The path was now clear for more sustained labour to explain why a science of sociology was needed... more The path was now clear for more sustained labour to explain why a science of sociology was needed and to specify the method of study appropriate to the science. Spencer anticipated the task with naive optimism. To Youmans on 12 October 1872 he confided that he expected a quickening in the rate of progress towards the completion of the remaining volumes projected for the ‘System’. The 12 years spent to date had included 2 years taken up with a number of interruptions: partly due to occasional relapses of health, partly to the second edition of First Principles, partly to various incidental essays and articles, and partly to the arrangement and superintendence of the Descriptive Sociology, which, during the early stages, occupied much time. Indeed, now that I put them down, these interruptions account, I think, for more than two years’ loss of time. As I am much better now than I was when I commenced, and as I do not see the likelihood of much incidental writing hereafter, I am inclin...
This article presents new insights into Spencer's theoretical sociology as he applied it to the p... more This article presents new insights into Spencer's theoretical sociology as he applied it to the professions and professional institutions, which he discussed extensively, particularly in his Principles of Sociology. The first part of this article notes the main conceptual insights which he established and aligns them within the wider context of a re-reading of Spencer's sociology. Particular attention is paid to the "social organism" and the spontaneous cooperation of social individuals in society (with each possessing "social self-consciousness"). This part also reappraises Spencer's account of the emergence of "professionals" and their distinctive "cunning, skill, and acquaintance with the nature of things," which professionals have brought to bear on what has been experienced in the ordinary social lives of people as complexity or the unfamiliar in the world. The subsequent discussion focuses on, first, a retrieval of Spencer's theoretical stance on the activities of the professions, and on work and conditions in general, and, second, on reviewing some of the major resonances which his work has with practical problems and the associated theoretical issues concerning the sociological understanding of professional/service-user interaction in social life today.
Introduction Early Spencer: Influences and Ideas Middle Spencer: Toward a Tapestry of the World L... more Introduction Early Spencer: Influences and Ideas Middle Spencer: Toward a Tapestry of the World Later Spencer: Crafting the Principles of Sociology, and Losing Hold Evolution and Mind Mind and Society The Social Organism Militant and Industrial Social Types Understanding Music Sociology, Evolution and Ethics Conclusion
This article takes a fresh look at the intellectual context of the poor law in Britain and Irelan... more This article takes a fresh look at the intellectual context of the poor law in Britain and Ireland from the 1830s to the 1930s, and is focused on the different conceptions over time of the ‘service user’ as agent (drawing on Le Grand) in relation to a fundamental contrast between social theory which is ‘non-idealist’ and ‘idealist’ (drawing on Harris). It first examines the ideas of liberal tories, rather than Benthamites, in remodelling the poor law in England and introducing it to Ireland in the 1830s. Second, it explicitly draws a contrast between idealist and non-idealist social thought, relating it to the idealist nature of both the majority and minority reports on the poor law of 1909 and to the non-idealist thought of Spencer and the earlier discussion. The subsequent dominance of idealist thought in social policy theory and practice is then reviewed, considering Titmuss on agency, the ‘rediscovery’ of informal care in the 1970s as evidence of a shift to the non-idealist pers...
This article attempts to retrieve important aspects of Spencer's sociology from the general negle... more This article attempts to retrieve important aspects of Spencer's sociology from the general neglect and misrepresentation which threatens to overwhelm it all. It does touch in passing on many such highly dubious contentions as that he was a "social Darwinist," but the prime focus is to deal with three linked themes. First, the article examines the significance of his attribution to individuals of "social self-consciousness" as part of sociality, thus distancing it from Durkheim's influential but suspect reading of Spencer's individuals as egoistic. Second, it rescues his concept of "the social organism" from misinterpretation. His own writings show it to be a more rigorous and suggestive attempt to configure the morphology of "the social" than commonly assumed. Third, it reconstructs the status of his contrast between "militant" and "industrial" social forms as a contrast between different but more general forms of social life that those descriptions in fact register. With the focus on these three linked themes the article improves the historical accuracy of our understanding of Spencer's sociology. It also repositions key aspects of it as not alien, quaint and a spent force, but ontologically challenging and possibly prescient for debates about the meaning of "the social" today.
This article seeks to inject some important but neglected considerations into discussions about t... more This article seeks to inject some important but neglected considerations into discussions about the nature of informal welfare and the notice social workers should take of it. Following a sketch of how both sociology and social policy have regarded informal welfare, it is argued that a sociology of welfare which is sensitive to the definitions held by participants indicates that social workers would be wise to seek to 'tap' informal welfare very cautiously. It is also argued that such sociology needs to be accorded a more prominent place in social work training courses.
