New Rules of Sociological Method : A Positive Critique of Interpretative Sociologies

This is a new and revised edition of a book which has already established itself as a basic text in social theory. The first section of the work provides a concise critical analysis of some leading schools of thought in social philosophy, giving particular attention to phenomenology, ethnomethodology and Wittgensteinian thought. Giddens concentrates primarily upon the implications of these various perspectives for an account of human action and its intelligibility. An `action approach' on its own, however, will not do; in human social life, action and structure presuppose one another. The author therefore moves on to provide a series of concepts relevant to understanding the production and reproduction of society. The book concludes with a succinct statement of some `new rules of sociological method'. Representing the first, and most trenchant, exposition of the principles of structuration theory, this edition also contains a substantial new Introduction in which Giddens replies to some of the more persistent criticisms made of the original version and also addresses some important issues originally discussed only in a cursory way. Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Table of Contents 6 Preface 8 Introduction to the Second Edition 10 Introduction to the First Edition 25 1 Some Schools of Social Theory and Philosophy 37 Existential phenomenology: Schutz 38 Ethnomethodology 48 Post-Wittgensteinian philosophy: Winch 59 Summary: the significance of interpretative sociologies 66 Hermeneutics and critical theory: Gadamer, Apel, Habermas 69 2 Agency, Act-identifications and Communicative Intent 86 Problems of agency 87 Intentions and projects 91 The identification of acts 93 The rationalization of action 97 Meaning and communicative intent 102 3 The Production and Reproduction of Social Life 109 Order, power, conflict: Durkheim and Parsons 109 Order, power, conflict: Marx 115 The production of communication as ‘meaningful’ 119 Moral orders of interaction 123 Relations of power in interaction 125 Rationalization and reflexivity 129 The motivation of action 131 The production and reproduction of structure 134 Summary 141 4 The Form of Explanatory Accounts 145 Positivistic dilemmas 147 Later developments: Popper and Kuhn 150 Science and non-science 153 Relativism and hermeneutic analysis 160 The problem of adequacy 164 Conclusion: Some New Rules of Sociological Method 172 Notes 180 Index 188 Analyzes some leading schools of thought in social philosophy, particularly phenomenology, ethnomethodology and Wittgensteinian thought, and suggests concepts relevant to understanding the production and reproduction of society. This revised edition contains a new introduction by Giddens. Anthony Giddens. Previous Ed.: London : Hutchinson, 1976. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [171]-178) And Index.