B. F. Skinner and the Technological Control of Social Behavior

1975 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 214-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meredith W. Watts
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Behavior Control ◽  
Empirical Theory ◽  
Technological Control ◽  
The Subject

Humanist critiques of B. F. Skinner have made valuable contributions to our understanding of his thought, but more attention needs to be paid to his work as potential empirical theory. To evaluate the theoretical merits of Skinner's approach, this paper examines his methodological postulates, his implicit epistemology, and some underlying normative assumptions. It is argued that Skinnerian behaviorism commits a serious error in allowing a methodological presupposition (reduction of the subject matter to observable behavior of the organism) to become a de facto ontology that prematurely forecloses the incorporation of potentially valuable hypothetical constructs at the level of social theory. This theoretical difficulty is critical because the inherent safeguards of science that Skinner proposes as a humane safeguard against misuse would be unlikely to apply to an actual technology of behavior control as employed by political and administrative authorities.

Social policy and social change – explanations of the development of social policy

1973 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 209-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Carrier ◽  
Ian Kendall
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Recent Analysis ◽  
General Observation ◽  
Founding Fathers ◽  
The Subject

The resources of sociology do not appear to have been extensively or systematically utilized in the study of social policy and administration. One source of evidence for this statement is the absence of explicit references to sociological theories in some of the most well known general texts on British social policy and administration. Pinker's recent analysis of social theory and social policy also lends support to the view that there has been, and still remains, something of a division between sociologists and students of social policy and administration. He concludes that the ‘founding fathers’ of sociology (Marx, Durkheim, Weber and Spencer) had a tendency to be ‘not greatly interested…(in)…remedies for social problems’, and makes the general observation that ‘sociologists have been oddly diffident about the subject-matter of social administration’, possibly because of the latter's atheoretical nature.

scholarly journals Critiques of the globalization process: The examples of Russia and Serbia

2003 ◽  
pp. 295-312
Author(s):  
Milan Subotic
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Research Topic ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Cultural Life ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Communist Countries ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Insight Into

The paper is devoted to outlining the research topic to be dealt with by the author in the incoming period within the project of the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory. Starting from "globalization" as the keyword of current debates on political, economic and cultural destiny of contemporary world, the author delineates the subject matter of his research as the critiques of the globalization process formulated in Russia and Serbia. In terms of contents, the research will be devoted to analyzing and interpreting different philosophical-theoretical, political and ideological arguments used by the critics of the globalization process in political and cultural life of Russia and Serbia. The proposed comparative approach ought to provide an insight into the influence exerted by Russian opponents of globalization on domestic critics of the process, as well as to help understand the differences in resisting globalization that stem from different political, economic, military, cultural and international positions of the two countries in today's world. The basic aim of the research is to asses theoretical-argumentative and practical-political potentials of the critiques of globalization in these two post-communist countries.

An Institutional Theory of Modernity: Johann Gustav Droysen

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 41-96
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Institutional Theory ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Main Part ◽  
Direct Link ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Institutional Dynamics ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Legitimate Violence

The article analyzes several crucial aspects of Johann Gustav Droysen"s theory of historiography (as presented in the collection of his lectures published under the title Historik ). The significance and reception of Droysen"s legacy in contemporary historiography are examined primarily in the American and Russian contexts. The fundamental features of Droysen"s theory of historiography are then identified with emphasis on: validation of the autonomy of history as a science; radical constructivism; moderate relativism; presentism; and the extension of the subject matter of hermeneutics to existential and anthropological issues. The main part of the article is devoted to Droysen"s institutional theory and maintains that Historik provides more than a theory and methodology of historiography by also advancing an original institutional theory which serves as a direct link between Hegel"s philosophy and current social and political concepts. Droysen"s position on Hegel"s philosophy is considered, and the derivation of “the ethical world,” Droysen"s the principal category for institutional analysisis traced back to Hegel. Droysen"s theory of the state, which identifies it as the only source of legitimate violence and a mechanism for neutralizing conflicts in civil society and distinguishes between the notions of “power” and “violence,” is treated in detail. Three main aspects of Droysen"s institutional theory are discussed. First, there is an analysis of his formal theoretical understanding of the concept of an “institution” as it compares to the basic modern philosophical and theoretical definitions of that concept. Then, the main substantive features of his institutional theory are examined. These include the three types of institutions (natural, ideal and practical), and the distinction between them will later play a prominent role in modern social theory and sociology. Finally, Droysen"s account of the institutional dynamics of modernity is explicated as a taut equilibrium between the puruist of stability by institutions and the disruption of their stability by normative reflection and criticism.

