Sociological Reconstruction Research Articles

The “Middle” as a Method: In Search for the Socio-Individual

The article discusses scholarly foundations of social dialogue as a mediative process and as a mode of interaction between the individual and the collective. The author justifies the transition from dualistic to ternary thinking, emphasizing the necessity of a new dominance based on the interaction between the Self and the Other. Classical philosophical ideas from the European Enlightenment and Romanticism gradually lose their relevance, giving way to alternative concepts that advocate a mediative approach to understanding social processes. Central to this research is an analysis and sociological reconstruction of V.A. Lektorsky’s philosophical paradox: the more universal the character of an individual’s activity, the more personally individual it becomes. The author explores the psychological and sociological ontogeny of this paradox, demonstrating its significance for comprehending contemporary social processes. Special attention is given to the concept of a mediative middle as a space for the interpenetration of the individual and the collective, wherein a new type of subjectivity is formed. The article illustrates how mediation mechanisms can overcome sociocultural divides and foster productive social dialogue. It addresses the challenge of finding the appropriate balance of shared understanding in social partnerships as a methodological tool for contemporary social theory. The author introduces the notion of the “non-classical deliberative Self,” contrasting it with traditional syncretic meanings and status roles. A concept of polysubjective partnership “I/We” is proposed, founded on the synthesis of the the socio-individual through personal-individual meanings and the individually-personal content of societal activity. The conclusion formulates the condition for such polysubjective partnership: the more societal activity aligns with individual personal interests, the more this activity becomes personally socio-individual.

Споры об урбанизме в германской и французской социологии 1950–2000 гг.

The author’s research approach to the topic of urbanism in continental European sociology is based on two fundamental points: 1) no unified sociology of the city has emerged; the historian of science has to deal with national sociologies, such as German and French; 2) the common ideological or, more broadly, intellectual situations give rise to similar attitudes and research topics in professional sociological communities. The choice of Francophone and German-language texts for analysis is determined by the wide exchange and mutual influence of national sociological schools between 1950 and 2000. In both countries, there was a process of reconstruction of sociology, first on the reception of American sociology and then on its critique. In 50 years, there were three paradigm shifts in the study of urban culture. Initially, the ideological concept of urbanism dominated in national sociologies, opposing the German philosophical tradition of the era of O. Spengler and his predecessors. Urbanism was considered as a function of urban space, ensuring freedom and personal development for all citizens (H. P. Bahrdt). The new political economy paradigm (M. Castells) initially began with a critique of urbanism as a form of bourgeois ideology devoid of theoretical content. Subsequently, the new paradigm was constructed in terms of the political economy of “Capital” without any reference to the cultural aspects of urban life. A city is nothing more than infrastructure for the circulation of capital, collective means of consumption necessary for the reproduction of labor, tied to the territory, inelastic, unprofitable. Citizen was considered as agent of economic process, faceless and deprived of individual features, a moment in economic development. In the process of mastering the political economy of the city, sociologists have overlooked the analysis of specific social situations, cultural conflicts, the functioning of imagined communities, and the symbolic connection of the citizen with the city. The political economy of the city was replaced by a new school of social urbanism under the brand of critical sociology (W. Siebel, A. Bourdin). Its adherents made an inventory of languages to describe urban culture and lifestyle, emphasized the idea of accessibility of basic subject and institutional tools of urban life, analyzed the possibilities of urbanism for the social integration of citizens and described the status of urbanism in urban planning, calling it a great social mission (A. Bourdin). In search of an adequate concept of urbanism, sociologists formed their own social identity, proving their necessity and importance in the social and cultural reconstruction of European society.

