The book is a true knowledge-enhancing project, dealing with the forms of rationality at work in social life, which are so many, varied and complex. Published already in Spanish and Italian, it analyses the role played by rationality through the lens of social theories in order to propose a problematic interpretation of human action. Since there is nothing more practical than a good theory when seeking to understand our society, the book reflects on the theoretical approaches that provide useful categories by means of which to understand and interpret individual, organizational, and institutional action. It proposes an analysis of a wide variety of classics by eminent European and Anglo-American thinkers, such as Dahrendorf, Mannheim, Marx, Popper, Weber, Habermas, Luhmann, Machiavelli, Pareto, Ardigò, Cesareo, Parsons, Schütz, Alexander, Bauman, Beck, Sennett, Antiseri, Boudon, Sen, Simon, to shed light on the relationship between rationality, difficulties in thinking and extra-rationality. Finally, the reasons for unexpected action are investigated as well as the strategic role played by ethics, rationality and skills in postmodern societies on the basis of the contributions of Nussbaum and Piketty.
Author(s): Antonio Cocozza
Series: Theory and History in the Human and Social Sciences
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 184
City: Cham
Foreword
Preface
Introduction
Acknowledgements
Contents
Chapter 1: Reason and Rationality in Sociological Thinking: Interpreting Human Action as a Problem
1 The Evolution of the Concept of Rationality in Sociological Thinking
2 Superseding the Structural Dichotomy of the Holistic and Individualistic Approaches: Attempts and Statements
Chapter 2: Formal Rationality and Substantial Rationality from Max Weber to Ralf Dahrendorf
1 The Formal Rationality of the Capitalist Society
2 The Fate of Society and the Individual in a Rationalised World
3 Social Action, Provisions, Entitlement, and Life Opportunities
Chapter 3: The Interpretation of Rationality in Human Action from Talcott Parsons, to Alfred Schütz and Jürgen Habermas
1 The Voluntarist Theory of Action
2 Rationality and Problems of Everyday Life
3 Social and Communicative Action
Chapter 4: Rationality, Environment, and Complex Systems in the Theses of Niklas Luhmann
1 Environment and System: A Constant Process of Adaptation
2 Selection, Communication, and Rationality
Chapter 5: Rationalism, Irrationalism, and Pseudo-rationality in the Thinking of Karl Marx and Karl R. Popper
1 The Contrast Between Rationalism and Irrationalism: A Vexata Quaestio
2 The Diatribe Between Rationalism and Marxism
3 The Pseudo-rationality of the Utopians
Chapter 6: The Theory of Rational Choice: Potential and Criticality
1 The Theory of Rational Choice or Methodological Individualism
2 The Main Theoretical Propositions of Rational Choice from George Homans to James Coleman
3 Rational Choice and the Collective Actor
Chapter 7: Towards the Supersedure of Utilitarianism
1 Herbert Simon’s Bounded Rationality
2 The Role of Amartya Kamur Sen’s Theory of Social Choices
3 The Extra-Rational Dimension of Human Action, from Vilfredo Pareto to Achille Ardigò, Michel Maffesoli, and Jeffrey C. Alexander
Chapter 8: The Upsurge of Postmodern Society and the Contributions of Bauman, Beck, and Sennett
1 From Solid Bodies to “Liquid Rationality”
2 Risikogesellshaft and Risikoleben
3 The Flexible Man and the Consequences for Personal Life
Chapter 9: Ethics, Rationality, and Competences in Twenty-First Century Capitalism: The Perspective of Piketty, Nussbaum, and Morin
1 Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century Between Utilitarianism and Social Cohesion
2 Culture and Skills to Fight Barbarism
3 A New Ethic of a Society of Capabilities
Conclusions
Post Faction
Bibliography
Index
