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Developing a discussion among the social conception of Alain Touraine and the philosophy of Paul Ricoeur, this paintings locates the wellsprings of the renewed intepretative powers of Touraine's contemporary sociology of the topic and critique of modernity in an implicit and unfinished, yet unmistakable 'hermeneutical turn'.
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Sample text
Parsons’ emphasis on values, and more specifically his representation of society as a coherent system of values, is, according to Touraine, central to the functionalist image of society as capable of changing itself through a process of orderly adaptation. The representation of society as a system organised around its values, and its needs for integration, conflict management and adaptation to change, involves two specific reductions; on the one hand, ‘society’ is reduced to the idea of a collective subject or ‘macro’ actor; on the other hand, actors’ orientations are reduced to a unified system of values.
Dawe, “Theories of Social Action,” in eds. T. Bottomore and R. Nisbet, A History of Sociological Analysis, London, Heineman Educational Books, 1979, pp. 362-417, and Z. Bauman, “Hermeneutics and Modern Social Theory,” in eds. D. Held and J. Thompson, Social Theory of Modern Societies: Anthony Giddens and his Critics, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1989, pp. 34-55. 32 Dawe, “Theories of Social Action,” p. 379. 33 Dawe, “Theories of Social Action,” p. 365. 34 An important exception to this trend is rational choice theory, which under the pressure of its individualistic premises, reverted to older, objectivist conceptions of action.
31 See for example, A. Dawe, “Theories of Social Action,” in eds. T. Bottomore and R. Nisbet, A History of Sociological Analysis, London, Heineman Educational Books, 1979, pp. 362-417, and Z. Bauman, “Hermeneutics and Modern Social Theory,” in eds. D. Held and J. Thompson, Social Theory of Modern Societies: Anthony Giddens and his Critics, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1989, pp. 34-55. 32 Dawe, “Theories of Social Action,” p. 379. 33 Dawe, “Theories of Social Action,” p. 365. 34 An important exception to this trend is rational choice theory, which under the pressure of its individualistic premises, reverted to older, objectivist conceptions of action.
