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Critical Juncture Theory
Critical juncture theory focuses on critical junctures, i.e., large, rapid, discontinuous changes, and the long-term causal effect or historical legacy of these changes. Critical junctures are turning points that alter the course of evolution of some entity (e.g., a species, a society). Critical juncture theory seeks to explain both (1) the historical origin and maintenance of social order, and (2) the occurrence of social change through sudden, big leaps. Critical juncture theory is not a general theory of social order and change. It emphasizes one kind of cause (involving a big, discontinuous change) and kind of effect (a persistent effect). Yet, it challenges some common assumptions in many approaches and theories in the social sciences. The idea that some changes are discontinuous sets it up as an alternative to (1) "continuist" or "synechist" theories that assume that change is always gradual or that ''natura non facit saltus'' – Latin for "nature does not make jumps." T ...
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Causality
Causality is an influence by which one Event (philosophy), event, process, state, or Object (philosophy), object (''a'' ''cause'') contributes to the production of another event, process, state, or object (an ''effect'') where the cause is at least partly responsible for the effect, and the effect is at least partly dependent on the cause. The cause of something may also be described as the reason for the event or process. In general, a process can have multiple causes,Compare: which are also said to be ''causal factors'' for it, and all lie in its past. An effect can in turn be a cause of, or causal factor for, many other effects, which all lie in its future. Some writers have held that causality is metaphysics , metaphysically prior to notions of time and space. Causality is an abstraction that indicates how the world progresses. As such it is a basic concept; it is more apt to be an explanation of other concepts of progression than something to be explained by other more fun ...
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List Of Philosophers Of Science
This is a chronological list of philosophers of science. For an alphabetical name-list, see :Philosophers of science. Before the 19th century * Roger Bacon * Sir Francis Bacon * Galileo Galilei * David Hume 19th century * Auguste Comte * William Whewell * George Henry Lewes * William Stanley Jevons * Ernst Mach * Charles Sanders Peirce * Edmund Husserl * Frederich Engels 1900–1930 * Nikola Tesla * Henri Poincaré * Pierre Duhem * Niels Bohr * Albert Einstein * Bertrand Russell * Frank P. Ramsey * Moritz Schlick * John Dewey * Alfred North Whitehead 1930–1960 * Alfred Ayer * Mario Bunge * Hans Reichenbach * Georges Canguilhem * Noam Chomsky * Kenneth Craik * Alexandre Koyré * Sir Karl Popper * Rudolf Carnap * Michael Polanyi * Otto Neurath * Carl Gustav Hempel * Paul Oppenheim * Gaston Bachelard * R. B. Braithwaite * Werner Heisenberg * Taketani Mitsuo * Stephen Toulmin 1960–1980 * David Bloor * David Bohm * Paul Feyerabend * Mary Hesse * Thomas Kuhn ...
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Seymour Lipset
Seymour Martin Lipset ( ; March 18, 1922 – December 31, 2006) was an American sociologist and political scientist. His major work was in the fields of political sociology, trade union organization, social stratification, public opinion, and the sociology of intellectual life. He also wrote extensively about the conditions for democracy in comparative perspective. He was president of both the American Political Science Association (1979–1980) and the American Sociological Association (1992–1993). A socialist in his early life, Lipset later moved to the right, and was considered to be one of the first neoconservatives. At his death in 2006, ''The Guardian'' called him "the leading theorist of democracy and American exceptionalism"; ''The New York Times'' labeled him "a pre-eminent sociologist, political scientist and incisive theorist of American uniqueness" and ''The Washington Post'' reported that he was "one of the most influential social scientists of the past half centu ...
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Michael Mann (sociologist)
Michael Mann Fellow of the British Academy, FBA (born 1942) is a British Emeritus, emeritus professor of sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and at the University of Cambridge. Mann holds dual British and United States citizenships. Life and career Mann was born in Manchester, UK. He attended a local primary school, and then Manchester Grammar School. Mann received a Bachelor of Arts, B.A. in modern history in 1963 and a Doctor of Philosophy, D.Phil. in sociology in 1971 from the University of Oxford. Mann was lecturer in sociology at the University of Essex from 1971 to 1977. He then became reader in Sociology at the London School of Economics and Political Science, from 1977 to 1987. Mann has been a professor of sociology at UCLA since 1987. He has been PhD supervisor of Professor Azadeh Kian Awards and honours Mann has been the recipient of many awards. * 1988 Distinguished Scholarly Publication Award of the American Sociological Association, ...
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List Of Sociologists
This list of sociologists includes people who have made notable contributions to sociological theory or to research in one or more areas of sociology. A * Peter Abell, British sociologist * Andrew Abbott, American sociologist * Margaret Abraham, Indian-American sociologist * Mark Abrams (1906–1994), British sociologist, political scientist and pollster * Janet Abu-Lughod (1928–2013), American sociologist * Jane Addams (1860–1935), American social worker, sociologist, public philosopher and reformer * Theodor Adorno (1903–1969), German philosopher and cultural sociologist * Richard Alba (1942–2025), American sociologist * Francesco Alberoni, Italian sociologist * Martin Albrow, British sociologist * Jeffrey C. Alexander, American sociologist * David Altheide, American sociologist * Louis Althusser, French philosopher and sociologist * Edwin Amenta, American sociologist * Nancy Ammerman, American sociologist * Elijah Anderson, American sociologist * Eric A ...