Religious Situation in Modern Kazakhstan (а sociological reconstruction)

Religious Situation in Modern Kazakhstan (а sociological reconstruction)

How Sociologists Face and Describe the Turning of Late Modernity: Towards Sociological Reconstructions of Neoliberalism (s)

How Sociologists Face and Describe the Turning of Late Modernity: Towards Sociological Reconstructions of Neoliberalism (s)

Book Review of: Sociology in Brazil, A Brief Institutional and Intellectual History

How to tell the history of sociology in a peripheral country? Moreover, how to do it in a country as vast and complex as Brazil? This is a very difficult challenge to perform. Cordeiro and Neri´s book, Sociology in Brazil, published by Palgrave- Pivot in Sociology Transformed Series, was able to pull it off, though. The book aims to make an integrative reconstruction of sociology in Brazil during a time that dates back to almost 130 years ago. The volume deserves to be read since it gives a brief but prolific analytical description of intellectual and institutional development of the discipline in that country. In addition, this historical account offers a reinterpretation of home traditional narratives from a perspective that combines cognitive and institutional factors. So, it aims to achieve a comprehensive narration of the dispute among local sociological traditions, institutions from different cities and regions and also local key intellectual figures.

Pandemic, Post-Industrialism, Human Capital: A Look From the Province

This article contains an attempt at a sociological reconstruction and conceptualization of some of the trends and prospects that were revealed during the pandemic crisis. The empirical basis of the study was a dataset collected as part of a research project devoted to the problems of effective use of human capital in the Khakassia region and the south of the Krasnoyarsk territory. The results required an appeal to a wider array of statistical data, the analysis of which made it possible to formulate some alternative macroeconomic scenarios for the effective use of human capital. The pandemic crisis, taken as a ‘natural experiment’, showed that the Information Technology sector and pre-industrial forms of the economy were the least vulnerable; the rest needed organizational and financial support to maintain survivability. The analysis showed that the movement from an archaic society to a post-industrial one for the overwhelming majority of the population who were forced to work in the service sector was not progress of personal freedom, but, on the contrary, an aggravation of slavery. The most stable and reliable sector unexpectedly was the pre-industrial sector, in which personal economic freedom is not declarative, but genuine. The competition of more developed economic types of society with pre-industrial ones is of an unfair character, accompanied by artificial discrimination, which additionally indicates the natural stability of the latter. In addition, providing employment for the population, an increasingly acute problem of a developed economy, does not pose any difficulties for an archaic one, as employment is always universal here. In this sense, subsistence and small-scale commodity farming is not a dying social rudiment, but a ‘reserve airfield’ to which society can always return during a crisis. Another argument for the prospects of a pre-industrial economic cluster is the ability to resist totalitarian digital control.
 Keywords: post-industrialism, human capital, pandemic, social control

Memories of Terror: Essays on Recent Histories

<i>Memories of Terror: Essays on Recent Histories</i>

LIETUVOS NEPILNAMEČIŲ JUSTICIJOS REFORMOS IR NEPILNAMEČIŲ NUSIKALSTAMUMO DINAMIKA KLAIPĖDOJE 1995–2019 M.

The article discusses the declining juvenile crime rate in Klaipėda between 1995 and 2019. The city of Klaipėda was chosen as an empirical illustration allowing not only to focus on a social phenomenon but also to identify possible directions of wider interpretation and causal links. The authors have already presented a sociological reconstruction of the identities of Klaipėda between 1990 and 2010,* and therefore the dynamics of juvenile crime discussed in the light of new statistical, sociological and especially legal perspectives should be approached as a continuation of the analysis of juvenile crime in Klaipėda. Placing juvenile crime in the context of social problems, the authors see legal changes and programmes in juvenile justice as possible reasons for the declining juvenile crime rate. However, with the conclusions and discussion in the article being based on four hypothetical assumptions for the declining crime rate (delinquency is caused by the process of juvenile biological and social development; a completely opposite hypothesis: with the end of maturation, delinquent behaviour also ceases; links between delinquency and socially vulnerable families; a return to K. Mannheim’s idea of a contract between the elite of society and youth) provoke a continuation of research in the field of youth crime.

The development track and academic practice of Sociology in Sichuan in the past 40 years

This paper makes a comprehensive analysis of the recovery, reconstruction and development of Sichuan sociology in the past 40 years. This paper makes a simple analysis of the development stages of Sichuan sociology, and holds that there are two major stages, namely, the restoration and reconstruction stage and the academic research stage. This paper makes an in-depth investigation of the characteristics and achievements of the academic practice of Sociology in Sichuan in the past 40 years, especially in the study of religious and ethnic issues. At the same time, we also realize that there are shortcomings in discipline construction, research team, research field, etc., and there is still a big gap with the eastern region and foreign sociology research. This requires Sichuan sociology to form a joint research force, maintain its advantageous research field, broaden its research horizon and actively build a high-level research team, so as to better promote the development of Sichuan sociology.

