Description
Book SynopsisThe 38th World Congress of IIS addressed some of the most fundamental issues of sociological inquiry in light of global processes and the development of different fields of knowledge: What does it mean to be human? What is the nature of social as opposed to natural processes? How do efforts to map the social and political world interact with that world and with traditional sociological practices? What can we say about relationships between scientific, political and religious beliefs? This volume sets the stage for a sustained look at what social science can say about the twenty-first century and to address the theme of the congress in 2008: Sociology Looks at the 21st Century. From Local Universalism to Global Contextualism. Contributors are: Gustaf Arrhenius, Rajeev Bhargava, Craig Calhoun, Shmuel N. Eisenstadt, Yehuda Elkana, Raghavendra Gadagkar, Peter Hedström, Hans Joas, Hannes Klöpper, Ivan Krastev, Steven Lukes, Vinh-Kim Nguyen, Helga Nowotny, Shalini Randeria, Alan Ryan, Jyotirmaya Sharma, Christina Torén, Michel Wieviorka, Björn Wittrock, Petri Ylikoski.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Notes on Contributors Introduction Björn Wittrock and Shalini Randeria Part 1: Forms of Being 1 What Can We Learn from Insect Societies? Raghavendra Gadagkar 2 What Does it Mean to Be Human? Who Has the Last Word: Sociologists, Biologists, or Philosophers? Alan Ryan 3 What Is It to Be Human? A Unified Model Suggests History will Have the Last Word Christina Torén Part 2: Forms of Theorizing 4 Sociological Individualism Peter Hedström and Petri Ylikoski 5 Norms as Social Facts Steven Lukes Part 3: Forms of Believing 6 Political Secularity in India before Modern Secularism. A Tentative Overview Rajeev Bhargava 7 Violence Affirmed. V.D. Savarkar and the Fear of Non-violence in Hindu Nationalist Thought Jyotirmaya Sharma 8 The Future of Christianity Hans Joas Part 4: Rethinking Democracy in Its Global Contexts 9 From Local Universalism to Global Contextualism Shmuel N. Eisenstadt 10 Democracy for the 21st Century Gustaf Arrhenius 11 Democracy Disrupted. The Global Politics of Protest Ivan Krastev Part 5: Rethinking Disciplinary Divides 12 The Modern University in Its Contexts. Historical Transformations and Contemporary Reorientations Björn Wittrock 13 Embracing Uncertainty Helga Nowotny 14 Rethinking Biomedicine Vinh-Kim Nguyen 15 Manifesto for the Social Sciences Craig Calhoun and Michel Wieviorka Part 6: Rethinking the University 16 The University in the 21st Century: Teaching the New Enlightenment at the Dawn of the Digital Age Yehuda Elkana and Hannes Klöpper Index of Names Index of Subjects
