Exploring Sociological Theory

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I read some classics in sociological theory, trying to release them from the dusty shelves. For more, see my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/AlecMcGail/ If you want to see me live, follow me @ https://www.twitch.tv/bergeront I recommend listening at 1.5x speed Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

Alec McGail


    • Oct 13, 2022 LATEST EPISODE
    • infrequent NEW EPISODES
    • 33m AVG DURATION
    • 35 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from Exploring Sociological Theory

    (Fromm) The Illusion of Individuality

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 13, 2022 29:29


    The last chapter of Fromm's analysis of individuality of modern man. Fromm addresses the repressive nature of modern culture and socialization, pointing to helplessless, a lack of automony and freedom, to be fertile ground for authoritarianism, fascism. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Tarde) Laws of Sociology

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 5, 2021 20:46


    This is epic. Love his trichotomy, and the discussion he concludes with. I.e. the emergence of the seemingly infinite from the infinitesimal, across all the natural and social sciences. Sounds like a call to the study of the heterogeneous and differentiated, outside the coordinated reduction of similarities (science). --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Simmel) Fashion

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 12, 2021 29:26


    at times thought-provoking, contradictory, and offensive wish I could've read the rest of the article, but was getting tired of it o.o --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Bhaskar) Emergent Properties of Social Systems

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 4, 2021 25:03


    His sentences are long, his words true. Seems I need to read more Roy Bhaskar. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Comte) The three stages of knowing

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 13, 2021 29:41


    Printed in 1842, Comte's universal law of mental development, and why it provides such a strong impetus for his new idea, "sociology" (translated as social physics in this reading). --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Giddens) The Adequacy of Explanatory Accounts

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 7, 2021 18:26


    From New Rules of Sociological Method, this section addresses the connection between art and the social sciences, in that they both attempt cross-cultural communication for self-expansion. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Luhmann) Implications of Systems Theory for Epistemology

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 20, 2021 29:58


    Can you predict this will lead to sociology in particular? I didn't... Super dense, packed with insight, and justifies sociology of sociology (my focus). --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Douglas) Institutions Remember and Forget

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 19, 2021 31:07


    Great analysis, moving from the mnemonic structures which keep ancestry in the Nuer and the dynamics of remembering and forgetting in scientific discovery. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Simmel) The Negative Character of Collective Behavior

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 4, 2021 11:43


    An interesting little essay, directly adjacent in The Sociology of Georg Simmel to his famous essay The Stranger. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Garfinkel) What is ethnomethodology?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 3, 2021 27:14


    Garfinkel has a wordy, rather technical-sounding description of the study of the taken-for-granted, the made-practical, the reasonable, etc. It's those unseen practices for making actions, events, etc. normal-ish, that he wants to study. And because it is so normal, and so intentionally ignored, by the 60s it still had not been a subject of rigorous sociological work. It's a classic, but also a headache. Good luck! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Knorr Cetina) Epistemic Cultures

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 1, 2021 31:59


    The introductory chapter to the book, published in 1999. It's great, a reassuring & pleasant vision for science studies! The cases sound interesting as well. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Friedrichs) The Calling of Sociology

    Play Episode Listen Later May 31, 2021 104:11


    The last chapter of an epic & forgotten book in sociology. It's a bit wordy, but also a bit epic & deep. Curious if anyone (including me) will ever make it to the end. Enjoy! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Simmel) Sociability

    Play Episode Listen Later May 13, 2021 39:52


    Sociability refers to different forms of social interaction and human association. The concept, in both descriptive and normative senses, can be found in many branches of study. In sociology the concept occupied a central place in the work of Georg Simmel, who developed and presented it as a sociological ideal type. This was published in AJS in 1949 "The Sociology of Sociability," original from 1910 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Bernal) The Social Function of Science

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 23, 2021 22:50


    Published in 1939, when this guy was just 38 years old, the book as a whole gives a sweeping defense of science in light of popular critiques at the time. But the last chapter I read here gives a beautiful and comprehensive vision of science as a scaffolding for all future human action, and a program for its merging with culture, history, etc. and its morphing and supporting humanity's quest towards the future. Great read. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Goffman) The Interaction Order

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 9, 2021 91:06


    Erving Goffman's posthumously published essay, ‘The interaction order', which was to have been presented as a presidential address at an annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, is usually taken to be an attempt at a systematic summary by Goffman of his key ideas. (This) address can also be understood as a profoundly personal and deeply scornful critique by Goffman of the varieties of mainstream sociology and the pretensions of its practitioners. Incorporated into that critique is a simulacrum in which Goffman demonstrated what a systematic treatment of his work might look like had he actually been inclined to generate one. In that respect, ‘The interaction order' transcends the boundaries of what we ordinarily expect to find in an academic address: it is simultaneously an artful display of Goffman's real vocational commitment to sociology, a contribution to the rhetorical debate in which he engaged with the practitioners of orthodox versions of sociology and a brief but significant demonstration of some aspects he considered distinctive about his own form of sociology. - Michael Rosenberg (2019) --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Mills) The Sociological Imagination