A COR DA IMAGINAÇÃO SOCIOLÓGICA: W.E.B. DU BOIS, STUART HALL E A SOCIOLOGIA DE-SEGREGANTE

Racism and intellectual segregation limit and divide the sociological tradition. The white sociological mainstream historically ignored the contribution of black sociologists and today it confers the discussion of racism to a specialist sub-field. Black sociologists by contrast have long been attentive to the main and hegemonic sociological currents, that is, white sociology. Through a discussion of the writings of W.E.B Du Bois and Stuart Hall and their respective dialogues with figures like Max Weber and C Wright Mills, an argument is made for a profound reconstruction of sociology at both the level of analysis and of form that changes the way sociology tells about racism and society as a whole.

On the role of the “global North–South” notions in global sociology

The paper focuses on the two main directions: a retrospective analysis of the stated concepts and the analysis of their role in global sociology. This work is devoted to the concepts of the “global North–South” and their history in the context of (global) sociology. The article focuses on a historical and sociological reconstruction of the these notions’ existence as well as the process of the transition of the concepts to global sociology and their role in the discussion.It was also demonstrated the interconnection of the “third world” category with the “global North–South” and their mutual influence on each other. The process of reducing of the “third world” notion usage and its gradual transformation into a “global South” category is analyzed. The paper postulated the idea that after the transition of the global sociology concepts, they mostly lost their geographical basis and were formed as the notions of the epistemologicalnature. Initially, such concepts were non-sociological and were often used during discussions in economics and in political studies. Nevertheless, North–South appeared in the sociology relatively recently and coincide chronologically with the beginning of the discussion about global sociology and during short period of time became important elements in the global sociology disputes. The dichotomy “global North–South” mediates a large number of the discussions in the research field, which are related to the claims of the South about the sociological dominance of the North and about the right of southerners to offer their own indigenous concepts. The paper investigates the connection of the sociologists with these categories, which play a significant role and stimulates a wide range of arguments. The paper concludes that geographical determinism is speculative and more related to the ideological attitudes of the authors, which are reproduced in the researched field.

URGENSI REKONSTRUKSI SOSIOLOGI BAGI KAJIAN CYBER SOCIETy

The rapid changes in information technology raises questions about the relevance of sociological theories in explaining the new reality of the cyber society. At least, there are two important questions that must be answered by sociology: first, what are the characteristics of cyber reality that become the new study area of sociology? Second, how should sociology be reconstructed to understand the new model of society in cyberspace? Through meta-theory study, this research takes two conclusions. First, virtual reality has a character that is different from real reality in daily life. But, frequently, virtual reality is experienced by individuals like everyday life reality, or even more real than real reality. Through the characteristics of simulation, interaction, artificiality, immersion, telepresence, networked communication and anonymity, virtual reality is transformed into a part of everyday life that cannot be separated from human life. Second, facing this new reality, sociology must adjust its scientific construction. Reconstruction of sociology can be initiated by defining what is actually the object of sociological studies on cyber society. Based on the three Ritzer paradigms, this study concludes that social fact, social definition and social behavior paradigms must be reinterpreted to be able to adjust to the latest developments in cyber society.

J, E, D, P AND THE RDP: BIBLICAL SOURCES FOR TRANSITION AND TRANSFORMATION

At a time when enigmatic titles are trendy there is no need to account for a title such as this article carries. But I do want to explain how I came to the title because the explanation has at its center a major (implicit) concern within Biblical Studies. What are biblical scholars doing when they read the Bible? This is a complex and difficult question to answer, but we can begin to approach an answer by briefly examining a case of a biblical scholars reading. Carol Meyers, for instance, is interested in a detailed historical and sociological reconstruction of the society behind the text and of the life of women in such a society. In order to accomplish this task an interdisciplinary approach including feminist scholarship and social scientific (mainly sociological, anthropological, and archaeological) research is used.

