Abstract
There is a predominant trend in the social sciences to study human behavior in terms of systems of analytically defined variables. In so doing the social sciences emulate the method of inquiry of the physical sciences. In this paper I do not intend to question the possibility of studying human behavior in this way or to question the validity of the knowledge that is thus obtained. This is not to say, however, that I see no limits or restrictions as to what can thus be analysed and explained. What I am here concerned with is to show how this prevailing method of analysing and systematising social phenomena affects our understanding of society and of ourselves as human agents, and to indicate how these effects can be remedied.
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Anmerkungen
Cf. R. Sheldon,»Some Observations on Theory« in Toward a General Theory of Action, Talcott Parsons and Edward A. Shills, Editors; Cambridge, Mass., 1951: It is important to remember that the relationsship between the symbols in the theory is contained in the theory itself and not in nature«.
Cf. Alvin W. Gouldner,The Coming Crisis of Western Sociology, Avon Books, New York 1971, p. 49: »If left to its own devices, the Parsonian social system would not entropically drift into disorder, but would have a perpetual equilibrium; it is immortal.«
Talcott Parsons and Edward Shills,op. cit., p. 56: Although action is said to be situated, the situation is seen as only »that part of the external world (sic) which means something to the actor whose behavior is being analysed… Specifically, it is that part to which the actor is oriented… The situation thus consists of objects of orientation«.
By »sanctioning« and »re-enforcement«, »socialization« and »internalization«.
Cf. Marvin Harris,The Rise of Anthropological Theory. New York, 1968.
Cf. Alvin W. Gouldner,op. cit., p. 420: »What the Sociological Functionalist leaves out… is a simple thing, the human body, a human race, with a distinctive kind of anatomy, physiology, and biology.«
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© 1974 Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden
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van Loon, J.F.G. (1974). The Disembodiment of Human Action by Social Scientists. In: Dux, G., Luckmann, T. (eds) Sachlichkeit. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-663-14323-9_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-663-14323-9_15
Publisher Name: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden
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