Principles of Scientific Sociology

Couverture
Transaction Publishers - 545 pages

Principles of Scientific Sociology represents a major attempt to redirect the course of contemporary sociological thought. It is clear, well-organized, innovative, and original in its discussion of the context and methods of sociology conceived as a natural science. Wallace delineates the subject matter of sociology, classifies its variables, presents a logic of inquiry, and advocates the use of this logic for the acceptance or rejection of hypotheses or theories and for the solving of human problems.

Social scientists, including political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, historians, economists, social psychologists, and students of social phenomena among nonhumans, will find this work indispensable reading. Principles of Scientifc Sociology emphasizes the relationship between pure and applied sociological analysis. The essential contributions of each to the other are specified. Relationships between the substantive concepts of the sociology of humans, on the one hand, and the sociology of nonhumans, on the other, are systematized. In an attempt to put sociological analysis on a firm scientific basis, the book contains a concluding chapter focusing on central premises of natural science and their applicability to sociology.

Wallace identifies the simple elements and relationships that sociological analysis requires if it is to lead to an understanding of complex social phenomena. On this basis, he considers the substantive elements and relations that comprise structural functionalism, historical materialism, symbolic interactionism, and other approaches to social data. He develops groundwork for standardizing these elements so that the contexts of different analyses may become rigorously comparable. The result is a fine, one-volume synthesis of sociological theory.

 

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Table des matières

General Introduction
xiii
METHOD
1
CONTENTS
4
USES
6
Introduction to Part I
11
PRIMARY DISTINCTIONS WITHIN EACH COMPONENT OF THE GENERIC DEFINITION
22
SOCIAL STRUCTURE CULTURAL STRUCTURE SPATIAL REGULARITY AND TEMPORAL REGULARITY
27
SOCIAL STRUCTURE PLUS CULTURAL STRUCTURE AND SPATIAL REGULARITY PLUS TEMPORAL REGULARITY
34
SOCIAL STRUCTURALISM
246
SUMMARY
270
External People VariablesMind
271
CULTURAL STRUCTURALISM
278
SUMMARY
299
External Thing Variables
300
TECHNOLOGISM
305
SUMMARY
320

SOCIAL STRUCTURE CULTURAL STRUCTURE SPATIAL REGULARITY AND TEMPORAL REGULARITY IN SOCIOBIOLOGY
47
Social Structure
52
INDIVIDUAL PHYSICAL BEHAVIORS
55
WITHININDIVIDUAL AGGREGATES OF PHYSICAL BEHAVIORS
70
ACROSSINDIVIDUALS AGGREGATES OF PHYSICAL BEHAVIORS
75
FORMS OF BETWEENINDIVIDUALS PHYSICAL BEHAVIOR COINCIDENCE
78
SUMMARY
85
Cultural Structure
87
WITHININDIVIDUAL AGGREGATES OF PSYCHICAL BEHAVIORS
95
ACROSSINDIVIDUALS AGGREGATES OF PSYCHICAL BEHAVIORS
119
FORMS OF BETWEENINDIVIDUALS PSYCHICAL BEHAVIOR COINCIDENCE
122
SUMMARY
130
Spatial and Temporal Regularities
131
DIMENSIONS OF SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL REGULARITIES
134
SOCIAL CHANGE AND STABILITY
139
SOCIAL SPACING
149
TYPES OF SOCIAL CHANGE AND SOCIAL SPACING COMBINED
153
Hierarchic Structure in Social Phenomena
154
FOUR VARIANTS OF HIERARCHIC STRUCTURE
156
THE PRINCIPLE OF HIERARCHIC STRUCTURE
160
COMPLEX SOCIAL PHENOMENA
180
SUMMARY
182
Introduction to Part II
185
THE TARGET OF SOCIOLOGICAL EXPLANATION
187
A GENERIC TYPOLOGY OF SOCIOLOGICAL EXPLANATORY VARIABLES
191
QUALIFYING COMMENTS ON THE TYPOLOGY
202
MANYVARIABLE CAUSAL MODELS
205
Internal Variables
206
NURTURISM
212
INSTINCTIVISM
215
ENCULTURISM
224
SUMMARY
236
External People VariablesBody
237
ManyVariable Causal Models
321
HIERARCHICALLY STRUCTURED CAUSES OR EFFECTS
322
RELATIONS WITHIN THE SAME LEVEL OF A CAUSAL HIERARCHY
326
DURKHEIMS COMBINATIONS OF CAUSAL MODELS AND THE VARIABLES THEY CONTAIN
340
SUMMARY
348
Introduction to Part III
353
SUBJECT MATTER PROCEDURES OF SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS
356
IMAGINARY AND ACTUAL ANALYSES AND INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE ANALYSES
365
PURE AND APPLIED PHASES OF SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS
371
UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT? CONTROL OVER WHAT?
379
SUBSTANTIVE INTERRELATIONSHIPS
385
Pure Science
387
EMPIRICAL GENERALIZATIONS
392
EXPLANATIONS
396
TESTS
411
SUMMARY
419
Applied Science
421
PLANS
422
DECISIONS
443
IMPLEMENTATIONS
446
OUTCOMES AND EVALUATIONS
450
SUMMARY
455
Premises of Scientific Procedure and Objections to Employing that Procedure in Sociology
456
OBJECT PREMISES
457
SUBJECT PREMISES
460
OBJECTIONS TO APPLYING SCIENTIFIC PROCEDURE TO SOCIOLOGY
475
SUMMARY
491
Concluding Remarks
492
REFERENCES
493
Name Index
521
Subject Index
533
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