scholarly journals A Dialogue on Social Inquiry: Expanding Our Understanding of Sociological Thinking

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Rebat Kumar Dhakal
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Social World ◽  
Sociological Perspective ◽  
Philosophy Of Social Science ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
The Core ◽  
Social Inquiry ◽  
The Social

Highlights Social inquiry is much more than the study of society. It further excavates historical facts, critically reflects on everyday happenings, and envisions the future we wish to create. The intent of initiating this dialogue on social inquiry is two-fold: a) to offer a sociological perspective (i.e. ‘thinking sociologically’), and b) to expand our understanding of sociological thinking. Sociological thinking can be developed by examining the periphery of the core. Context matters in understanding any phenomenon under the sociological microscope. Sociological thinking allows many different viewpoints to coexist within a larger structure and that it respects pluralism. Sociological thinking is about developing or providing a perspective to examine social nuances. Sociological thinking should act as a means for social transformation.  Social inquiry serves as a methodology for the social sciences and humanities. It deals with the philosophy of social science and the workings of the social world – giving a way for understanding both the biosphere and the sociosphere.

Sociological metatheorizing in the 1980s and 1990s: Philosophical aspects of some alternatives to the positivist specification

2019 ◽  
pp. 121-142
Author(s):  
Valerii Pylypenko
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Cognitive Styles ◽  
Social World ◽  
Philosophy Of Social Science ◽  
The Social

The paper provides a retrospective overview of metatheoretical research unfolding in the 1980s and 1990s. Philosophical aspects of some alternatives to the positivist specification have been analysed. Particular attention has been given to the interpretation of sociological metatheorising as the philosophy of social science (B.Fay). The next step is identification of characteristics related to the conception of metasociology as a dialogue with other social sciences, as well as with political and moral conversations about the social world. This conception was put forward by E.Fuhrman and W.Snizek. The author has also summarised S. Fuchs’s works that describe, compare and analyse cognitive styles of metatheorising in sociology.

Predictive Success and Non-Individualist Models in Social Science

2016 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Lauer
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Theory Of The Firm ◽  
Social World ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Predictive Success ◽  
The Social ◽  
Recent Diagnosis ◽  
Resource Based Theory

The predictive inadequacy of the social sciences is well documented, and philosophers have sought to diagnose it. This paper examines Brian Epstein’s recent diagnosis. He argues that the social sciences treat the social world as entirely composed of individual people. Instead, social scientists should recognize that material, non-individualistic entities determine the social world, as well. First, I argue that Epstein’s argument both begs the question against his opponents and is not sufficiently charitable. Second, I present doubts that his proposal will improve predictive success for the social sciences, which I support with Edith Penrose’s resource-based theory of the firm.

Alfred Schutz and ethnomethodology: Origins and departures

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 59-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martyn Hammersley
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Alfred Schutz ◽  
Theory Formation ◽  
Harold Garfinkel ◽  
Social Inquiry ◽  
The Social ◽  
Early Influence ◽  
Alfred Schütz ◽  
The Relationship

The work of Alfred Schutz was an important early influence on Harold Garfinkel and therefore on the development of ethnomethodology. In this article, I try to clarify what Garfinkel drew from Schutz, as well as what he did not take from him, specifically as regards the task of social inquiry. This is done by focusing in detail on one of Schutz’s key articles: ‘Concept and Theory Formation in the Social Sciences’. The aim is thereby to illuminate the relationship between Schutz’s views on the character of social science and Garfinkel’s radical proposal for a re-specified focus of investigation. This is further pursued by examining an important debate about the link between Schutz and ethnomethodology.

scholarly journals Writing the Ethnographic Story: Constructing Narrative out of Narratives

Fabula ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 59 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 8-26
Author(s):  
Brigitte Bönisch-Brednich
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Narrative Ethnography ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Constant Tension

Abstract In this article, I analyse the ways in which ethnographers are sampling and constructing stories, how they listen, what they are hearing, and how they do stories. In short, it is asking how the fieldwork process of listening is turned into read ethnography. It retraces the various steps that are taken to transform fieldwork-infused narratives into refined ethnographic storytelling for academic audiences. I argue that, by neglecting continuously to review this space, anthropology and its related disciplines will continue to struggle to define their place in the canon of the social sciences and humanities. The ethnographer as author and as storyteller is very much at the heart of crafting the act of storytelling. The ever-evolving refinement of our methods towards narrative ethnography is in constant tension with our need and desire to be taken seriously as a social science; hence the production of ethnography is still overshadowed by the demand – imagined or real – to adhere to approved methods of production defined by methodologies of accountability.

scholarly journals Solar Geoengineering: Social Science, Legal, Ethical, and Economic Frameworks

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 399-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane A. Flegal ◽  
Anna-Maria Hubert ◽  
David R. Morrow ◽  
Juan B. Moreno-Cruz
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Ethical Concerns ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
Current State ◽  
The Social ◽  
Empirical Social Science ◽  
Solar Geoengineering ◽  
Public Views

Solar geoengineering research in the social sciences and humanities has largely evolved in parallel with research in the natural sciences. In this article, we review the current state of the literature on the ethical, legal, economic, and social science aspects of this emerging area. We discuss issues regarding the framing and futures of solar geoengineering, empirical social science on public views and public engagement, the evolution of ethical concerns regarding research and deployment, and the current legal and economic frameworks and emerging proposals for the regulation and governance of solar geoengineering.

scholarly journals The BRICS Countries Grouping: Promise of a New Thematic and Methodological Research Focus in the Social Sciences and the Humanities

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 3-13
Author(s):  
Charl Wolhuter ◽  
Oxana Chigisheva
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Global South ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
Brics Countries ◽  
The Social ◽  
Global North ◽  
Science Community

The aim of this research, as part of this Special Issue on the thematic and epistemological foci of social science and humanities research emanating in the BRICS countries, is to investigate and to assess the value of such research— firstly, for the BRICS countries mutually, then for the rest of the Global South as well as for the global humanities and social science community at large. The rationale of this research is that the BRICS countries have come to assume a growing gravitas in the world, not only on strength of geography, demography and economy; but also because of the diversity contained in each of these BRICS countries. These diversities offer opportunities to learn a lot from each other, in addition the rest of the gamut of countries in the Global South as well as the nations of the Global North can benefit much from learning from the experience of the BRICS countries. The research commences with a survey of the most compelling societal trends shaping the 21st Century world, which will form the parameters of the context in which scholarship in the social sciences and humanities are destined to be conducted. The state of scholarship in the humanities and the social sciences and the imperatives of context will be the next topic under discussion. Within this landscape, the potential role of research on BRICS soil is then turned to. The BRICS countries are surveyed, then a conclusion is ventured as to their potential as a fountainhead for social sciences and humanities research.

scholarly journals Editor’s Reflections: Academic Indigenization

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Honggang Yang
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Sociological Perspective ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Western Theory ◽  
Chinese Intellectuals ◽  
The 19Th Century

The movement for academic indigenization has been growing swiftly in the social science fields over recent decades. From a historical, sociological perspective, for example, Lee (2000) recognizes that Western social sciences were implanted in East Asian countries like many other developing societies where there were abundant cultural traditions and indigenous frameworks of understanding human interrelations. As early as the 19th Century, several Chinese intellectuals had called for “Eastern Way and Western Technology” or “Chinese Body and Western Utility” in their search for solutions to “saving the nation” from feudal corruptions and imperialist invaders. These thinkers and reformers were trying to better the fit between Western theory and China reality.

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