The Causal Power of Social Structures: Emergence, Structure and Agency
The problem of structure and agency has been the subject of intense debate in the social sciences for over 100 years. This book offers a solution. Using a critical realist version of the theory of emergence, Dave Elder-Vass argues that, instead of ascribing causal significance to an abstract notion of social structure or a monolithic concept of society, we must recognise that it is specific groups of people that have social structural power. Some of these groups are entities with emergent causal powers, distinct from those of human individuals. Yet these powers also depend on the contributions of human individuals, and this book examines the mechanisms through which interactions between human individuals generate the causal powers of some types of social structures. The Causal Power of Social Structures makes particularly important contributions to the theory of human agency and to our understanding of normative institutions.
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The Causal Power of Social Structures: Emergence, Structure and Agency
The problem of structure and agency has been the subject of intense debate in the social sciences for over 100 years. This book offers a solution. Using a critical realist version of the theory of emergence, Dave Elder-Vass argues that, instead of ascribing causal significance to an abstract notion of social structure or a monolithic concept of society, we must recognise that it is specific groups of people that have social structural power. Some of these groups are entities with emergent causal powers, distinct from those of human individuals. Yet these powers also depend on the contributions of human individuals, and this book examines the mechanisms through which interactions between human individuals generate the causal powers of some types of social structures. The Causal Power of Social Structures makes particularly important contributions to the theory of human agency and to our understanding of normative institutions.
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The Causal Power of Social Structures: Emergence, Structure and Agency

The Causal Power of Social Structures: Emergence, Structure and Agency

by Dave Elder-Vass
The Causal Power of Social Structures: Emergence, Structure and Agency
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The Causal Power of Social Structures: Emergence, Structure and Agency

The Causal Power of Social Structures: Emergence, Structure and Agency

by Dave Elder-Vass

Overview

The problem of structure and agency has been the subject of intense debate in the social sciences for over 100 years. This book offers a solution. Using a critical realist version of the theory of emergence, Dave Elder-Vass argues that, instead of ascribing causal significance to an abstract notion of social structure or a monolithic concept of society, we must recognise that it is specific groups of people that have social structural power. Some of these groups are entities with emergent causal powers, distinct from those of human individuals. Yet these powers also depend on the contributions of human individuals, and this book examines the mechanisms through which interactions between human individuals generate the causal powers of some types of social structures. The Causal Power of Social Structures makes particularly important contributions to the theory of human agency and to our understanding of normative institutions.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780511852251
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication date: 06/17/2010
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
File size: 373 KB

About the Author

Dave Elder-Vass is a British Academy postdoctoral fellow at the University of Essex. His primary research interests are in sociological theory, particularly the questions of structure and agency, the relationship between realism and social construction, and the analysis and critique of social and political power.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction; 2. Emergence; 3. Cause; 4. Social ontology and social structure; 5. Agency; 6. Normative institutions; 7. Organisations; 8. Social events; 9. Conclusion.
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Related Subjects

Social Sciences
Sociology
Sociology - General & Miscellaneous
Social Sciences
Sociology
Sociology - General & Miscellaneous

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