Conceptualising the Social World

Principles of Sociological Analysis

Bibliographic Data

ID19928397
AuthorsJohn Scott (0000-0002-1672-4199, University of Plymouth, corresponding author)
Year2011
Publication date2011-06-23
Open AccessYes
TypeBOOK
VenueConceptualising the Social World (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherCambridge University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1017/cbo9780511851988
OpenAlexW2970162654
Open LibraryOL25109089M
ISBN9780511851988
LanguageEN
Citations received11

This comprehensive and authoritative statement of fundamental principles of sociological analysis integrates approaches that are often seen as mutually exclusive. John Scott argues that theorising in sociology and other social sciences is characterised by the application of eight key principles of sociological analysis: culture, nature, system, structure, action, space-time, mind and development. He considers the principal contributions to the study of each of these dimensions in their historical sequence in order to bring out the cumulative character of knowledge. Showing that the various principles can be combined in a single disciplinary framework, Scott argues that sociologists can work most productively within an intellectual division of labour that transcends artificial theoretical and disciplinary differences. Sociology provides the central ideas for conceptualising the social, but it must co-exist productively with other social science disciplines and disciplinary areas

Action (physics) · Discipline · Epistemology · Order (exchange) · Principal (computer security) · Social science · Sociological theory · Sociology · Space (punctuation) · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Methodology · Philosophy · Research · Social sciences