Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

The Dynamics of Stratification Systems1

The Dynamics of Stratification Systems1 The Dynamics of Stratification Systems1 ANDREW TUDOR University of Essex, Colchester, U.K. IT IS a methodological truism that theories must include both variables and constants; we cannot take simultaneous account of every possible factor. Indeed one of the vital functions of theory is to provide a criterion of relevance whereby the potentially infinite may be made finite. Most sociology tends, for example, to hold ecological variables as a constant environmental factor, and operate within them. Now there is clearly a danger here in that reification of such a position leads to the theorist asserting a priori that certain variables are totally unimportant for social action. This is the other side of the coin to White- head's fallacy of misplaced concreteness: certain factors are taken as totally ex- plaining the empirical phenomena precisely because the theorist forgets that he is working within a theory, and that this theory must limit its field of operation by holding some factors constant. This has, unfortunately, been true of a number of theories and theorists in sociology, and it is the aim of this paper to try to redress the balance a little in the thorny area of stratification. The basic assumption is http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png International Journal of Comparative Sociology (in 2002 continued as Comparative Sociology) Brill

Loading next page...
 
/lp/brill/the-dynamics-of-stratification-systems1-vm9GX0ur48

References

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© 1969 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0020-7152
eISSN
1745-2554
DOI
10.1163/156854269X00013
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The Dynamics of Stratification Systems1 ANDREW TUDOR University of Essex, Colchester, U.K. IT IS a methodological truism that theories must include both variables and constants; we cannot take simultaneous account of every possible factor. Indeed one of the vital functions of theory is to provide a criterion of relevance whereby the potentially infinite may be made finite. Most sociology tends, for example, to hold ecological variables as a constant environmental factor, and operate within them. Now there is clearly a danger here in that reification of such a position leads to the theorist asserting a priori that certain variables are totally unimportant for social action. This is the other side of the coin to White- head's fallacy of misplaced concreteness: certain factors are taken as totally ex- plaining the empirical phenomena precisely because the theorist forgets that he is working within a theory, and that this theory must limit its field of operation by holding some factors constant. This has, unfortunately, been true of a number of theories and theorists in sociology, and it is the aim of this paper to try to redress the balance a little in the thorny area of stratification. The basic assumption is

Journal

International Journal of Comparative Sociology (in 2002 continued as Comparative Sociology)Brill

Published: Jan 1, 1969

There are no references for this article.