Abstract
Abstract The objective of this theoretical essay is to propose a new path for the epistemological debate in the field of social management that goes beyond the paradigmatic boundaries. Based on studies that deal with social management from different perspectives, a comparison was made between models based on the thesis of incommensurability by Thomas Kuhn – such as the Gibson Burrell and Gareth Morgan diagram of sociological paradigms – and an alternative to break away from the paradigmatic mentality: the circle of epistemic matrices. The study demonstrated that the logic of incommensurable paradigms is not adequate to guide social management studies due to its complexity and plurality. This was proven by the identification of multiple sociological approaches adopted in field studies, including hybrid approaches. In this sense, the circle of epistemic matrices proved to be more appropriate, because instead of impenetrable boundaries, it allows transit between the matrices and enables a dialogue between different sociological approaches.
Highlights
Social management is an emerging field of management knowledge and practices, whose main points include social participation and collective decision-making, guided by ethics and solidarity principles oriented towards the social and by the social (Boullosa & Schommer, 2008; Fischer & Melo, 2006; França Filho, 2003; Schommer & França Filho, 2008; Tenório, 2005, 2006)
According to França Filho (2007), the fact that social management is defined in advance by its finality, encompassing the organizational and corporate dimensions, contradicts the entire management development tradition of administration focused on economic interest
Basing her proposal on Jürgen Habermas (1968/2014), the author defends the thesis of cognitive incompleteness, suggesting that sociological and organizational knowledge is developed through epistemic reconstructions. The objective of this theoretical essay is to propose a new path for the epistemological debate in the field of social management that goes beyond the paradigmatic boundaries
Summary
Social management is an emerging field of management knowledge and practices, whose main points include social participation and collective decision-making, guided by ethics and solidarity principles oriented towards the social (finality) and by the social (process) (Boullosa & Schommer, 2008; Fischer & Melo, 2006; França Filho, 2003; Schommer & França Filho, 2008; Tenório, 2005, 2006). The authors state that in the book Studying Society: Sociological Theories and Research Practices, Jones (1993) understands that reality can be interpreted based on three central paradigms of social sciences – structural-consensus, structural-conflict, and interpretive – whose characteristics would be as follows:
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