Understanding the Course of Social Reality

Understanding the Course of Social Reality PDF

Author: Angelo Fusari

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-08-27

Total Pages: 145

ISBN-13: 3319430718

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This book offers a comparison between our earthly society and the society of a hypothetical twin planet with the aim to understand and deal with some of the main problems of our global society, as well as to advance interaction with some extra-terrestrial society no less advanced than ours that sooner or later will be discovered. The underlying premise of the book is that the contemporary world finds itself in what may well be the most confused age of human history. Growing technological changes and innovation make it difficult to understand the course of social reality, while the intensification of the relations between different regions of the Earth and the power achieved by financial capital on a world scale amplify the dimensions and visibility of disequilibria and iniquities, and sharpen frustration and sentiments of insecurity. Social thought, as it has developed at the service of a quasi-stationary world, lacks the ability to understand and govern the tumultuous economic and social processes in progress. The most efficacious way to meet this fleeting social reality is to scientifically highlight basic institutions and values and their steady changes caused by the accumulation of creative and choice processes. In doing so, long-run trends can be explored in order to understand and manage the disequilibrating-reequilibrating motion characterizing the life of dynamic societies. This book shows the ‘necessity’ of institutional and ethical transformations utilizing an utopian flavour.

The Social Construction of Reality

The Social Construction of Reality PDF

Author: Peter L. Berger

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2011-04-26

Total Pages: 313

ISBN-13: 1453215468

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A watershed event in the field of sociology, this text introduced “a major breakthrough in the sociology of knowledge and sociological theory generally” (George Simpson, American Sociological Review). In this seminal book, Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann examine how knowledge forms and how it is preserved and altered within a society. Unlike earlier theorists and philosophers, Berger and Luckmann go beyond intellectual history and focus on commonsense, everyday knowledge—the proverbs, morals, values, and beliefs shared among ordinary people. When first published in 1966, this systematic, theoretical treatise introduced the term social construction,effectively creating a new thought and transforming Western philosophy.

Social Cognition

Social Cognition PDF

Author: Herbert Bless

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 2014-03-05

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 131771539X

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How do people think about the world? How do individuals make sense of their complex social environment? What are the underlying mechanisms that determine our understanding of the social world? Social cognition - the study of the specific cognitive processes that are involved when we think about the social world - attempts to answer these questions. Social cognition is an increasingly important and influential area of social psychology, impacting on areas such as attitude change and person perception. This introductory textbook provides the student with comprehensive coverage of the core topics in the field: how social information is encoded, stored and retrieved from memory; how social knowledge is structured and represented; and what processes are involved when individuals form judgements and make decisions. The overall aim is to highlight the main concepts and how they interrelate, providing the student with an insight into the whole social cognition framework. With this in mind, the first two chapters provide an overview of the sequence of information processing and outline general principles. Subsequent chapters build on these foundations by providing more in-depth discussion of memory, judgemental heuristics, the use of information, hypothesis-testing in social interaction and the interplay of affect and cognition. Social Cognition will be essential reading for students and researchers in psychology, communication studies, and sociology.

We the People, Servants of Deception

We the People, Servants of Deception PDF

Author: Christopher M. Dawson

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2012-05-14

Total Pages: 501

ISBN-13: 1469197766

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Using the principles and tools of sociology presented in his university course, Chris Dawson challenges the reader to reconsider the social reality of our society. This book exposes inconsistencies and deceptions in the conventional portrayal of America s experiment in democracy. His provocative social commentary explores the role of our military, the culture of fear, strategies in the war on terror, the excesses of corporate power, and our misconceptions about crime. He speaks of social inequality, social and racial group divisions, and offers unconventional views about education, medicine, universal healthcare, and the origins of religion. The doubts he raises will merit your serious reflection.

