David Frisby’s ‘Streetscapes of Modernity’

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 147-164
Author(s):  
Georgia Giannakopoulou
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Electronic Archive

Since 2010, I have been organizing David Frisby’s archive. While there are two identical copies of the David Frisby Electronic Archive, in Glasgow and in Athens, each archive holds single hard copies of the original documents. As Tanya Frisby intended, the primary aim of the archive is to invite further explorations of Frisby’s social theory close to, but not necessarily limited to, Simmel studies. In this context, this article introduces and discusses Frisby’s last unpublished writings on streets and suggests that, if placed in the wider context of his work, they suggest various ways of deciphering ‘modern society’.

The Vision of Foundations of Social Theory

1992 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
James S. Coleman
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Theory Of Action ◽  
Fundamental Change ◽  
Individual Actions ◽  
Trust Law

AbstractModern society has undergone a fundamental change to a society built around purposively established organizations. Social theory in this context can be a guide to social construction. Foundations of Social Theory is dedicated to this aim. Being oriented towards the design of social institutions it has to choose a voluntaristic, purposive theory of action and must make the behavior of social systems explainable in terms of the combination of individual actions. It has to deal with the emergence and maintenance of norms and rights, the concepts of authority, trust, law and legitimacy, the viability of organizations and the efficiency of social systems. But more important than the specific points is the vision of a new role for social theory in an increasingly constructed social environment. This vision is the motivation behind Foundations of Social Theory.

Imagination and Art

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Swedberg
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
Social Scientist ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Basic Knowledge ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The Social ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter examines the role of imagination and the arts in helping social scientists to theorize well. However deep one's basic knowledge of social theory is, and however many concepts, mechanisms, and theories one knows, unless this knowledge is used in an imaginative way, the result will be dull and noncreative. A good research topic should among other things operate as an analogon—that is, it should be able to set off the theoretical imagination of the social scientist. Then, when a social scientist writes, he or she may want to write in such a way that the reader's theoretical imagination is stirred. Besides imagination, the chapter also discusses the relationship of social theory to art. There are a number of reason for this, including the fact that in modern society, art is perceived as the height of imagination and creativity.

A Social Theory of Constitutional Imaginaries

2020 ◽  
pp. 175-190
Author(s):  
Jiří Přibáň
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Common Market ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Positive Law ◽  
Law And Politics

This chapter focuses on the concept of constitutional imaginaries and their classic legitimation semantics of topos-ethnos-nomos. Constitutional imaginaries are considered internal symbolic constructs of self-constituted positive law and politics which make it possible to describe functionally differentiated modern society as one polity and distinguish between legal and political legitimacies and illegitimacies in this polity. They are not limited by the unity of topos-ethnos-nomos and evolve in national as well as supranational and transnational constitutions. In the context of European constitutionalism, general imaginaries of common market, universal rights, and democratic power are thus accompanied by specific imaginaries of European integration through economic performativity, social engineering, legal pluralism, and political mobilization. These imaginaries show that political constitutions include a poietic societal force impossible to contain by autopoietic legal norms and political institutions.

The “Actors” of Modern Society: The Cultural Construction of Social Agency

2000 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Meyer ◽  
Ronald L. Jepperson
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
Social System ◽  
Essential Feature ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Cultural Construction ◽  
Modern Theory ◽  
Modern Culture ◽  
The Core ◽  
Nation States ◽  
The Social

Much social theory takes for granted the core conceit of modern culture, that modern actors—individuals, organizations, nation states—are autochthonous and natural entities, no longer really embedded in culture. Accordingly, while there is much abstract metatheory about “actors” and their “agency,” there is arguably little theory about the topic. This article offers direct arguments about how the modern (European, now global) cultural system constructs the modern actor as an authorized agent for various interests via an ongoing relocation into society of agency originally located in transcendental authority or in natural forces environing the social system. We see this authorized agentic capability as an essential feature of what modern theory and culture call an “actor,” and one that, when analyzed, helps greatly in explaining a number of otherwise anomalous or little analyzed features of modern individuals, organizations, and states. These features include their isomorphism and standardization, their internal decoupling, their extraordinarily complex structuration, and their capacity for prolific collective action.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document