The Concept "Social Forces" in American Sociology: Section VII. Theories of Social Causation More or Less Inconsistent with the "Social Forces" Concept as Developed by Ward and His Followers

1926 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 763-782
Author(s):  
Floyd N. House
Keyword(s):  
Social Forces ◽  
Social Causation ◽  
American Sociology ◽  
The Social

Conceptual foundations for the development of J.G.Turner’s general sociological theory: Metatheoretical ideas, basic concepts and analytical scheme

2019 ◽  
pp. 40-60
Author(s):  
Volodymyr Reznik
Keyword(s):  
Social Evolution ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Sociological Theory ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Analytical Scheme ◽  
Initial Stage ◽  
The Social ◽  
Production Distribution ◽  
Basic Concepts ◽  
Conceptual Foundations

The article discusses the conceptual foundations of the development of the general sociological theory of J.G.Turner. These foundations are metatheoretical ideas, basic concepts and an analytical scheme. Turner began to develop a general sociological theory with a synthesis of metatheoretical ideas of social forces and social selection. He formulated a synthetic metatheoretical statement: social forces cause selection pressures on individuals and force them to change the patterns of their social organization and create new types of sociocultural formations to survive under these pressures. Turner systematized the basic concepts of his theorizing with the allocation of micro-, meso- and macro-levels of social reality. On this basis, he substantiated a simple conceptual scheme of social dynamics. According to this scheme, the forces of macrosocial dynamics of the population, production, distribution, regulation and reproduction cause social evolution. These forces force individual and corporate actors to structurally adapt their communities in altered circumstances. Such adaptation helps to overcome or avoid the disintegration consequences of these forces. The initial stage of Turner's general theorizing is a kind of audit, modification, modernization and systematization of the conceptual apparatus of sociology. The initial results obtained became the basis for the development of his conception of the dynamics of functional selection in the social world.

Sentencing Policy as a Force for Social Cohesion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph Henham
Keyword(s):  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Social Values ◽  
Social Reality ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Normative Approach ◽  
The Social ◽  
Sentencing Policy

This chapter sets out the case for adopting a normative approach to conceptualizing the social reality of sentencing. It argues that policy-makers need to comprehend how sentencing is implicated in realizing state values and take greater account of the social forces that diminish the moral credibility of state sponsored punishment. The chapter reflects on the problems of relating social values to legal processes such as sentencing and argues that crude notions of ‘top down’ or ‘bottom up’ approaches to policy-making should be replaced by a process of contextualized policy-making. Finally, the chapter stresses the need for sentencing policy to reflect those moral attachments that bind citizens together in a relational or communitarian sense. It concludes by exploring these assertions in the light of the sentencing approach taken by the courts following the English riots of 2011.

History Teaching in Rural Areas: The University of Venda

1996 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-23
Author(s):  
Alan Kirkaldy
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Historical Writing ◽  
Social Formation ◽  
History Teaching ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
The University

I would argue that history students should understand that the whole body of historical writing consists of interpretations of the past. They should be able to analyse a wide variety of texts and form their own opinions on a historical topic, and should be able to construct a coherent argument, using evidence to support their opinion. In doing so, they should be actively aware that their argument is no more “true” than that offered by any other historian. It is as much a product of their personal biography and the social formation in which they live as of the evidence used in its construction. Even this evidence is the product of other personal biographies and other social forces.

scholarly journals Evaluation of the interactionist model of socioeconomic status and problem behavior: A developmental cascade across generations

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 695-713 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica J. Martin ◽  
Rand D. Conger ◽  
Thomas J. Schofield ◽  
Shannon J. Dogan ◽  
Keith F. Widaman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Problem Behavior ◽  
Human Development ◽  
Problem Behaviors ◽  
Family Stress ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Social Selection ◽  
Social Causation ◽  
Adolescent Problem Behavior ◽  
The Social

AbstractThe current multigenerational study evaluates the utility of the interactionist model of socioeconomic influence on human development (IMSI) in explaining problem behaviors across generations. The IMSI proposes that the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and human development involves a dynamic interplay that includes both social causation (SES influences human development) and social selection (individual characteristics affect SES). As part of the developmental cascade proposed by the IMSI, the findings from this investigation showed that Generation 1 (G1) adolescent problem behavior predicted later G1 SES, family stress, and parental emotional investments, as well as the next generation of children's problem behavior. These results are consistent with a social selection view. Consistent with the social causation perspective, we found a significant relation between G1 SES and family stress, and in turn, family stress predicted Generation 2 (G2) problem behavior. Finally, G1 adult SES predicted both material and emotional investments in the G2 child. In turn, emotional investments predicted G2 problem behavior, as did material investments. Some of the predicted pathways varied by G1 parent gender. The results are consistent with the view that processes of both social selection and social causation account for the association between SES and human development.