The Construction of Social Reality

The Construction of Social Reality PDF

Author: John R. Searle

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2010-05-11

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 1439108366

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This short treatise looks at how we construct a social reality from our sense impressions; at how, for example, we construct a ‘five-pound note’ with all that implies in terms of value and social meaning, from the printed piece of paper we see and touch. In The Construction of Social Reality, eminent philosopher John Searle examines the structure of social reality (or those portions of the world that are facts only by human agreement, such as money, marriage, property, and government), and contrasts it to a brute reality that is independent of human agreement. Searle shows that brute reality provides the indisputable foundation for all social reality, and that social reality, while very real, is maintained by nothing more than custom and habit.

Socializing Metaphysics

Socializing Metaphysics PDF

Author: Frederick Schmitt

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Published: 2004-09-01

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 0585466653

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Human life is conducted within a network of social relations, social groups, and societies. Grasping the implications of that fact starts with understanding social metaphysics. Social metaphysics provides a foundation for social theory, as well as for social epistemology, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, action theory, ethics, and political philosophy. This volume will interest anyone concerned with mind, action, or the foundations of social theory. Socializing Metaphysics supplies diverse answers, from a broad array of voices, to the basic questions of social metaphysics. What is it for human beings to stand in social relations or form social groups? Do these relations and groups bring about something above and beyond the individuals involved? Is there any sense to the notion of a human being apart from social relations? How can an individual achieve autonomy within a society? In what sense are human kinds like race and gender socially constructed? The answers are found within.

Reflexivity in Economics

Reflexivity in Economics PDF

Author: Serena Sandri

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2008-11-30

Total Pages: 211

ISBN-13: 379082092X

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Since the individuals are not just stimulus-response machines but more complex beings that think and are simultaneously conscious of their thought, re?exivity is potentially involved in all human acts of cognition and in all conceptualizations. On this basis, each human discourse can be characterized as a way of thought f- mulation and therefore, reveals a self-referring nature. On this level of re?exivity, the individual thought shapes beliefs and mental representations which give life to mental models and strive to predict future events and developments to support the individuals in their decision-making. Such mental models are re?ected by the - dividuals themselves and on the situation they are confronted with. According to the result of this recursive application, the individuals will then decide which model they want to refer to, or in other words, which model they want to absorb. Similarly, the individuals can make use of social theories and predictions which can therefore yield recursive effects and interfere with the phenomena they aim to depict. Revealed theories, if accepted, may in?uence the behaviour or the agents they focus on, either in the sense of validation of the theoretical content or in that of its rejection.

Understanding and Prediction

Understanding and Prediction PDF

Author: S. Nowak

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 506

ISBN-13: 9401099308

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One of the more characteristic features of contemporary sociology is an increasing interest in theories. More and more theories are being developed in various areas of social investigation; we observe also an increasing number of verificational studies aimed primarily toward the verification of various theories. The essays presented in this volume deal with theories too, but they approach this problem from a methodological perspective. There fore it seems worthwhile in the preface to this volume to make a kind of general declaration about the author's aims and his approach to the subject of his interest, and about his view of the role of methodological reflection in the development of sciences. First let me say what methodology cannot do. It cannot be a substitute for the formulation of substantive theories, nor can it substitute for the empirical studies which confirm or reject such theories. Therefore its impact upon the development of any science, including the social sciences, is only indirect, by its undertaking the analysis of research tools and rules of scientific procedures. It can also propose certain standards for scientific procedures, but the application of these standards is the domain of substan tive researchers, and it is the substantive researchers who ultimately develop any science. Nevertheless the potential impact-of methodological reflection, even if only indirect, should not be underestimated.

Social Science Research

Social Science Research PDF

Author: Anol Bhattacherjee

Publisher: CreateSpace

Published: 2012-04-01

Total Pages: 156

ISBN-13: 9781475146127

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This book is designed to introduce doctoral and graduate students to the process of conducting scientific research in the social sciences, business, education, public health, and related disciplines. It is a one-stop, comprehensive, and compact source for foundational concepts in behavioral research, and can serve as a stand-alone text or as a supplement to research readings in any doctoral seminar or research methods class. This book is currently used as a research text at universities on six continents and will shortly be available in nine different languages.

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