Social Action Systems Foundation and Synthesis in Sociological Theory

Subjects:

• Sociology » Sociological Theory
• Sociology » Sociology (General)

Reviews:

• [A] fascinating display of new ideas....[A] fresh rethink about the current state of sociological theory. Even if one does not subscribe to the general, formal and mathematical sort of theorizing shown here, Fararo's propounding of his arguments carries new and important insights about the theoretical work of conceptualizing social phenomena- and thus, of the collective enterprise of the sociological profession.
  —European Journal of Social Theory 2003
• An unpretentious effort that should appeal to theory buffs.
  —American Journal of Sociology May 2002
• Thomas Fararo has written and extremely stimulating and well-informed book about the evolution of major traditions in sociological theory and the possibility of their integration into an increasingly comprehensive theoretical framework...extremely stimulating and compulsory reading for all social scientists interested in the advancement of social theory.
  —Contemporary Sociology January 2003

• Endorsement From Morris Zelditch
  Emeritus Professor of Sociology
  Stanford University: A deep, insightful critique of classical, post-classical, and contemporary theoretical strategies that reconstructs the foundations of sociology at the most general level and readdresses such key presuppositional problems as the emergence, stability, change, and comparison of social structures. Ranging widely over past and present theory it is guided by `the spirit of unification'--not necessarily synthesis as a finished product, but commitment to the value of integration and the conditions which encourage its production and understanding, exhibited, on the one hand, in its focus on foundations, on the other in actual episodes of partial synthesis. Both forms of unification find their resources in a penetrating, critical rethinking of post-classical theory--in Whitehead's analytical realism and process world view, in Parsons' and Homans' incorporation of them into a systems approach to sociology.
• Endorsement From Victor Lidz
  Acting Director
  Institute for Addictive Disorders
  Department of Psychiatry
  School of Medicine
  MCP Hahanemann University: [Thomas Fararo] has been the most persistent and original scholar working on the implications of Whitehead's philosophy for basic sociological theory. He has brought a wide range of resources to this task, including intensive critical readings of several leading theorists of the current and the past two generations...and a gift for explaining difficult issues directly and clearly....The ultimate importance of the work is that it will likely be recognized as a pivotal contribution to overcoming the dissension and conflict among schools that has dominated the last forty years of work in sociological theory....[T]his is a book that all graduate students in sociology with any interest in theoretical work should read....[T]he ambitious advanced undergraduate can benefit from the book as well.

Table of Contents:

• Preface
• General Theoretical Sociology in Context
• Process and Social Reality
• Classical Foundations
• Foundations of Analytical Realism
• Two Postclassical Paths of Synthesis
• The Structural Analysis of Social Action Systems
• The Analytical Theory of Social Systems
• A Structural-Functional Theory of Social Systems
• The Four-Function Paradigm: The Social System Model
• The Four-Function Paradigm: The General Action System Model
• The Behavioral Theory of Spontaneous Order: Background and Core Principles
• The Behavioral Theory of Spontaneous Order: Group Processes
• Two Strategies in Recent Theoretical Sociology
• The Rational Choice Strategy
• The Generative Structuralist Strategy
• Index