The Dialogical Turn: New Roles for Sociology in the Postdisciplinary Age

by Charles Camic (Editor), Hans Joas Ernst Troeltsch Professor for the Sociology of Religion at the Humboldt Uni (Editor), Andrew Abbott (Contribution by), Saïd Amir Arjomand (Contribution by), S N. Eisenstad (Contribution by)

Overview

The discipline of sociology was born-and has been recurrently reconstituted-in response to the fragmentation of ideas about the social world. For two centuries, sociologists have sought refuge in "synthesis:" programs designed to integrate multiple perspectives within a unifying framework. Yet even as this cause has inspired many of the discipline's major thinkers, past and present, its objective has proven elusive, leaving nearly as many syntheses as synthesizers. This volume considers an alternative response that has recently developed within sociology to the crisis of intellectual fragmentation: "the dialogical turn." Rather than decry the multiplicity of social theories, research methods, and results, this response welcomes a plurality of orientations and approaches as the essential basis for establishing and maintaining productive dialogue.

Examining this exciting development, The Dialogical Turn builds on the ideas of Donald N. Levine, whose extensive writings on the forms and functions of intellectual dialogue provide the point of departure for twelve original essays. Written by an internationally renowned group of scholars, these innovative chapters explore the dialogical possibilities for sociology both constructively and critically. The contributors assess the role of sociology in the conversation across contemporary academic disciplines, exploring the fundamental structural and conceptual reconstructions now taking place in sociology and neighboring fields.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780742527102
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	12/09/2003
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	6.26(w) x 9.28(h) x 0.95(d)

About the Author

Charles Camic is the Martindale-Bascom Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Hans Joas is director of the Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, Erfurt, Germany, and professor of sociology and social thought at the University of Chicago.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 1 The Dialogical Turn Part 2 I Sociology and the Dialogue across Academic Disciplines Chapter 3 2 A Regime of Disciplines: Toward a Historical Sociology of Disciplinary Knowledge Chapter 4 3 Interdisciplinarity in Theory and Practice Chapter 5 4 The Liberal Arts as a Dialogic Project Part 6 II Sociology and the Broader Intellectual Dialogue Chapter 7 5 Max Weber and Emile Durkheim in Dialogue: Classical Views on Contemporary Problems Chapter 8 6 Die Gesellschaft—An Early Transdisciplinary Project Chapter 9 7 Academic Intellectuals Part 10 III Sociological Reconstructions of Disciplinary Fields Chapter 11 8 The Maturity of Social Theory Chapter 12 9 Embracing Bodies: Sociology and the Sociology of Sex and Gender Chapter 13 10 Where Sociability Comes From: Neurosociological Foundations of Social Interaction Part 14 IV Dialogical Reconceptualizations within Sociology Chapter 15 11 Is There a Future for Sociology in the Bioglobal Age? Chapter 16 12 Rationalization, the Constitution of Meaning, and Institutional Development Chapter 17 13 Interdisciplinary Reflections on the Civilizational Dimensions of Modernity Part 18 Appendix Part 19 Index Part 20 About the Contributors