Theoretical Eclecticism Research Articles

The function of discourse particles: A study with special reference to spoken standard French By M.-B. Mosegaard Hansen (review)

The function of discourse particles: A study with special reference to spoken standard French By M.-B. Mosegaard Hansen (review)

Valores, además de funciones

Theoretical, methodological and political fundamentals of a passive, weak, humble model of (descriptive) translatology are displayed. We first assume that strong paradigms cannot respond to the complexity of reality. Then we try to place descriptive translatology in the frame of philology (as understood within the Greek‐Latin tradition), and to fill the gap between scholarly approaches and actual professional practice. Key‐concepts are: theoretical eclecticism, ‘practitionery’ (instead of pragmatism), deontological (instead of utilitarian) ethics and, above all, the recognition of (sacred?) values in any word, text and language.

Social Work Students' Preferences Regarding Supervisory Styles and Supervisor's Behavior

ABSTRACT This paper examines the preferences of social work students regarding supervisory orientation, the degree of correspondence between what they preferred and what they found and the extent to which supervisory style influenced their overall evaluation of field work placement. A total of 137 students completed two questionnaires (Student Preferences of Field Supervisor Style and Student Evaluation of Field Supervisor Style) twice during their two years of field instruction. Findings indicated that students preferred a structured and directive style with clear and unambiguous directives, focus on tasks rather than on processes and clear setting of boundaries. Specific theoretical orientation was preferred over theoretical eclecticism. Within this overall framework, students preferred an approach balanced between control and autonomy, allowing for both problem solving and creative discussion of dilemmas. We found that supervisory style affected the students' evaluations of their field supervisors; more specifically, it was found that theoretical eclecticism, emphasis on feelings and lack of clear focus negatively affected the students' evaluations of their field experiences. Implications for field placement and education of field supervisors were discussed.

Staten: sociologiska perspektiv

The State: sociological perspectivesThis article reviews and discusses new sociological works on the Swedish state. The state (with the exception of the welfare state) was nearly absent in Swedish sociology until the beginning of the 1980's. Since that time several works, produced mainly by researchers of the third generation in Swedish sociology, have been published. These works are products of three distinct developments: the international debate about the role of the capitalist state, the critique of the quantitative approaches in Swedish sociology and the insights concerning the limits of the modern state. The new studies are characterized by theoretical eclecticism and methodological pluralism. This article is mainly focused on the theoretical and methodological traditions and issues and ends with suggestions on how new research questions could be formulated.

Theoretical unity and Technical Eclecticism: Pathways to Coherence in Family Therapy

The premise of this article is that the diverse field of family therapy will be better served if the major theory underlying a clinical model is identified clearly and various techniques are integrated into it on a systematic basis. The method proposed for accomplishing this is specification of the underlying causality and objectives inherent in a theoretical model. The implications for the field of family therapy are that the current fads that result in divisiveness over who is cognitive-behavioral, strategic, gestalt, or systemic can be avoided if specific objectives are delineated and techniques are integrated coherently. This has impact upon the ability of third-party insurers and the general public to understand the field of family therapy more clearly, and to choose practitioners whose outcomes closely match client needs in terms of length of treatment and behavioral change.

THE PECULIAR TASKS OF PUBLIC MANAGEMENT: TOWARD CONCEPTUAL DISCRIMINATION

Abstract: Recent contributions to AJPA have suggested new conceptual directions for public management in response to the stand‐off between managerialists and their critics. In emphasising the inherent political dimensions of public management, this article seeks to build on these contributions. It does so by combining some of the insights of previous contributors with a simple matrix devised originally by American scholar James Q Wilson. The central proposition is that attempts to render public management more like private management have been too far‐reaching, and do not adequately appreciate the intractable difficulties that stem from the types of task that are peculiar to public organisations. It is suggested that there should be less reliance on dubious metaphors borrowed from the business domain. Instead, a greater degree of theoretical eclecticism and conceptual discrimination should be used in understanding and developing public management.

