New Rules of Sociological Theory

Introduction to the Second Edition; Introduction to the First Edition; 1 Some Schools of Social Theory and Philosophy; Existential phenomenology: Schutz; Ethnomethodology; Post-Wittgensteinian philosophy: Winch; Summary: the significance of interpretative sociologies; Hermeneutics and critical theory: Gadamer, Apel, Habermas; 2 Agency, Act-identifications and Communicative Intent; Problems of agency; Intentions and projects; The identification of acts; The rationalization of action; Meaning and communicative intent. 3 The Production and Reproduction of Social LifeOrder, power, conflict: Durkheim and Parsons; Order, power, conflict: Marx; The production of communication as 'meaningful'; Moral orders of interaction; Relations of power in interaction; Rationalization and reflexivity; The motivation of action; The production and reproduction of structure; Summary; 4 The Form of Explanatory Accounts; Positivistic dilemmas; Later developments: Popper and Kuhn; Science and non-science; Relativism and hermeneutic analysis; The problem of adequacy; Conclusion: Some New Rules of Sociological Method