Creativity and Master Trends in Contemporary Sociological Theory

Bibliographic Data

ID2397595
AuthorsJ M Domingues (0000-0001-9729-9528, IUPERJ/UCAM, RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL, corresponding author)
Year2000
Volume3
Issue4
Pages467-484
Publication date2000-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of Social Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1368-4310 • E-ISSN: 1461-7137
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/13684310022224903
OpenAlexW2138483079
LanguageEN
References cited49

This article considers whether there exists today a movement of similar strength to the synthetic 'new theoretical movement' of the mid-1980s. The author argues that one main trend in sociological theory today is the notion of creativity and efforts to understand it conceptually. The contemporary growth of contingency, it is claimed, is closely related to this creative perspective. After examining Parsons's notion of 'double contingency', the article suggests that neither rationality nor normativity alone is able to dampen recognition of the vicissitudes attached to both personal destinies and social evolution. The author analyses the axis of structure and action, theories of history and evolution, together with the relationship between modernity and reflexivity, in order to substantiate the claim that creativity constitutes a trend today. This trend is then related to another, the cognitive approach, and the author proposes some ideas to bring them closer. Finally, a hypothesis to explain the current stress on creativity is suggested

Contingency · Creativity · Epistemology · Modernity · Rationality · Reflexivity · Social science · Sociological imagination · Sociological theory · Sociology · Chaos, Complexity, and Education · Critical Realism in Sociology · Economic Theory and Institutions · Psychology · Social Psychology

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