Sociology as an Idea System

Publisher Summary This chapter describes sociology as an idea system. Working with ideas and idea systems is an enterprise that is regarded as neither more nor less empirical than working with, say, roles and role systems or status and status systems. In terms of human culture, there are two environments: (1) the intellectual, composed of ideas; and (2) the institutional, composed of roles, statuses, norms, and the like. Neither environment is intrinsically more important than the other. Neither environment is less susceptible than the other to objective analysis. Obviously, the two environments permeate each other; they are hardly separable. But they are manifestly distinguishable and should be distinguished. Given the existence of the two environments, it is found to be extraordinary, to say the least, that 100 times the energy and resources go into the study of the institutional environment that go into study of the intellectual

Criminology · Epistemology · Social science · Sociology · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Philosophy

• Sociology as an Art Form

  Open Access•Judith Adler•The American Sociologist•2014

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