Since Sociology was established in 1967, the journal has assumed a significant role in shaping th... more Since Sociology was established in 1967, the journal has assumed a significant role in shaping the discipline. In the interim years it is often said that the very practice of sociology has now ‘spun out’ beyond the dedicated departments that were once the centres of sociological practice. This raises questions as to the relationship between sociology and other disciplines, questions that are compelling and arguably distinct from a welcome recognition of sociology’s undoubted intellectual hybridity. The extent to which this is a productive tension or one that requires a resolution is an ongoing conversation to which this special issue speaks. In this introductory article we take what we consider to be an innovative route that is guided by the theme of ‘Bringing Sociology Home’ whilst simultaneously recognising the enormous strengths brought by the multidisciplinary developments of the last 50 volumes. We set out the terrain before introducing a mixture of short and substantive papers...
... Smith ISBN 1 84310 1807 Social Perspectives in Mental Health Developing Social Models to Unde... more ... Smith ISBN 1 84310 1807 Social Perspectives in Mental Health Developing Social Models to Understand and Work with Mental Distress Edited by Jerry Tew ISBN 1 84310 220 X Competence in Social Work Practice A Practical Guide for Professionals Edited by Kieran O'Hagan ...
... John Offer every impulse coincides with the dictates of the moral law* (ibid, p.188). These t... more ... John Offer every impulse coincides with the dictates of the moral law* (ibid, p.188). These then are the main positions sustained in Sodal Statia on many of the matters usually associated with securing welfare. ... 1, 1876; vol. 2; 1882; vol. 3, 1896; London, Williams & Norgate. ...
Deep divisions persist within sociology over the potential of a neo-Darwinian selectionist paradi... more Deep divisions persist within sociology over the potential of a neo-Darwinian selectionist paradigm of explanation to contribute positively to social theory and research. Herbert Spencer's concern with the progressive direction of evolution, and uncertainty about the divergences between Darwinian and Spencerian thought over ‘natural selection’ and the ‘survival of the fittest’, often freight preconceptions of the potential of the paradigm. This article first explains how ideas primarily attributable to Spencer rather than Darwin have served to cloud the debate. It thus clarifies Spencer's ideas on evolutionary process, disentangling them from and establishing their marginality to Darwin's central concerns. Second, it considers recent work by Runciman on selectionism and change in Britain, and suggests that the usefulness of adopting a selectionist paradigm need not (yet) involve a quasi-genetic unit of change as a component: novel ‘variations’, with some and not other pr...
The path was now clear for more sustained labour to explain why a science of sociology was needed... more The path was now clear for more sustained labour to explain why a science of sociology was needed and to specify the method of study appropriate to the science. Spencer anticipated the task with naive optimism. To Youmans on 12 October 1872 he confided that he expected a quickening in the rate of progress towards the completion of the remaining volumes projected for the ‘System’. The 12 years spent to date had included 2 years taken up with a number of interruptions: partly due to occasional relapses of health, partly to the second edition of First Principles, partly to various incidental essays and articles, and partly to the arrangement and superintendence of the Descriptive Sociology, which, during the early stages, occupied much time. Indeed, now that I put them down, these interruptions account, I think, for more than two years’ loss of time. As I am much better now than I was when I commenced, and as I do not see the likelihood of much incidental writing hereafter, I am inclin...
This article presents new insights into Spencer's theoretical sociology as he applied it to the p... more This article presents new insights into Spencer's theoretical sociology as he applied it to the professions and professional institutions, which he discussed extensively, particularly in his Principles of Sociology. The first part of this article notes the main conceptual insights which he established and aligns them within the wider context of a re-reading of Spencer's sociology. Particular attention is paid to the "social organism" and the spontaneous cooperation of social individuals in society (with each possessing "social self-consciousness"). This part also reappraises Spencer's account of the emergence of "professionals" and their distinctive "cunning, skill, and acquaintance with the nature of things," which professionals have brought to bear on what has been experienced in the ordinary social lives of people as complexity or the unfamiliar in the world. The subsequent discussion focuses on, first, a retrieval of Spencer's theoretical stance on the activities of the professions, and on work and conditions in general, and, second, on reviewing some of the major resonances which his work has with practical problems and the associated theoretical issues concerning the sociological understanding of professional/service-user interaction in social life today.