The Image of the Past and Economic Backwardness

1958 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 19-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Pepelasis
Keyword(s):  
Romantic Attachment ◽  
Japanese Economy ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Traditional Values ◽  
Native Culture ◽  
Underdeveloped Countries ◽  
National Pride ◽  
The Social ◽  
National Romanticism ◽  
Developing System

Many underdeveloped countries have been increasingly demonstrating a strong sentiment of nationalism. This sentiment has found expression in, among other ways, glorification of past traditions and idealization of qualities in the native culture. Such romanticism, if it produces a solidarity and purposeful singlemindedness, can prove expedient for mobilizing social forces necessary to lead to economic change. However, in the process of buttressing national pride and consciousness and in programming for economic development, traditional values and some institutions of the predevelopment phase will be useful only if they are retained in general form. Thus, the Meiji revolution of Japan was successful in romanticizing some of the spirit of old Japan (Bushido) but, at the same time, it adopted the concrete substance of western institutions, which prepared the transformation of the Japanese economy into a developing system. But, if national romanticism is such that it leads to sterile and slavish imitation of anachronistic forms, national energy will be diverted to nativistic frivolity and waste. Such romantic attachment does not lead to the establishment of the social milieu necessary to developing and expanding institutions which will create the conditions for the take-off phase of the economy.

Decadence and Realism

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 563-582
Author(s):  
Matthew Potolsky
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Realist Novel ◽  
The Social ◽  
Realist Novels

This essay proposes a new understanding of the widely recognized disdain for realism and the realist novel among decadent writers, a disdain most critics have interpreted as a protomodernist celebration of artifice. Focusing on Oscar Wilde's dialogue “The Decay of Lying,” the essay argues instead that decadent antirealism is antimodern, embodying a repudiation of contemporary society. Decadent writers regard realism not as hidebound and traditional, as twentieth-century theorists would have it, but as terrifyingly modern. Wilde looks back to neoclassical theories of mimesis and classical Republican political theory to imagine a different, older world, one in which art improves upon brute reality and in which the artist stands apart from the social forces that realist novels make central to their literary universes.

History Teaching in Rural Areas: The University of Venda

1996 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-23
Author(s):  
Alan Kirkaldy
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Historical Writing ◽  
Social Formation ◽  
History Teaching ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
The University

I would argue that history students should understand that the whole body of historical writing consists of interpretations of the past. They should be able to analyse a wide variety of texts and form their own opinions on a historical topic, and should be able to construct a coherent argument, using evidence to support their opinion. In doing so, they should be actively aware that their argument is no more “true” than that offered by any other historian. It is as much a product of their personal biography and the social formation in which they live as of the evidence used in its construction. Even this evidence is the product of other personal biographies and other social forces.

Beyond equality of opportunity: from 'common sense' to 'good sense'

Soundings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 79 (79) ◽  
pp. 78-93
Author(s):  
Tony Jefferson
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Equality Of Opportunity ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Good Sense ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
The Social ◽  
Ready Availability ◽  
The Relationship

This article addresses the Labour Party's apparent inability to capitalise on the ready availability of good, progressive ideas. It suggests the key is to be found in the idea that the Labour Party no longer represents working-class people, a disjunction that can be best understood using Gramsci's distinction between 'common sense' and 'good sense'. Good sense is a more coherent development of everyday, commonsense thinking, based on its 'healthy nucleus'. However, it must never lose contact with common sense and become abstract and disconnected from life. Using this distinction, a critique of the common-sense notion of meritocracy follows, since the educational disconnect between Labour politicians and their working-class supporters is one of its malign results. This critique builds from the evidence of working-class rejection of meritocracy - the healthy nucleus that recognises the inadequacy of its justifying principle of equality of opportunity. To this is counterposed a good-sense notion of equality - one that embraces equal access to the means for achieving a flourishing life. This notion of equality is then used to explore a number of currently circulating political ideas concerned with equality, both their relationship to common sense and their potential to meet good sense criteria. These ideas include universal basic income, the Conservatives' proposed 'levelling up' agenda, and the demands of Black Lives Matter for racial justice, including the demand to 'defund the police'. A second thread is focused on the relationship between these discourses of common or good sense and the social forces with which they can be connected.

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