Search

This paper provides a progress report on the coming of a dialogic and critical sociologist in Venezuelan sociology. It paper studies the case of the historical evolution of sociological formation at the Universidad Central de Venezuela and its link with the recent contemporary social theory in relation to the postmodernism and critical theories of Habermas, Wallerstein and postcolonialism thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper a description of sociological research on the social imaginary that has been developed in the last twenty years, they present in the first moment aspects developed in Europe, principally from the French current and the sociology in Spain; later it is approached the link with Latin America, the Iberian American connection and some open routes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education has undergone many changes since the Sorbonne Declaration (1998) and its subsequent incorporation into the European Higher Education Space. One of the most significant changes has been to give students a protagonist role in the teaching-learning process. However, this role cannot be bestowed unless the student truly participates in the aforesaid process. The aim of this paper is to present the experience designed and implemented in the course, "Research and Socio-Educational Intervention", third semester for the undergraduate degree in Sociology (University Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain). An assessment of participatory methodology applied to a specific subject for that degree was conducted, measuring the level of student satisfaction with it. The experience developed was innovative for this degree. What was intended was that students participate actively in the course through group work, performing activities, discussions and reflections, etc. Results of the experiment have been optimal due to student involvement and satisfaction regarding the methodology developed and the results obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the configuration of the sociological realm around the dispute on the pertinence of classical disciplinary canon. The debate is followed through the theses of four relevant sociologists: Jeffrey Alexander, Immanuel Wallerstein, Niklas Luhmann, and R. W. Connell. Based on these authors we present some aspects of this subject, and finish by outlining links between the classical canonization process and the construction of a disciplinary field of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to organize my thoughts on the question of the production of knowledge in a society In the intermediate stage of social and economic development. These thoughts are based on the academic experience of the author on both the national and international level over almost fifty years. Some remarks are made as to the problems of those who write about sociology in Spanish. and not in the contemporary lingua franca, English. A theoretical approach is proposed to explain the relationship between knowledge and power, and is referred to as the mirror theory. Finally, some reflections are made as to the role of Ideology in sociological thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the 20th Century strong transformations were produced in the field of science. The biological sciences opened up epistemologically in order to offer new explanatory models which superceded the physical, anti-historical and formalistic models. The innovations involved in the evolutionary theory of Darwinism established a new scientific practice, the potentiality of which goes far beyond traditional disciplinary limits. The thesis of Darwin included explanatory models to explain contingent phenomenon, and were applicable to other problems and questionings, widening in this manner the field of possibilitites in scientific explanation. This paper proposes an extension of this analysis to the field of sociology, which, since its birth, has been studied as part of the organicist metaphor, as is testified to in the works of many authors considered as classic theorists (Comte, Spencer, Durkheim). The attention herein centers on the influence of the biologist conception as found in Emile Durkheim, considering as well the ontological and methodological suppositions underlying the normative framework of his work, and taking into account the criteria offered by P. Kitcher in his conceptualization of "scientific practice" as a unit of analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]