The promise of poststructuralist sociology : marginalized peoples and the problem of knowledge / Clayton W. Dumont, Jr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dumont, Clayton W., 1962-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Knowledge, Sociology of.

Sociology--Philosophy.

Sociology.

Sociology--Methodology.

Postmodernism--Social aspects.

Postmodernism.

Physical Description:

226 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, [2008]

Summary:

In this fresh look at the serious challenges posed to sociology by poststructuralist philosophy, Clayton W. Dumont Jr. maintains that disempowered, marginalized peoples have much to gain from a poststructuralist interrogation of sociology's philosophical and theological presuppositions. He argues that debates among American sociologists in the 1980s and 1990s over the value of difficult poststructuralist writings failed to examine cultural assumptions rooted in the discipline's extended Greek and Christian inheritances. Writing in an accessible style, the author situates complex poststructuralist ideas in tangible examples drawn from everyday life. The book concludes with analyses of the heated political conflict surrounding the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 and affirmative action programs, illustrating the promise of increased political efficacy and civic responsibility of a poststructuralist-informed sociology.

Contents:

Meeting the monster : understanding poststructuralist assumptions

A genealogy of the scientific self

Toward a post-Christian ethic of responsibility in sociology

The American debate on "postmodernism"

Who's understanding whose past? "telling the truth" about Native dead

Taking charge of the affirmative action debate : social science and racial justice.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [211]-221) and index.

ISBN:

9780791474419

0791474410

9780791474426

0791474429

OCLC:

167497201