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Exogenous And Endogenous Variables
In an economic model, an exogenous variable is one whose measure is determined outside the model and is imposed on the model, and an exogenous change is a change in an exogenous variable.Mankiw, N. Gregory. ''Macroeconomics'', third edition, 1997.Varian, Hal R., ''Microeconomic Analysis'', third edition, 1992.Chiang, Alpha C. ''Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics'', third edition, 1984. In contrast, an endogenous variable is a variable whose measure is determined by the model. An endogenous change is a change in an endogenous variable in response to an exogenous change that is imposed upon the model. The term ' endogeneity' in econometrics has a related but distinct meaning. An endogenous random variable is correlated with the error term in the econometric model, while an exogenous variable is not. Examples In the LM model of interest rate determination, the supply of and demand for money determine the interest rate contingent on the level of the money supply, so the ...
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Ernest Gellner
Ernest André Gellner (9 December 1925 – 5 November 1995) was a French-born British-Czech philosopher and social anthropologist described by ''The Daily Telegraph'', when he died, as one of the world's most vigorous intellectuals, and by ''The Independent'' as a "one-man crusader for critical rationalism". His first book, ''Words and Things'' (1959), prompted a leader in ''The Times'' and a month-long correspondence on its letters page over his attack on linguistic philosophy. As the Professor of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method at the London School of Economics for 22 years, the William Wyse Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge for eight years, and head of the new Centre for the Study of Nationalism in Prague, Gellner fought all his life—in his writing, teaching and political activism—against what he saw as closed systems of thought. Among other issues in social thought, modernisation theory and nationalism were two of his central them ...
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Anthropologist
An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values, and general behavior of societies. Linguistic anthropology studies how language affects social life, while economic anthropology studies human economic behavior. Biological (physical), forensic, and medical anthropology study the biology and evolution of humans and their primate relatives, the application of biological anthropology in a legal setting, and the study of diseases and their impacts on humans over time, respectively. Education Anthropologists usually cover a breadth of topics within anthropology in their undergraduate education and then proceed to specialize in topics of their own choice at the graduate level. In some universities, a qualifying exam serves to test both the breadth and depth of a student's understandi ...
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Philosophy Of Science
Philosophy of science is the branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. Amongst its central questions are the difference between science and non-science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ultimate purpose and meaning of science as a human endeavour. Philosophy of science focuses on metaphysical, epistemic and semantic aspects of scientific practice, and overlaps with metaphysics, ontology, logic, and epistemology, for example, when it explores the relationship between science and the concept of truth. Philosophy of science is both a theoretical and empirical discipline, relying on philosophical theorising as well as meta-studies of scientific practice. Ethical issues such as bioethics and scientific misconduct are often considered ethics or science studies rather than the philosophy of science. Many of the central problems concerned with the philosophy of science lack contemporary consensus, including whether ...
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Paradigm
In science and philosophy, a paradigm ( ) is a distinct set of concepts or thought patterns, including theories, research methods, postulates, and standards for what constitute legitimate contributions to a field. The word ''paradigm'' is Ancient Greek, Greek in origin, meaning "pattern". Etymology ''Paradigm'' comes from Greek παράδειγμα (''paradeigma''); "pattern, example, sample"; from the verb παραδείκνυμι (''paradeiknumi''); "exhibit, represent, expose"; and that from παρά (''para''); "beside, beyond"; and δείκνυμι (''deiknumi''); "to show, to point out". In classical (Greek-based) rhetoric, a paradeigma aims to provide an audience with an illustration of a similar occurrence. This illustration is not meant to take the audience to a conclusion; however, it is used to help guide them to get there. One way of how a ''paradeigma'' is meant to guide an audience would be exemplified by the role of a personal accountant. It is not the job of a p ...
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Normal Science
Normal science, identified and elaborated on by Thomas Samuel Kuhn in ''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions'', is the regular work of scientists theorizing, observing, and experimenting within a settled paradigm or explanatory framework. Regarding science as puzzle-solving, Kuhn explained normal science as slowly accumulating detail in accord with established broad theory, without questioning or challenging the underlying assumptions of that theory. Route to normal science Kuhn stressed that historically, the route to normal science could be a difficult one. Prior to the formation of a shared paradigm or research consensus, would-be scientists were reduced to the accumulation of random facts and unverified observations, in the manner recorded by Pliny the Elder or Francis Bacon, while simultaneously beginning the foundations of their field from scratch through a plethora of competing theories. Arguably at least the social sciences remain at such a pre-paradigmatic leve ...
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Paradigm Shift
A paradigm shift is a fundamental change in the basic concepts and experimental practices of a scientific discipline. It is a concept in the philosophy of science that was introduced and brought into the common lexicon by the American physicist and philosopher Thomas Kuhn. Even though Kuhn restricted the use of the term to the natural sciences, the concept of a paradigm shift has also been used in numerous non-scientific contexts to describe a profound change in a fundamental model or perception of events. Kuhn presented his notion of a paradigm shift in his influential book ''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions'' (1962). Kuhn contrasts paradigm shifts, which characterize a Scientific Revolution, to the activity of normal science, which he describes as scientific work done within a prevailing framework or paradigm. Paradigm shifts arise when the dominant paradigm under which normal science operates is rendered incompatible with new phenomena, facilitating the adoption of a ne ...
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