scholarly journals Three Conceptions of a Theory of Institutions

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 550-568 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.Emrah Aydinonat ◽  
Petri Ylikoski
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Game Theory ◽  
Natural Kinds ◽  
Social Ontology ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Social Institution ◽  
Unified Theory ◽  
Social Kinds

We compare Guala’s unified theory of institutions with that of Searle and Greif. We show that unification can be many things and it may be associated with diverse explanatory goals. We also highlight some of the important shortcomings of Guala’s account: it does not capture all social institutions, its ability to bridge social ontology and game theory is based on a problematic interpretation of the type-token distinction, and its ability to make social ontology useful for social sciences is hindered by Guala’s interpretation of social institution types as social kinds akin to natural kinds.

scholarly journals INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF SCIENCE AND THE SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE UNIVERSITY — DIFFICULTIES AND OPPORTUNITIES

2020 ◽  
pp. 50-61
Author(s):  
Jarosław Charchuła
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Social Institution ◽  
Social Functions ◽  
Academic World ◽  
Scientific Institutions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Components ◽  
The University ◽  
Globalized World

It is evident that, especially in the recent decades, the scientific institutions have strongly evolved and modified their structures in order to be adapted to the changing socio-cultural environment as well as to be more aware of the need to generate new knowledge in order to support the economic growth. Social sciences tried to interpret the process of institutionalization of science in the academic world in various ways, analyzing the social components of the process of creating the knowledge. The approach in social sciences is primarily characterized by the study of the level of institutionalization that enables the study of the features that, in turn, define science as a social institution. This approach is useful in the study of higher education systems because the institutionalized principles make the structure of an organization and primarily provide the information about what regulates the formation of a university and not only about what regulates the behavior of an individual. The organization of the university is a clear example to understand the changes that are taking place in social institutions based on scientific and technological knowledge. In fact, in recent decades, universities have changed the way they organize their activities. The new requirements favor the reorganization of the knowledge creation process which has significant consequences for changes in the internal structure of a science institution. This article focuses on the analysis of the process of institutionalization of science. This approach to science is primarily characterized by the analysis of the features that define science as a social institution. In this context, the most important challenges and difficulties related to these processes in a globalized world are presented.

Entscheidungs- und Spieltheorie

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joachim Behnke
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Game Theory ◽  
Decision Theory ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Strategic Decisions ◽  
The Social

In recent years, decision theory and game theory have dramatically gained in importance in the social sciences and especially in political science. Game theory relates to the strategic decisions of rational individuals, and one of its most important contributions is its normative examination of social institutions. The new and second edition of this book has been reviewed and updated.

scholarly journals Historic Professions: Stabilizing the Reified Image of the Law and Other Historic Professions

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Paul A. Wagner ◽  
Kennard B. Woods
Keyword(s):  
Natural Kinds ◽  
Good Reason ◽  
Social Ontology ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Expectation ◽  
The Law ◽  
Over Time

Social institutions are commonly said to evolve. Yet there may be good reason why some institutions and some concepts are reified advantageously limiting any free-wheeling evolution over time. This is certainly true concepts like currency which stabilizes social ontology as much as concepts like rock stabilize natural kinds ontology. Important institutions such as the four historic professions moor civilization by being continually reified over generations aligning with sustainable public expectation. When a profession such as law is weaned from reified expectations of the public the effect is likely to be de-stabilizing of both the profession’s membership and the public the membership is meant to serve. The reified image of the bar, those entitled to the honor “esquire” following their name, assures society that a social ontology designates this group of professionals as leaders in forwarding society’s civilizing expectations. De-stabilizing this reification is not only self-destructive to the historic professions but to the societies they were intended to lead as well.

scholarly journals The Beliefs-Rules-Equilibrium Account of Institutions: A Contribution to a Naturalistic Social Ontology

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cyril Hédoin
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Economic Analysis ◽  
Social Ontology ◽  
Specific Form ◽  
Institutional Practice ◽  
Social Kinds ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Point Of Departure ◽  
Made In

Abstract This paper pursues a naturalist endeavor in social ontology by arguing that the Beliefs-Rules-Equilibrium account of institutions can help to advance the debate over the nature of social kinds. This account of institutions emerges from a growing number of works in economics that use game theory to study the role and the functioning of institutions in human societies. I intend to show how recent developments in the economic analysis of rules and institutions can help solve issues that are generally considered constitutive of any ontological inquiry. I argue that the Beliefs-Rules-Equilibrium account of institutions can contribute to advancing the debate on an issue of particular importance, regarding the specific form of dependence characterizing the relation between institutions and individuals’ attitudes about them. I tackle this issue by taking Francesco Guala's claims about the nature of institutions made in his book “Understanding Institutions” as a point of departure. In particular, I reject Guala’s functionalism about institutions. On the basis of the Beliefs-Rules-Equilibrium account, I claim that it is futile to search for constitutive features of general institutions (money, property rights, family…) and that the best we can have is a knowledge of what are the rules within a specific institution, which the agents consider to be essential in their institutional practice.

An Intersectional Approach to the “Mobility Trap” That Ensnares Migrant Youth in China

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaorong Gu
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Urban China ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Systems ◽  
Life Chances ◽  
Migrant Youth ◽  
Political Economic

This essay explores the theory of intersectionality in the study of youths’ lives and social inequality in the Global South. It begins with an overview of the concept of intersectionality and its wide applications in social sciences, followed by a proposal for regrounding the concept in the political economic systems in particular contexts (without assuming the universality of capitalist social relations in Northern societies), rather than positional identities. These systems lay material foundations, shaping the multiple forms of deprivation and precarity in which Southern youth are embedded. A case study of rural migrant youths’ ‘mobility trap’ in urban China is used to illustrate how layers of social institutions and structures in the country’s transition to a mixed economy intersect to influence migrant youths’ aspirations and life chances. The essay concludes with ruminations on the theoretical and social implications of the political-economy-grounded intersectionality approach for youth studies.

