Settling Accounts
Action, Accounts and Sociological Explanation
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5635901 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Steve Yearley (0000-0002-1054-4592, corresponding author), Steven Yearley |
| Year | 1988 |
| Volume | 39 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 578 |
| Publication date | 1988-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | British Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-1315 • E-ISSN: 1468-4446 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/590502 |
| OpenAlex | W2312774716 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 14 |
Sociologists have recently debated the general manner in which respondents' accounts should be treated. Should they be regarded as evidence of underlying intentions, objectives and beliefs or should analytical attention focus on the structure of the accounts themselves? This paper reviews this debate from the point of view of the philosophy of social science. While, as critics have noted, the 'accountist' position is subject to major epistemological problems, the 'actionist' view also faces considerable difficulties. These are elaborated through examples from the history of science and artificial intelligence research. Having established the vulnerabilities of both accountist and actionist positions, a pragmatic and mutually supportive rapprochement is proposed
Action (physics · Epistemology · Settling · Social science · Sociological theory · Sociology · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Critical Realism in Sociology · Environmental Science · Philosophy
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I.3 Action and Belief or Scientific Discourse? A Possible Way of Ending Intellectual Vassalage in Social Studies of Science
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| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,11 |
| Citation span | 1990 - 1994 (5) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |