"Theory" in sociology What is a sociological theory? And how does it relate to the challenge of providing explanations of social facts? In the natural sciences the answer to this question is fairly clear. A theory is a hypothesis about one or more entities or processes and a specification of their operations and interactions. A theory is articulated in terms that permit rigorous and unambiguous derivation of implications for the behavior of a body of phenomena -- perhaps through specification of a set of equations or through a set of statements with deductive consequences. A theory may specify deterministic properties of a set of entities -- thus permitting point predictions about future states of the relevant system; or it may specify probabilistic relations among entities, giving rise to statements about the distribution of possible future states of the system. Is there anything like this construct in the social sciences? Consider this taxonomy of the field of social knowledge-creation: ; link, link, link).
Florida’s flawed “voter-cleansing” program If Vice President Al Gore is wondering where his Florida votes went, rather than sift through a pile of chad, he might want to look at a “scrub list” of 173,000 names targeted to be knocked off the Florida voter registry by a division of the office of Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris. A close examination suggests thousands of voters may have lost their right to vote based on a flaw-ridden list that included purported “felons” provided by a private firm with tight Republican ties. Early in the year, the company, ChoicePoint, gave Florida officials a list with the names of 8,000 ex-felons to “scrub” from their list of voters. But it turns out none on the list were guilty of felonies, only misdemeanors. The company acknowledged the error, and blamed it on the original source of the list — the state of Texas. Florida officials moved to put those falsely accused by Texas back on voter rolls before the election. “I was very upset,” Howell said. This story has been corrected.
Copyright controversy over Marx & Engels’ Collected Works . The following is a petition that recently appeared over at www.change.org, imploring the book publisher Lawrence & Wishart [L&W] to withdraw its demand that the Marxist Internet Archive [MIA] take down its transcriptions of Marx & Engels ‘Collected Works [MECW]. Like most of the petitions begun on that website, it will almost surely prove ineffectual. Nevertheless, it’s now reposted here for largely symbolic reasons. I will say in passing, however, that I on’t begrudge L&W the decision to invoke copyright on the MECW, at least not any more than I begrudge any book company to do so. MECW is L&W’s rightful property — that is, property according to bourgeois right. However, all things told, it’s pretty pointless to try and enforce this and will doubtless inspire a backlash. Petition to allow Marx & Engels’ Collected Works to remain in the public domain . We fully appreciate the efforts and difficulties that running a small independent publishing house entails. . . Like this:
Who Rules America? by G. William Domhoff Welcome to WhoRulesAmerica.net, a site about how power is distributed and wielded in the United States. Among the many things you'll find here: supplementary information and updates for readers of WRA; an overview of the American power structure at the national level and an in-depth look at power at the local level; a look at the wealth and income distribution in the U.S.; and an overview of the Four Networks theory of power, which provides the best general theory of power and social change within which to situate the class-domination theory we've developed specifically for the United States. There's a special section (including photos and first-hand accounts) about a unique elite social club that's been holding its annual California summer retreat for well over a century: The Bohemian Club & The Bohemian Grove. Questions and Answers Q: So, who does rule America? Q: Do the same people rule at the local level that rule at the federal level? A: No, not quite.
BBC Radio 4 Programmes - Frontiers, Acts of Creation open source sociology Understanding Society Electropublication - sociologie Internet blog réseaux - ethnologie anthropologie Golden Rule Book with "Dieu, la Loi, et le Roi" ("God, the law and the king") on one page and the golden rule on the other, by Bernard d'Agesci. One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself (directive form).[1]One should not treat others in ways that one would not like to be treated (cautionary form, also known as the Silver Rule).[1] This concept describes a "reciprocal", or "two-way", relationship between one's self and others that involves both sides equally, and in a mutual fashion.[3][4] This concept can be explained from the perspective of psychology, philosophy, sociology and religion. Psychologically, it involves a person empathizing with others. Philosophically, it involves a person perceiving their neighbor as also an "I" or "self".[3][4] Sociologically, this principle is applicable between individuals, between groups, and also between individuals and groups. Rushworth Kidder notes that the Golden Rule can be found in the early contributions of Confucianism. India[edit]