into fields as diverse as education, law, politics, financial markets, consumption, risks and accidents, systemic transformation, organizations and institutional work, innovations, and Polish studies."

Spis treści

Contents: Adriana Mica: Introduction - Raymond Boudon: Individual Reasons as the Causes of Collective Phenomena - Colin Campbell: Limits to Agency: Exploring the Unintended (and Unattended) Consequences of Action - Jean-Pascal Daloz: Elitist Consumption: Revisiting the Question of Utilitarian vs. Symbolic Motives - Piotr Sztompka: Existential Uncertainty and its Remedies. On the Shoulders of Robert K. Merton - Jocelyn Pixley: What about a Sociology of Uncertainty? - Steve Matthewman: Waiting to Happen: The Accident in Sociology - Adriana Mica: How Non-Linear is the Linear Model of Innovation? Treatment of Consequences in Diffusion and Translation Models - Arkadiusz Peisert: Introduction - Mike Zajko: Climate Change and Extreme Weather as Risk and Consequence - Klaus Birkelbach: Teacher Evaluations over the Life Course: Valid Prognosis or Self-fulfilling Prophecy? - Federico Farini: Affectivity, Expertise, and Inequality: Three Foundations of Trust in Education. Reflections on Presuppositions, (Unintended) Consequences, and Possible Alternatives - Francisco Linares: Self-defeating Prophecies and Social Conflict: A Case Study and Some Theoretical Considerations - Klaus Bachmann: Pluralistic Ignorance in Action: The Puzzle of Unintended Consequences during Poland's Transition to Democracy - Michal Luczewski: Nation as a Perverse Effect - Jan Winczorek: Introduction - Karl-Dieter Opp: The Beneficial and Unintended Consequences of False Beliefs about Norm Violation. When Is there a «Preventive Effect of Ignorance»? - Jacek Kurczewski: Amending the Amendments: Whether There Are Any Intended Effects of the Law at All? - Jan Winczorek: Why Do Procedures Have Unexpected Outcomes? - Ivo Domingues: Unintended Consequences in Normalization Processes: The Case of Certification of Quality Management Systems in the Social Sector - Mikolaj Pawlak: Unintended Consequences of Institutional Work - Richard Vernon: Foreseeably Unforeseeable Risk: Why Unintended Consequences Matter in Political Theory too.

O autorze

Adriana Mica is Assistant Professor at the University of Gdansk. Her publications include studies of scandals in communist and early post-communist Romania, dog population management in Romania and Moldavia, and diffusion of innovations in this domain. Her research interests have recently focused on the topic of embeddedness and diffusion types of energy-saving innovations.
Arkadiusz Peisert is Assistant Professor at the University of Gdansk and the Pomeranian Academy in Slupsk. He is the chairperson of the Gdansk Branch of the Polish Sociological Association, a collaborator of the Institute of Public Affairs, and a member of European Sociological Association's Research Network 20. His fields of interest include civil society, innovations in democracy, public policy, evaluation studies, social history, and qualitative research methods.
Jan Winczorek is Assistant Professor at the University of Warsaw. He has a vivid interest in many aspects of sociology of law and theoretical sociology. He is the author of the first full-length monograph of systems theory in Polish language and a number of other publications.