Suchergebnisse

This Note reviews shortcomings and claims of discourse analysis (DA). In particular, it focuses on the relationship between DA and reflexivity. It argues that DA could not succeed as its supporters originally thought, because DA has not dealt adequately with the issue of reflexivity. Even now that has turned to such issues, DA has a limited interpretation of reflexivity that is related to the change in sociological focus from scientific beliefs and knowledge to the study of texts for texts' sake.

It was customary in traditional approaches to the sociology of knowledge to bracket either questions about the possibility of the social determination of natural scientific ideas or questions about the ability of the sociology of knowledge to evaluate other types of knowledge claims. The current strong program in the sociology of knowledge, a typical representative of the new approach to the sociology of science, wants to study the production of natural scientific knowledge scientifically and simultaneously bracket normative considerations. We criticize this neglect of the normative dimension in the strong program on the basis of the role that Marx envisioned for his sociology of knowledge. For example, the sociology of knowledge should be understood as a critique of power that does not merely accept the status quo as a datum. In addition, we attempt to extend Marx's discussion of the social bases of such a critique.

A comparison is made of the interrelationship between theoretical orientations and research methods of authors publishing in major U. S. journals, with those publishing in Sosiologia, the major Finnish journal. Based on a content analysis of 1,808 articles, similarities are found cross‐culturally concerning the tendency for authors with a realist theoretical orientation to use comparative historical data‐gathering techniques and for nominalists to employ data‐gathering procedures more amenable to quantification (e. g. surveys and experimental methods). These data also document the often conjectured tendency for European sociologists to emphasize a more collectivist, organic, and hence realist theoretical posture. Similarities and differences between U. S. and Finnish sociology are discussed in the context of various cultural, historical, and political differences in the maturation of sociology in the two countries.