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 9, 2020 13:52


    One publisher's description The excerpt that follows is from Mills' acclaimed book, The Sociological Imagination. Since its original publication in 1959, this text has been a required reading for most introductory sociology students around the world. Mills' sociological imagination perspective not only cornpels Lhe besl sociological analyses but also enables the sociologist and the individual to distinguish between "personal troubles" and "public issues." By separating these phenomena, we can better comprehend the sources of and solutions to social problems. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Sacks) Rules of conversational exchange

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 13, 2020 19:18


    The first of his famous lectures --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Goffman) Primary Frameworks

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 6, 2020 28:55


    from Frame Analysis --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Goffman) Intro to frame analysis

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 5, 2020 25:29


    (Goffman) Intro to frame analysis -- Chapter 1. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Tumin) Critique of Davis & Moore

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 24, 2020 34:36


    Tumin challenged the Davis–Moore hypothesis of social stratification with his paper "Some principles of stratification: a critical analysis".[5][6] Tumin took Davis–Moore to imply that social stratification was mostly inevitable and provided a positive function for society. He analyzed the arguments of Davis and Moore and found them wanting in a number of respects.[6] In a reply to Tumin's paper, Davis stated that his ideas seek to explain inequality, rather than justify it. Davis also accused Tumin of a number of errors.[7] Tumin's 1967 book Social Stratification: The Forms and Functions of Inequality was widely used as a textbook and was re-issued in 1985.[1] --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Davis and Moore) Some Principles of Stratification

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 23, 2020 31:17


    The Davis–Moore hypothesis, sometimes referred to as the Davis–Moore theory, is a central claim within the structural functionalist paradigm of sociological theory, and was advanced by Kingsley Davis and Wilbert E. Moore in a paper published in 1945.[1] The hypothesis is an attempt to explain social stratification. As a structural functionalist theory, it is also associated with Talcott Parsons and Robert K. Merton. [from Wiki, Davis-Moore hypothesis] --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Marx) Manifesto - Selection

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 23, 2020 19:14


    The Communist Manifesto, originally the Manifesto of the Communist Party (German: Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei), is an 1848 political document by German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Commissioned by the Communist League and originally published in London just as the Revolutions of 1848 began to erupt, the Manifesto was later recognised as one of the world's most influential political documents. It presents an analytical approach to the class struggle (historical and then-present) and the conflicts of capitalism and the capitalist mode of production, rather than a prediction of communism's potential future forms. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Calhoun) Cultural Difference and Historical Specificity

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 21, 2020 70:11


    Ch. 3 of Critical Social Theory --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Durkheim) On Cohesion and Suicide

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 21, 2020 30:15


    From Durkheim's seminal work Suicide, which explores suicide rates in the context of Durkheim's theory of social cohesion is an integral feature of the structure of human society, and as an individual necessity which protects us from self-harm. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Vygotsky) The Role of Play in Development

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 22, 2020 35:31


    from Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. 1978 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Holzner) The Social Organization of Ideological Knowledge

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 21, 2020 51:52


    Reality Construction in Society -- Holzner, Ch 10 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Holzner) Networks of Cognitive Acts and Epistemic Communities

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 18, 2020 32:16


    Reality Construction and Society Ch 4 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Bauman) Utopia and Reality

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 8, 2020 22:28


    Bauman delivers on a more useful definition of Utopia. A focus on the creative abilities of humans to choose from among multiple threads from now into the future. That we are not determined by our circumstance, at least not if we (humans) are thinking critically about it! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Simmel) The Stranger

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 1, 2020 17:11


    A classic. Short and sweet. I aspire to be the benevolent stranger, but in Simmel's sense. You would call us friends :) --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Scheff) Human Nature and the Social Bond

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 1, 2020 71:11


    Scheff _ Microsociology _ Ch 1 Emotions as central to understanding social interaction, on a micro level. And implicitly an argument that this micro-interaction is crucial in understanding the macro. There's a lot of repeats in this chapter. Wasn't the most well-put-together reading, but there are some really beautiful ideas here. I hope you enjoy. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Mannheim) The Attitude, Subject Matter and Method of Sociology -- a Reopening

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 1, 2020 22:35


    Mannheim _ Sociology as Political Ideology _ Lec 10 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Mannheim) Immobile and Dynamic Thinking: Orthodoxy and the Intellectuals

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 30, 2020 23:47


    Mannheim _ Sociology as Political Education _ Lec 9 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Mannheim) The Subject Matter, Method and Attitude of Sociology

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 30, 2020 14:25


    Mannheim _ Ideology as Political Education _ Lec 1 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Sorokin) Quack [Economic] Cures for War and Impotent Plans for Peace

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 30, 2020 29:54


    from the Reconstruction of Humanity --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

    (Sorokin) Quack [Political] Cures for War and Impotent Plans for Peace

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 30, 2020 42:30


    from the Reconstruction of Humanity --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-mcgail/support

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