Social Ontology and Model-Building: A Response to Epstein

2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 176-192
Author(s):  
Nadia Ruiz
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Model Building ◽  
Social Ontology ◽  
Model Construction ◽  
Ontological Commitments ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social

Brian Epstein has recently argued that a thoroughly microfoundationalist approach towards economics is unconvincing for metaphysical reasons. Generally, Epstein argues that for an improvement in the methodology of social science we must adopt social ontology as the foundation of social sciences; that is, the standing microfoundationalist debate could be solved by fixing economics’ ontology. However, as I show in this paper, fixing the social ontology prior to the process of model construction is optional instead of necessary and that metaphysical-ontological commitments are often the outcome of model construction, not its starting point. By focusing on the practice of modeling in economics the paper provides a useful inroad into the debate about the role of metaphysics in the natural and social sciences more generally.

scholarly journals Plato on Natural Kinds: The Promethean Method of the Philebus

Apeiron ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. Proios
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Natural Kind ◽  
Intelligent Design ◽  
Expert Knowledge ◽  
Natural Kinds ◽  
Natural World ◽  
History Of Philosophy ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of

Abstract Plato’s invention of the metaphor of carving the world by the joints (Phaedrus 265d–66c) gives him a privileged place in the history of natural kind theory in philosophy and science; he is often understood to present a paradigmatic but antiquated view of natural kinds as possessing eternal, immutable, necessary essences. Yet, I highlight that, as a point of distinction from contemporary views about natural kinds, Plato subscribes to an intelligent-design, teleological framework, in which the natural world is the product of craft and, as a result, is structured such that it is good for it to be that way. In Plato’s Philebus, the character Socrates introduces a method of inquiry whose articulation of natural kinds enables it to confer expert knowledge, such as literacy. My paper contributes to an understanding of Plato’s view of natural kinds by interpreting this method in light of Plato’s teleological conception of nature. I argue that a human inquirer who uses the method identifies kinds with relational essences within a system causally related to the production of some unique craft-object, such as writing. As a result, I recast Plato’s place in the history of philosophy, including Plato’s view of the relation between the kinds according to the natural and social sciences. Whereas some are inclined to separate natural from social kinds, Plato holds the unique view that all naturalness is a social feature of kinds reflecting the role of intelligent agency.

scholarly journals A suggested scenario to reduce the high divorce rates in Al- Jouf region  in view of the role of some social institutions: تصور مقترح للحد من ارتفاع معدلات الطلاق في منطقة الجوف في ضوء دور بعض المؤسسات الاجتماعية

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (29) ◽  
Author(s):  
Naeima Omar Aldraan, Amaal Mohamed AbdelMawla, Randa Hammoud
Keyword(s):  
Social Issues ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Social Institution ◽  
Main Role ◽  
Community Members ◽  
The Family ◽  
Divorce Rates ◽  
Family Associations ◽  
The University

The study aimed to build a proposed perception to reduce the high rates of divorce in the Al- Jouf region in view of the role of some social institution as, and using the survey and documentary descriptive approach, through the application and two questionnaires were prepared (the first is directed to divorced and divorced women, and the second is directed to community members), and the interviews were used to get acquainted with the opinions of officials in both: Personality, 2- Al- Jouf University, 3- The Family Development Association, and the study concluded that the reasons for divorce are [socio- cognitive] reasons, the most important of which are: the interference of others in the family life of the couple, such as (family, relatives, and friends) With an average approval of 2.54 out of 3 , The weak educational and cultural role of institutions Different society (family, school, c Spangle, family associations) in the rehabilitation of young people for marriage An average of 2.53 out of 3, Also, coordination and cooperation between social institutions in the region to reduce the high rates of divorce in the region was weak coordination, and the research has resulted in a proposed vision to limit the high divorce rates in the Al- Jouf region. Its security and stability, In it the university plays the main role in coordinating and raising awareness of knowledge and social issues such as: women's rights- children's rights- providing family, psychological and legal counseling to university employees and members of society.

scholarly journals FAMILIES, GENERATIONS AND INTERGERACIONALITY IN NET MODERNITY

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 321-330
Author(s):  
Camila Kuhn Vieira ◽  
Carine Nascimento da Silva ◽  
Ana Luisa Moser Keitel ◽  
Adriana da Silva Silveira ◽  
Solange Beatriz Billig Garces ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Nuclear Family ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Social Institution ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
Traditional Family ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Family ◽  
The 19Th Century

We are experiencing a period of accelerated socio-cultural, political and economic changes that are reflected in practically all social institutions, including the family. This is a secular social institution, which reflects the evolution of society. There is still resistance to “idealizing” the family as the “sphere of care and love”. However, it is known that the traditional family of the 19th century gave way to the nuclear family and that, at the same time, it gives way to families with different backgrounds. Also noteworthy are the transformations that occur in complex and liquid society, as highlighted by authors such as Morin and Bauman. In this sense, these transformations also occur in the social institutions that compose it, among them the family nuclei and other social spaces where different generations are inserted, especially with the increasing presence of elderly people. Therefore, with so many important social issues involved in these relationships (society-family-aging and intergenerationality), these reflections are considered to be extremely relevant.

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