Modern and postmodern social theorizing : bridging the divide / Nicos P. Mouzelis.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents Figures Acknowledgements Introduction PART I The theoretical background: the development of the agency–structure problematic 1 From Parsons’ to Giddens’ synthesis Introduction 1 Parsonian functionalism: the emphasis on system/structure 2 Interpretative micro-sociologies: the emphasis on agency 3 The rational-choice paradigm a. The ideal-typical nature of rational-choice theory born Rational-choice institutionalism 4 Decentring the subject I: hidden codes a. Anthropological and Marxist structuralism born Decentring and recentring the subject 5 Decentring the subject II: subjectless practices 6 Decentring the subject III: texts a. Textualism born The conflation of the discursive and the non-discursive c. Cultural sociology 7 Transcending the subjectivist–objectivist divide: attempts at a post-Parsonian synthesis a. Giddens’ transcendence strategy born Bourdieu’s transcendence strategy 8 The overall abolition of boundaries Conclusion PART II Parsonian and post-Parsonian developments 2 Parsons and the development of individual rights 1 T..H. Marshall: civil, political and social rights 2 T. Parsons: rights and revolutions a. Economic and political differentiation born Educational differentiation 3 Differentiation and the mechanisms of change 4 Integration: balanced and unbalanced forms Conclusion 3 Evolution and democracy: Parsons and the collapse of communism 1 Evolutionary universals 2 The limits of modernization from above 3 Some critical remarks 4 Post-Parsonian theory I: neo-functionalism and beyond Introduction 1 The theory of action 2 The theory of culture 3 Action and culture: a critical assessment 4 The theory of civil society 5 The basic dilemma in the conceptualization of civil society Conclusion Postscript: a lexander’s cultural sociology Introduction 1 On the conceptualization of culture 2 The environments of action 3 Cultural narratives as second-order discourses Conclusion 5 Post-Parsonian theory II: beyond the normative and the utilitarian Introduction 1 Three problematic presuppositions a. Teleological intentionality born Instrumental control of the body c. The passive individual 2 Constitutive theories of action and systemic theories of differentiation 3 Some critical remarks a. Restructuring Parsons’ theory of action born The rapprochement between constitution and differentiation theories Conclusion PART III Agency and structure: reworking some basic conceptual tools 6 Social and system integration: Lockwood, Habermas and Giddens 1 Lockwood 2 Habermas 3 Giddens Conclusion 7 The subjectivist–objectivist divide: against transcendence 1 On the concept of social structure a. Institutional or normative structures (box 1) born Interactive or figurational structures (box 2) c. Distributional structures (boxes 3 and 4) d. Independent variation 2 The impasse of transcendence strategies a. Duality of structure: Giddens’ transcendence project born Habitus: Bourdieu’s transcendence strategy 3 A concrete example: the reproduction of the LSE as a social system a. Reproduction via the duality of structure born Reproduction via the habitus c. Reproduction and the concept of strategying 4 Concluding remarks: bridging rather than transcending the divide 8 Habitus and reflexivity: restructuring Bourdieu’s theory of practice Introduction 1 Dispositions, positions and interactions 2 Reflexivity a. Reflexivity and contradictions between dispositions, positions and figurations born Reflexivity and intra-habitus contradictions c. Reflexivity unrelated to contradictions 3 Bourdieu’s conception of the subject 4 Restructuring the SDP scheme PART IV Bridges between modern and late/postmodern theorizing 9 Modernity: a non-Eurocentric conceptualization Introduction 1 Modernity: mobilization/incorporation into the centre 2 Modernity: institutional differentiation a. Formal and substantive differentiation born Value generalization c. Adaptive upgrading 3 Modernity: a non-Eurocentric conceptualization 4 Modernity and the West 5 Variants of modernity 6 Late modernity and globalization Conclusion 10 Ethical relativism: between scientism and cultural relativism 1 The golden rule perspective 2 On the self-evidence of the golden rule 3 Basic assumptions and difficulties of the relativist position 4 Stepping stones towards growing socio-cultural interpenetration 5 Eurocentrism Conclusion 11 Cognitive relativism: between positivistic and relativistic thinking in the social sciences 1 Objectivity and the issue of mediation 2 The postmodern critique of representation and empirical evidence a. The modern–postmodern debate in Greek historiography born Avoiding relativism and essentialism 3 The ‘internality’ of a discipline’s subject matter a. On the construction of a discipline’s subject matter born In defence of the distinction between first- and second-order symbolic constructs Conclusion 12 Social causation: between social constructionism and critical realism Introduction 1 The Harré thesis 2 Giddens’ conflationist strategy 3 Archer’s anti-conflationist strategy a. From structuration to morphogenesis born A critique of morphogenesis c. Perspectival or methodological dualism Externality in terms of historical time Externality in terms of hierarchized space 4 Articulation of agentic and structural properties a. The internal conversation born Three types of reflexivity c. Some critical comments The externality and internality of enablements/constraints Interaction as a second mediating mechanism between agency and structure Linking agency and structure Conclusion PART V Towards a non-essentialist holism 13 Grand narratives: contextless and context-sensitive theories 1 ‘Grand narratives’: context-sensitive and insensitive 2 Holistic conceptual frameworks: open and closed a. The Marxist closure born The Parsonian closure 3 Non-essentialist holism: three types of openness 14 The actor–structure dimension: anti-conflationist holism Introduction 1 Structures and actors a. Methodological remarks Methodological dualism The space and time dimension born A typology of structures Institutional and figurational structures Distributional structures: virtual and actual Symbolic or cultural structures Dispositional structures c. The agentic powers of actors 2 On the linkages between the causal powers of actors and of structures a. The intra- and interactive dimensions born A concrete example 15 The micro–macro dimension: anti-essentialist holism Introduction 1 Strong and weak types of essentialism a. System essentialism Weak system essentialism Strong system essentialism (1) Strong system essentialism (2): teleological functionalism born Actor essentialism From statistical categories or quasi-groups to groups The pre-constituted character of actors’ identities and interests 2 Interpretative sociologies: obstacles to micro–macro bridges a. Action–system imbalance born Face-to-face interaction as micro 3 Three guidelines for bridging micro and macro approaches a. Avoiding essentialism: a balance between social- and system-integration perspectives born Social and system integration: from juxtaposition to articulation c. Avoiding reductionism: social hierarchies 16 The inter-institutional dimension: beyond economism and culturalism 1 Economism 2 Culturalism and the priority of the lifeworld: from Marx to Parsons and Habermas a. Systemic culturalism born The theoretical primacy of the lifeworld c. Critique 3 Beyond economism and systemic culturalism Instead of Conclusion: Twelve rules for the construction of an open-ended holistic paradigm The actor–structure dimension: anti-conflationist holism The micro–macro dimension: anti-essentialist holism The inter-institutional dimension: anti-economistic holism Appendix.

In defence of ‘grand’ historical sociology 1 The conflation of history and sociology 2 The comparison with Spencer 3 On the tenuous linkages between evidence and interpretation 4 On the arbitrary character of grand historical sociology’s interpretations References Index