Social-Differentiation and Self-Differentiation: The Jaina Concept of the Individual and Sociological Individualisation-Paradigms

While ‘individuality’ is regarded as a cultural construct, this article argues that its trans-cultural investigation has hardly begun, both empirically and theoretically. Comparative work to date has been confined to euro-centric approaches. South Asian models of the individual, though amongst the earliest on record, have not been taken seriously as credible alternatives to European models, other than under the label of ‘ethnosociology’. The present article seeks to redress the balance, by offering a sociological reconstruction of the classical concept of the individual in Jaina philosophy and of its social implications. It argues that previously opaque aspects of the dualistic conception of individuality of the Jainas can be freshly understood, and analysed, with the help of the sociological concepts of G. Simmel and N. Luhmann, which in turn are interpreted as variations of broader transcultural themes.

Friendship, Recognition and Social Freedom: A Sociological Reconstruction

ABSTRACTIn Freedom’s Right, Axel Honneth articulates the social freedom of friendship with reference to its institutionalised norms. These action norms, however, are not specific to friendship; they apply to modern intimacy per se. Such non-specificity cannot adequately account for the experience of social freedom in friendship. Addressing this issue, I evaluate friendship as a form of recognition and identify a generative recognition deficit functional to its relational autonomy. Then, taking Honneth’s institutional approach to friendship as a point of departure, I ascertain an institutional deficit that both sustains friendship’s autonomy and constrains the generalisability of its social freedom by way of institutional connectivity to heterosexuality. I suggest that only a differentiating approach to friendship that fathoms its extraordinary position among interpersonal relationships can yield new insights. That done, friendship can in turn provide a prism through which to assess the conceptual approaches deployed in its analysis.

After Habermas: Applying Axel Honneth’s critical theory in accounting research

Abstract This paper argues Axel Honneth’s critical theory can advance critical accounting research, especially within the Frankfurt School tradition. As prior accounting scholars have shown, Frankfurt School critical theory aims to mobilize rationally-defensible norms embedded in, or ‘immanent’ to, extant social practice that can effect emancipatory social change. While prior critical theory focuses on Jurgen Habermas, Honneth offers a promising alternative. Habermasian critical accounting derives critical norms from rational pre-conditions of autonomous social discourse. Honneth mobilises a broader set of norms from two alternative sources: (i) a philosophical anthropology of recognitive self-development; and, (ii) sociological reconstructions of normative pre-conditions of specific institutions or social practices. Honneth’s critical theory can illuminate injustices and pathologies in which accounting is complicit, but which fall outside of Habermas’ discursive-procedural lens. The paper illustrates these possibilities across multiple levels of critical accounting research. Within organisations, Honneth’s philosophical anthropology of recognition can provide a richer phenomenology of how accounting practices or systems can impair subjects’ self-relations. Honneth’s normative sociology also suggests some less historically contingent, more rationally-grounded strategies to critique accounting institutions and frameworks that violate their own enabling promises or norms.

Is Public Sociology Possible? Reconstruction of Sociology through Communicative Action

Is Public Sociology Possible? Reconstruction of Sociology through Communicative Action

Social-Differentiation and Self-Differentiation: The Jaina Concept of the Individual and Sociological Individualisation-Paradigms

While ‘individuality’ is regarded as a cultural construct, this article argues that its trans-cultural investigation has hardly begun, both empirically and theoretically. Comparative work to date has been confined to euro-centric approaches. South Asian models of the individual, though amongst the earliest on record, have not been taken seriously as credible alternatives to European models, other than under the label of ‘ethnosociology’. The present article seeks to redress the balance, by offering a sociological reconstruction of the classical concept of the individual in Jaina philosophy and of its social implications. It argues that previously opaque aspects of the dualistic conception of individuality of the Jainas can be freshly understood, and analysed, with the help of the sociological concepts of G. Simmel and N. Luhmann, which in turn are interpreted as variations of broader transcultural themes.

고립된 윌리엄 제임스와 철학에서 분리된 심리학 — 심리학사의 사회학적 재구성

고립된 윌리엄 제임스와 철학에서 분리된 심리학 — 심리학사의 사회학적 재구성

Компетентностная модель выпускника вуза: социологическая реконструкция

Компетентностная модель выпускника вуза: социологическая реконструкция