Against Essentialism: A Theory of Culture and Society

Contents......Page 8
Introduction......Page 14
1. Theory after Essentialism......Page 25
Accounting for the Observer......Page 30
Observing Observers......Page 33
Levels of Observing......Page 37
Ideological Conflicts in Observation......Page 42
Inside and Outside Observers......Page 48
Value-Freedom and Disinterestedness......Page 53
The Myth of “Going Native”......Page 56
A Few Pretty Old Rules of Method......Page 60
The Classics Revisited, Briefly......Page 71
Networks and Systems......Page 76
Some Elements of a Working Epistemology......Page 80
The Crisis of Representation......Page 84
Underdetermination and Theory-Ladenness......Page 87
The Indeterminacy of Translation......Page 91
Empiricizing Contexts and Demarcations......Page 97
Incommensurability......Page 105
The Double Hermeneutic......Page 108
Things and Persons......Page 117
3. Cultural Rationality......Page 124
After Reason......Page 128
Causes and Reasons......Page 129
The Unity of Persons......Page 132
What Do Persons Want and Believe?......Page 136
Decisions, Decisions......Page 140
How to Locate Rationality......Page 144
Some Covariates of Rationality......Page 145
4. Foundations of Culture......Page 151
Never Minds......Page 152
Who Knows? No Idea!......Page 160
The Meanings of Meaning......Page 163
Observing Culture and Cultural Observers......Page 164
What Is in a Culture?......Page 168
Cultural Stratification......Page 172
Art......Page 178
Reputation......Page 198
5. Modes of Social Association I: Encounters, Groups, and Organizations......Page 204
The Bodies and Brains of Persons......Page 206
Emotional Selves......Page 210
Levels of Society......Page 212
Encounters......Page 216
Groups......Page 224
Organizations......Page 237
Variations in Organizational Cultures......Page 257
6. Modes of Social Association II: Networks......Page 264
Drift......Page 267
Fields of Forces......Page 269
Power to the Networks......Page 272
Metabolism......Page 276
Renormalization......Page 279
Autopoiesis......Page 283
Self-Similarity......Page 285
Unity......Page 288
Boundaries......Page 289
Network Expansions......Page 291
Networks of Culture......Page 293
7. Realism Explained......Page 306
A Continuum of Realism......Page 311
Core Expansions and Time......Page 314
Machines......Page 317
Instruction......Page 321
Density......Page 322
Monopoly and Hegemony......Page 324
Competition and Decentralization......Page 327
Literacy and Printing......Page 330
Orality, Perception, and Copresence......Page 335
Consensus......Page 339
Distance and Frontstages......Page 342
Conclusion......Page 344
References......Page 354
Index......Page 380