Words

PMLA ◽  
1935 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 1320-1327
Author(s):  
Colbert Searles
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
Assistant Professor ◽  
The Subject

THE germ of that which follows came into being many years ago in the days of my youth as a university instructor and assistant professor. It was generated by the then quite outspoken attitude of colleagues in the “exact sciences”; the sciences of which the subject-matter can be exactly weighed and measured and the force of its movements mathematically demonstrated. They assured us that the study of languages and literature had little or nothing scientific about it because: “It had no domain of concrete fact in which to work.” Ergo, the scientific spirit was theirs by a stroke of “efficacious grace” as it were. Ours was at best only a kind of “sufficient grace,” pleasant and even necessary to have, but which could, by no means ensure a reception among the elected.

The Taxonomic Structuring of Medical Information and its Usefulness in this Form

1965 ◽  
Vol 04 (03) ◽  
pp. 112-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Zinsser
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
Medical Information ◽  
Central Core ◽  
Diagnostic Strategy ◽  
Programmed Instruction ◽  
Orderly Fashion ◽  
The Subject

An outline has been presented in historical fashion of the steps devised to organize the central core of medical information allowing the subject matter, the patient, to define the nature and the progression of the diseases from which he suffers, with and without therapy; and approaches have been made to organize this information in such fashion as to align the definitions in orderly fashion to teach both diagnostic strategy and the content of the diseases by programmed instruction.

العربية المقاربة المقاصديّة في ردّ ابن فودي على القادح في جلستهم الدعويّة

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alawiye Abdulmumin Abdurrazzaq ◽  
Ahmad Wifaq Mokhtar ◽  
Abdul Manan Ismail
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Analytical Methods ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
The Subject

This article is aimed to examine the extent of the application of Islamic legal objectives by Sheikh Abdullah bn Fudi in his rejoinder against one of their contemporary scholars who accused them of being over-liberal about the religion. He claimed that there has been a careless intermingling of men and women in the preaching and counselling gathering they used to hold, under the leadership of Sheikh Uthman bn Fudi (the Islamic reformer of the nineteenth century in Nigeria and West Africa). Thus, in this study, the researchers seek to answer the following interrogations: who was Abdullah bn Fudi? who was their critic? what was the subject matter of the criticism? How did the rebutter get equipped with some guidelines of higher objectives of Sharĩʻah in his rejoinder to the critic? To this end, this study had tackled the questions afore-stated by using inductive, descriptive and analytical methods to identify the personalities involved, define and analyze some concepts and matters considered as the hub of the study.

HUBUNGAN PROFESIONALISME PENDIDIK TK DENGAN KINERJA PENDIDIK DI TK RAYON IV KOTA DUMAI

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 660
Author(s):  
Ranirizal Ranirizal
Keyword(s):  
Learning Process ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Significant Relationship ◽  
Teacher Performance ◽  
Teacher Professionalism ◽  
Learning Material ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Performance Development ◽  
Kindergarten Educators ◽  
Academic Qualifications

Performance is the performance shown by educators, both in quality and quantity in carrying out their duties in accordance with the responsibilities given to them professionally. Educator performance development is a very decisive factor in the success of the education and learning process. In fact, in Kindergarten Rayon IV, Dumai City, there is still a low level of competency standards possessed by educators. The intended competency standard is from the standard academic qualifications and four competencies that must be possessed by a kindergarten educator, namely pedagogic, professional, social and personality competencies. This is evidenced by educators not yet mastering learning material with the maximum known when the learning process educators are not able to explain well the subject matter, and educators have not shown maximum performance in carrying out their duties and functions. The purpose of this study was to see whether there was an influence on teacher professionalism on teacher performance in Dumai IV Rayon Kindergarten. The results of the study prove that there is a significant relationship between the professionalism of Kindergarten educators and the performance of educators in Kindergarten Rayon IV, Dumai City. This is evidenced by the value of Sig (2-tailed) professionalism on educator's performance of 0,000, so the calculation shows 0,000 <0.05. This means that Ha is accepted, that is, there is a significant relationship between the professionalism of Kindergarten educators and the Performance of Educators in Kindergarten Rayon IV, Dumai City.

Justine Pila, The Subject Matter of Intellectual Property

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 142-144
Author(s):  
Patrick Masiyakurima
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
The Subject
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