SOCI 210 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Ideal Type, Empiricism, Investment
1 Oct 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Degree in law but extensively studied economics, history, classics, and more. One of the world"s greatest geniuses (and like many, had periods of severe mental illness) Periods of his life where he didn"t communicate. Quite varied, looking at religion, the family, economic institutions, politics and the state, etc. Like marx and durkheim, inspired by the social transformations that were going on around him. Paid considerable attention to what allowed western europe to become an economic and political powerhouse. Epistemology: complexity prevents social laws, but we can still find insight into causation. Still get some insight into what"s going on. Structure-agency: rejects durkheim"s reification of society, and his theory focuses on individual action. Looking at the individual actors and their relationship to structure. Looking at so many things but no integrated theory. Doesn"t emphasize idealism, conflict, consensus - one might be more important to one thing: walks the fence.
