Alex Dennis

Magic, Science and Society investigates the way the ‘rationality debate’ has developed over the last century, from E. E. Evans-Pritchard’s study of Azande magic, through Peter Winch’s argument that there can be no such thing as a social science, across the arguments about the proper status of science in the 1970s and 1980s, to the ‘epistemological’ and ‘ontological’ turns of the early twenty-first century. Different people have different understandings of what is rational: some practise magic, some orientate to legal convention and tradition and others defer to science and logic. Starting with anthropological studies of witchcraft, and working through to contemporary debates about epistemology and ontology in social science, this book systematically examines the ways key questions about these issues have been framed and answered. These include:Can ‘magic’ be real, either for members of the cultures that practise it or more generally? How can we arbitrate between different types of rationality? Is science a benchmark for studying other forms of rationality or just a cultural practice like any other? What are the implications of these issues for the social sciences themselves? This book will be of interest to anthropologists, sociologists, philosophers of the social sciences and science studies practitioners.

Magic, Science and Society investigates the way the ‘rationality debate’ has developed over the last century, from E. E. Evans-Pritchard’s study of Azande magic, through Peter Winch’s argument that there can be no such thing as a social science, across the arguments about the proper status of science in the 1970s and 1980s, to the ‘epistemological’ and ‘ontological’ turns of the early twenty-first century. Different people have different understandings of what is rational: some practise magic, some orientate to legal convention and tradition and others defer to science and logic. Starting with anthropological studies of witchcraft, and working through to contemporary debates about epistemology and ontology in social science, this book systematically examines the ways key questions about these issues have been framed and answered. These include:Can ‘magic’ be real, either for members of the cultures that practise it or more generally? How can we arbitrate between different types of rationality? Is science a benchmark for studying other forms of rationality or just a cultural practice like any other? What are the implications of these issues for the social sciences themselves? This book will be of interest to anthropologists, sociologists, philosophers of the social sciences and science studies practitioners.

This title was first published in 2001. Engaging with both management science and interactionist sociology, this book employs a case study of stroke rehabilitation in hospitals to clarify a range of practical organizational concerns and conceptual issues related to decision making in complex organizations.

This title was first published in 2001. Engaging with both management science and interactionist sociology, this book employs a case study of stroke rehabilitation in hospitals to clarify a range of practical organizational concerns and conceptual issues related to decision making in complex organizations.

Social interaction lies at the heart of our everyday experience. We make our way down the street and avoid crashing into others, take our place in the supermarket queue, take care in the way we talk about others in conversation, acknowledge the social status of people we meet, and enjoy leisurely pursuits in the company of friends and like-minded others. All these things are fundamental parts of human sociality that can be discovered and understood through ‘sociologies of interaction’. This book provides an invaluable introduction to the theoretical foundations and practical applications of interactionist approaches to everyday life. Beginning with an overview of three core traditions - symbolic interactionism, ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, along with Goffman’s work on the interaction order - the text moves on to examine in detail topics such as leisure, work, health and illness, deviance, class, status and power, education, ethnic relations and gender. Highlighting a range of empirical studies, the book shows how sociologies of interaction have the capacity to reframe and make us rethink conventional social science topics. This illuminating book will be of interest to undergraduates across the social sciences, particularly in sociology, social psychology and communication studies, as well as those who have an interest in understanding the interactional underpinnings of everyday life.

Social interaction lies at the heart of our everyday experience. We make our way down the street and avoid crashing into others, take our place in the supermarket queue, take care in the way we talk about others in conversation, acknowledge the social status of people we meet, and enjoy leisurely pursuits in the company of friends and like-minded others. All these things are fundamental parts of human sociality that can be discovered and understood through ‘sociologies of interaction’. This book provides an invaluable introduction to the theoretical foundations and practical applications of interactionist approaches to everyday life. Beginning with an overview of three core traditions - symbolic interactionism, ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, along with Goffman’s work on the interaction order - the text moves on to examine in detail topics such as leisure, work, health and illness, deviance, class, status and power, education, ethnic relations and gender. Highlighting a range of empirical studies, the book shows how sociologies of interaction have the capacity to reframe and make us rethink conventional social science topics. This illuminating book will be of interest to undergraduates across the social sciences, particularly in sociology, social psychology and communication studies, as well as those who have an interest in understanding the interactional underpinnings of everyday life.