Introduction Early Spencer: Influences and Ideas Middle Spencer: Toward a Tapestry of the World L... more Introduction Early Spencer: Influences and Ideas Middle Spencer: Toward a Tapestry of the World Later Spencer: Crafting the Principles of Sociology, and Losing Hold Evolution and Mind Mind and Society The Social Organism Militant and Industrial Social Types Understanding Music Sociology, Evolution and Ethics Conclusion
This article takes a fresh look at the intellectual context of the poor law in Britain and Irelan... more This article takes a fresh look at the intellectual context of the poor law in Britain and Ireland from the 1830s to the 1930s, and is focused on the different conceptions over time of the ‘service user’ as agent (drawing on Le Grand) in relation to a fundamental contrast between social theory which is ‘non-idealist’ and ‘idealist’ (drawing on Harris). It first examines the ideas of liberal tories, rather than Benthamites, in remodelling the poor law in England and introducing it to Ireland in the 1830s. Second, it explicitly draws a contrast between idealist and non-idealist social thought, relating it to the idealist nature of both the majority and minority reports on the poor law of 1909 and to the non-idealist thought of Spencer and the earlier discussion. The subsequent dominance of idealist thought in social policy theory and practice is then reviewed, considering Titmuss on agency, the ‘rediscovery’ of informal care in the 1970s as evidence of a shift to the non-idealist pers...
This article attempts to retrieve important aspects of Spencer's sociology from the general negle... more This article attempts to retrieve important aspects of Spencer's sociology from the general neglect and misrepresentation which threatens to overwhelm it all. It does touch in passing on many such highly dubious contentions as that he was a "social Darwinist," but the prime focus is to deal with three linked themes. First, the article examines the significance of his attribution to individuals of "social self-consciousness" as part of sociality, thus distancing it from Durkheim's influential but suspect reading of Spencer's individuals as egoistic. Second, it rescues his concept of "the social organism" from misinterpretation. His own writings show it to be a more rigorous and suggestive attempt to configure the morphology of "the social" than commonly assumed. Third, it reconstructs the status of his contrast between "militant" and "industrial" social forms as a contrast between different but more general forms of social life that those descriptions in fact register. With the focus on these three linked themes the article improves the historical accuracy of our understanding of Spencer's sociology. It also repositions key aspects of it as not alien, quaint and a spent force, but ontologically challenging and possibly prescient for debates about the meaning of "the social" today.
This article seeks to inject some important but neglected considerations into discussions about t... more This article seeks to inject some important but neglected considerations into discussions about the nature of informal welfare and the notice social workers should take of it. Following a sketch of how both sociology and social policy have regarded informal welfare, it is argued that a sociology of welfare which is sensitive to the definitions held by participants indicates that social workers would be wise to seek to 'tap' informal welfare very cautiously. It is also argued that such sociology needs to be accorded a more prominent place in social work training courses.
Since Sociology was established in 1967, the journal has assumed a significant role in shaping th... more Since Sociology was established in 1967, the journal has assumed a significant role in shaping the discipline. In the interim years it is often said that the very practice of sociology has now ‘spun out’ beyond the dedicated departments that were once the centres of sociological practice. This raises questions as to the relationship between sociology and other disciplines, questions that are compelling and arguably distinct from a welcome recognition of sociology’s undoubted intellectual hybridity. The extent to which this is a productive tension or one that requires a resolution is an ongoing conversation to which this special issue speaks. In this introductory article we take what we consider to be an innovative route that is guided by the theme of ‘Bringing Sociology Home’ whilst simultaneously recognising the enormous strengths brought by the multidisciplinary developments of the last 50 volumes. We set out the terrain before introducing a mixture of short and substantive papers...
... Smith ISBN 1 84310 1807 Social Perspectives in Mental Health Developing Social Models to Unde... more ... Smith ISBN 1 84310 1807 Social Perspectives in Mental Health Developing Social Models to Understand and Work with Mental Distress Edited by Jerry Tew ISBN 1 84310 220 X Competence in Social Work Practice A Practical Guide for Professionals Edited by Kieran O'Hagan ...
... John Offer every impulse coincides with the dictates of the moral law* (ibid, p.188). These t... more ... John Offer every impulse coincides with the dictates of the moral law* (ibid, p.188). These then are the main positions sustained in Sodal Statia on many of the matters usually associated with securing welfare. ... 1, 1876; vol. 2; 1882; vol. 3, 1896; London, Williams & Norgate. ...
Deep divisions persist within sociology over the potential of a neo-Darwinian selectionist paradi... more Deep divisions persist within sociology over the potential of a neo-Darwinian selectionist paradigm of explanation to contribute positively to social theory and research. Herbert Spencer's concern with the progressive direction of evolution, and uncertainty about the divergences between Darwinian and Spencerian thought over ‘natural selection’ and the ‘survival of the fittest’, often freight preconceptions of the potential of the paradigm. This article first explains how ideas primarily attributable to Spencer rather than Darwin have served to cloud the debate. It thus clarifies Spencer's ideas on evolutionary process, disentangling them from and establishing their marginality to Darwin's central concerns. Second, it considers recent work by Runciman on selectionism and change in Britain, and suggests that the usefulness of adopting a selectionist paradigm need not (yet) involve a quasi-genetic unit of change as a component: novel ‘variations’, with some and not other pr...
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