Modern and Postmodern Social Theorizing: Bridging the Divide

by Nicos P. Mouzelis

Overview

There is a growing conflict between modern and postmodern social theorists. The latter reject modern approaches as economistic, essentialist and often leading to authoritarian policies. Modernists criticize postmodern approaches for their rejection of holistic conceptual frameworks which facilitate an overall picture of how social wholes (organizations, communities, nation-states, etc.) are constituted, reproduced and transformed. They believe the rejection of holistic methodologies leads to social myopia - a refusal to explore critically the type of broad problems that classical sociology deals with. This book attempts to bridge the divide between these two conflicting perspectives and proposes a novel holistic framework which is neither reductionist/economistic nor essentialist. Modern and Postmodern Social Theorizing will appeal to scholars and students of social theory and of social sciences in general.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521731539
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/20/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	326
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Nicos P. Mouzelis is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Table of Contents

Introduction; Part I. The Theoretical Background: The Development of the Agency-Structure Problematic: 1. From Parsons' to Giddens' synthesis; Part II. Parsonian and Post-Parsonian Developments: 2. Parsons and the development of individual rights; 3. Evolution and democracy: Parsons and the collapse of communism; 4. Post-Parsonian theory I: neo-functionalism and beyond; Postscript: Alexander's cultural sociology; 5. Post-Parsonian theory II: beyond the normative and the utilitarian; Part III. Agency and Structure: Reworking some Basic Conceptual Tools: 6. Social and system integration: Lockwood, Habermas and Giddens; 7. The subjectivist-objectivist divide: against transcendence; 8. Habitus and reflexivity: restructuring Bourdieu's theory of practice; Part IV. Bridges Between Modern and Late/Postmodern Theorizing: 9. Modernity: a non-Eurocentric conceptualization; 10. Ethical relativism: between scientism and cultural relativism; 11. Cognitive relativism: between positivistic and relativistic thinking in the social sciences; 12. Social causation: between social constructionism and critical realism; Part V. Towards a Non-Essentialist Holism: 13. Grand narratives: contextless and context-sensitive theories; 14. The actor-structure dimension: anti-conflationist holism; 15. The micro-macro dimension: anti-essentialist holism; 16. The inter-institutional dimension: beyond economism and culturalism; Instead of Conclusion: twelve rules for the construction of an open-ended holistic paradigm; Appendix: In defence of 'grand' historical sociology.

Editorial Reviews

"Modern and Postmodern Social Theorizing: Bridging the Divide is a truly outstanding contribution to knowledge in the field. Professor Mouzelis succeeds in unequivocally shedding light in areas where darkness and confusion have been allowed to reign in recent years. He has consolidated his position at the forefront among contemporary sociological theorists." - Eric Dunning, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of Leicester

"This is brilliant: the best formal sociological theory known to me, and a terrific analysis of the state of play of the field." - John Hall, Professor of Sociology, McGill University

"In this masterly survey of developments in social theory over the last half century, Mouzelis identifies the strengths and weaknesses of competing schools of thought and sets out the means of their reconciliation. It shows concisely and convincingly where sociological theory should be going if it is to regain its original path. His resolution of the conceptual shortcomings arising from the unbalanced treatment of the relationships between agency and structure at both macro and micro levels of analysis is brilliantly set out in the concluding Part Five. With its comprehensive grasp of a complex body of work, this much needed reformulation of basic principles is in a class of its own. A tour de force." - David Lockwood Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of Essex

From the Publisher