Robertson in the 1920s

Dennis Robertson's cycle theory, particularly as developed in A Sludy of Industrial Fluclualions (1915) and Bankins Policy and the Price Lcucl (1926) is described, and the affinity between his treatment of forced saving and that of Hayek and Robbins is noted. Robertson's theoretical eclecticism and policy pragmatism are contrasted with the more rigid positions of the Austrians. It is argued that the similarities between their work stem from the common influence of English classical economics. Finally, it is suggested that Robertson, and by implication Keynes, had little to learn from the Austrians in the early 1930s.

Common factors exist in reality but not in our theories.

Weinberger's article on common factors (this issue) highlights crucial aspects of the psychotherapy process. Toward the aim of building a theory of psychotherapy change, I further suggest that theoretical eclecticism would fuel our conceptual creativity, by encouraging therapists to openly learn all major theoretical systems and avoid identifying themselves with a predominant one. I also propose that the development of an inte-grative model of personality represents a necessary building block toward the overall goal of understanding change. Finally, we need to work toward greater clarification of the common factors we have already identified. Throughout my commentary, I provide examples in an attempt to clarify those points.

The ‘Policy Cycle’: A Ball by Ball Account

This article originates from our reading of Stephen Ball's theoretical and empirical contribution to contemporary ‘education policy sociology’. It interrogates the efficacy of his theoretical eclecticism, highlighting the incompatibility in his readings, and application, of certain social and political theorists, and reappraising some of his own research findings. It follows from Stephen Ball's call for papers in Journal of Education Policy (Vol. 7, No. 5) ‘on policy and theory, and dialogue and debate’ which contribute to understandings of ‘education policy analysis’.

A Return to History? The New Historicism and Its Agenda

The history of literary criticism, particularly any attempt to draw a map of the present situation, cannot quite do without labels in order to characterize theoretical positions, groups, and camps. of these labels that suddenly emerged in the critical discourse during the 1980s is that of the New History or, more properly, the New Historicism. The New Historicism has been referred to as a new movement or position that would replace the old historicism but also, and more important, supersede the prominent critical positions of the 1970s, notably deconstructionism and Marxism. Its proponents, among them Stephen Greenblatt and Louis Montrose, have hailed the New Historicism as a methodological Kehre steering literary criticism away from the formalism of the deconstructive approach and the positivism of the old historicism. Its critics have charged the New History with theoretical eclecticism that will ultimately lead to a position that is rather close to traditional historicism. Among the critical voices is that of Dominick LaCapra, who discusses the New Historians as a minor movement of small consequence. In Soundings in Critical Theory he argues that the New Historians tend to share much of the problems of traditional historicism, for instance, a flair for overcontextualization and theoretical relativism. There is a tendency to extend Clifford Geertz' valuable stress upon 'thick description' into the indiscriminate, unqualified rule: the thicker the description, the better.' To this LaCapra adds the somewhat unflattering statement: One may

Reflections on “Homeownership, Accumulation, and Restructuring”: A Response to King

A response is developed to King's charge that the estimates of capital gains obtained for Adelaide housing in the 1970s and 1980s do not reflect the most favourable conditions prevailing in Australia at the time; and, therefore, that one is not really in a sound enough position to challenge the contention that homeownership is an enduring source of real wealth. His related criticism is that the attempt to link intraurban differentiation in rates of house price change to processes of urban restructuring is too restrictive. It is argued that his prescription, by contrast, runs the real risk of degenerating into theoretical eclecticism.

The origins of agrarian capitalism in South Africa: a critique of the ‘social history’ perspective

The ‘social history’ perspective is the dominant intellectual paradigm guiding historical research in the field of agrarian studies. By making use of previously untapped primary source materials and by narrowing the focus of historical investigation, social historians have made great strides in pioneering whole new arenas of scholarly research. Yet the ‘social history’ paradigm does not rest on solid epistemological and conceptual footing. Its deficiencies stem from the failure to specify theoretically the nature and character of agrarian capitalism and the practice of substituting uncritically group dynamics for class analysis. These weaknesses reinforce an unfortunate tendency towards theoretical agnosticism and conceptual eclecticism, which in turn limit the intellectual capacity of the social history paradigm to offer a coherent and consistent explanation for the peculiarity of South Africa's agrarian transformation.