When social knowledge turns mathematical – The role of formalisation in the sociology of time

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 247-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ştefania Matei ◽  
Marian Preda

The paper argues that a mathematical approach might contribute to the consolidation of time as an epistemic object, while strengthening the sociology of time as a more influential domain in social sciences. This might be accomplished due to the performative role of mathematical formalisations. Also, it means appropriating the textual reality resulted in formalising processes as a space which researchers act through and upon. Thus, mathematical formalisations should be understood not only as modelling and data processing devices but also as relevant actors in networks of knowledge production. In this context, we reassess the practice of formalisation by proposing a vocabulary through which mathematical language might be used to meaningfully approach the socio-temporal order, with positive consequences in the reinforcement of a scientific community of practice.

Author(s):  
Nadezhda N. Fedotova ◽  

The article highlights several areas that pose challenges for social science today. One of the challenges is the study of culture. The evolution of interest in culture in the social sciences is traced through an appeal to the role of culture in eco­nomics, which was an ideal type of ignoring culture for the most part of the 20th century. A paradigmatic shift towards interest in the study of culture at the turn of the 20th and the 21st centuries temporarily expelled society from the main forces that determine human behavior. This approach is no less reductionist than the previous expulsion of culture. The growing attention to the role of culture somewhat obscures the discussion of the problems caused by the spread of global capitalism and the development of digital technologies. Several other challenges stem from the changes in the internal and external contexts of social knowledge production. In our opinion, the idea of human rights is becoming a new significant context both for discussing the challenges of digitalization, and external challenges to science. The author maintains the right to one’s own knowledge and public expression of judgment, to some extent reduces the grow­ing restrictions in other areas of the human rights exercise.


Author(s):  
Milja Kurki

This chapter, first of three to develop relational cosmology in conversation with critical social theory and IR theory, argues that at the heart of relational cosmology lies a commitment to situated knowledge. This perspective on knowledge production is similar in some regards to standpoint epistemology but also diverges from it in key respects. The chapter argues that IR scholarship can benefit from close engagement with relational cosmology suggestions as to how our knowledge is limited and how we might need to ‘deal with it’, especially in the social sciences, where there is a tendency to glorify the role of the human in knowing the human.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-8
Author(s):  
Aleksander Kobylarek

The article describes the role of interdisciplinarity in the process of making science.  Two patterns of research and development of discipline are presented: the closed pattern which concentrates  on specialization and the open pattern  which fosters interdisciplinary science. The key to success is always openness for new scientific experiences and communities. The conclusion of the article is a proposal for  finding new scientific communities, which could be interested in new ideas, research  and thoughts where interdisciplinary analyses are not acceptable to the local scientific community.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (31(58)) ◽  
pp. 6-9
Author(s):  
Agamali Kulamovich Mamedov

The article declares the position of dissensus and consensus as basic models for the development of social sciences. The demarcation of natural sciences and social sciences is carried out. Attempts are being made to identify the features of "acceptance" by the scientific community. The article analyzes L. Laudan's concept of consensus in modern social knowledge.


Author(s):  
Sara Dorow ◽  
Nicole Smith-Acu

Engaged scholarship is increasingly concerned with how community engagement might be institutionalized in the contemporary university. At the same time, it must be attentive to diverse academic approaches to knowledge and to the forms of engagement associated with them. Attention to this plurality is especially important in the humanities, arts, and social sciences (HASS). Based on a multi-method study conducted in the Faculty of Arts at a large western Canadian research university, this paper maps the demographic positions (gender, rank, and discipline) and scholarly dispositions (stances adopted toward the production of knowledge and the role of the academic) of HASS faculty and contract instructors onto the range of ways they perceive and practice engagement. Against this backdrop, we present a qualitative case study of two pairs of faculty that fleshes out the complexities and possibilities of divergent dispositions and the forms and experiences of engagement with which they are associated. We assert that understanding differentiated starting points to knowledge production among HASS academics is an important pathway to the fuller recognition and flexible institutionalization of engagement in research universities.  


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 354-364
Author(s):  
P. A. Vladimirov ◽  
A. V. Lebedeva

The article considers those aspects of the development of sociological knowledge in Russia that were determined by the scientific and organizational activities of A.S. Lappo-Danilevsky (1863-1919). His contribution to the development of the Russian social and humanitarian thought is associated mainly with the development of the foundations of history, historiography and source studies, which is widely admitted in scientific works. However, Lappo-Danilevskys contribution to the development of sociology, to the identification of the specifics of its subject and to the creation of a model of systemic courses on the historical reconstruction of sociological knowledge are still widely discussed. The authors consider the creative component of Lappo-Danilevskys legacy and the strategy he developed for creating an interdisciplinary methodology for social sciences. The article aims at describing his contribution to the institutionalization of Russian sociology, which allows not only to clarify the origins of social knowledge in Russia, but also to actualize Lappo-Danilevskys legacy. The authors pose new questions and problematize the research potential of the works of Russian scientists at the turn of the 20th century, which has prospects for supplementing the history and methodology of sociology. The description of the activities of Lappo-Danilevsky - from the development of the institutional foundations of Russian sociology to the clarification of the methodological principles of social knowledge - raises the question of the influence of positivism and neo-Kantianism on the scientific community. On the other hand, the study of the scientific and organizational activities of Lappo-Danilevsky allow to expand the field of history and methodology of sociology by supplementing it with a description of the institutionalization of sociology in Russia. The study of the foundations of sociological knowledge emphasizes three points: creation of methodology, separation from related disciplines, and acceptance of the historical component in the development of academic sociology. The article also mentions contemporary discussions which consider the sociological legacy of Lappo-Danilevsky not only as a historical reconstruction of the development of social knowledge, but also in the interdisciplinary perspective of contemporary sociology.


2017 ◽  
Vol 53 (9) ◽  
pp. 1633-1642 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. Purpura ◽  
Jessica A. R. Logan ◽  
Brenna Hassinger-Das ◽  
Amy R. Napoli

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saule Viktorovna Ashenova

The article discusses the role of mass media in creating and supporting a tolerant, democratic society in a country that is multi-ethnic and multi-religious.В статье рассматривается роль СМИ в вопросе создания и поддержки толерантного, демократического общества в стране, отличающейся полиэтничностью и поликонфессиональностью.Ключевые слова: мультикультурное общество; толерантность; национальное согласие; СМИ; информационные риски


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