Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I Metatheoretical considerations
- Part II Compositionist logics
- Part III Logics of hierarchy
- 8 Hierarchy theory and postfunctional analysis
- 9 The hierarchical theory of social structure
- Part IV Heteracrchical logics
- Part V The phenomenology of social structures
- Appendix: The logics of structuration
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
8 - Hierarchy theory and postfunctional analysis
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I Metatheoretical considerations
- Part II Compositionist logics
- Part III Logics of hierarchy
- 8 Hierarchy theory and postfunctional analysis
- 9 The hierarchical theory of social structure
- Part IV Heteracrchical logics
- Part V The phenomenology of social structures
- Appendix: The logics of structuration
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
In this chapter we take up the issue of “methodological collectivism”and proceed to offer a criticism of its basic functionalist skeleton. I maintain the view that, when all is said and done, any collectivist theory is a variant of functional analysis, notwithstanding its special linguistic-conceptual transcription. I know of five basic versions of collectivist theory:
systems theory: This includes the model of the “general systems theory” (Mesarovic and Takahara 1989; Weinberg 1975) as well as the more specific theories of social systems. Parsons's work, no doubt, remains the locus classicus in sociology, while in political science a similar value is assigned to Karl Deutsch's work. More recently, Niklas Luhmann has reworked this model in more imaginative ways.
group differentiation theory: From its Spencerian and Durkhei-mian origins, the differentiationist model, which places the emphasis on increasing size and complexity, has been advanced in slightly varying directions by systems theorists (Luhmann), structural evolutionists (Lenski), neo-functionalists (Alexander and Colomy), and so-called structural analysts (American structuralists such as Blau and Mayhew).
structuralist theory: With roots in Saussure and the Bourbaki group (Gleick 1987; Halmos 1957) French structuralism –whether of the mentalist (Lévi-Strauss) or the sociologistic, Marxist variety (Althusser) – emerged as a collectivist version, the organizing principle of which was the construal of totalities on the basis of simple or complex binary oppositions.
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- Information
- The Logics of Social Structure , pp. 153 - 179Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1993