Description
This text introduces students to the important theories and philosophies that serve as essential foundations for social inquiry. The author’s intention is that each discussion is substantive enough to inspire and motivate readers to think deeper, read more, and wonder more openly. Author Jeong-Hee Kim offers several pedagogical features to help students actively engage with the text such as examples that connect theory to specific research contexts, guidance to help recognize points of convergence and divergence across theoretical traditions, and suggestions to practice thinking with theory.
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgment
About the Author
Chapter 1: Introduction: What Is Theory?
Prelude: Theory—Personal or too Personal?
What Is Theory?
Why Theory?
Theoretical Framework
Theory as Paradigm and Philosophy
Forward Thinking: P/A/R/T
The Gordian Knot
Philosophical Exercises (Askesis)
Further Readings
Notes
Chapter 2: Evolution of Philosophy of Science: Positivism, Logical Positivism, and Postpositivism
Prelude: Dracula
Philosophy of Science
Positivism: Auguste Comte (1798–1857), Founder of Positivism
Logical Positivism and Logical Empiricism
Postpositivism: “Less Arrogant Form of Positivism”
Enduring Positivism
Forward Thinking: Understanding Incommensurability and Shifting Paradigms
The Gordian Knot
Philosophical Exercises (Askesis)
Further Readings
Notes
Chapter 3: Interpretivism, Hermeneutics, and Phenomenology
Prelude: Spiegel im Spiegel (Mirror in the Mirror)
Interpretivism and Hermeneutics
Phenomenology
Descriptive, Transcendental Phenomenology: Edmund Husserl (1859–1938)
Phenomenological Methods
Hermeneutical, Ontological Phenomenology: Martin Heidegger (1889–1976)
Contemporary Phenomenology: Insights Into Future Inquiry
Forward Thinking: Phenomenology as the Humble Philosophy of the Beginning
The Gordian Knot
Phenomenology for Research
Philosophical Exercises (Askesis)
Further Readings
Notes
Chapter 4: Pragmatism, Symbolic Interactionism, and Semiotics
Prelude: A Serendipity
What Is Pragmatism?
Four American Pillars of Pragmatism
Pragmatism Reconsidered
Symbolic Interactionism
Symbolic Interactionism in Research
Semiotics
Forward Thinking: Toward a Neuroscience of the Mind and Brain
The Gordian Knot
Pragmatism for Research
Philosophical Exercise (Askesis)
Further Readings
Notes
Chapter 5: Critical Theories: Marxism, Critical Theory, and Critical Race Theory
Prelude: On Scapegoating Critical Theories
Marxism
Marxist Philosophers
Critical Theory
Critical Race Theory
Forward Thinking: Toward a Critical Pedagogy of Love and Hope
The Gordian Knot
Critical Theory and Critical Race Theory for Research
Philosophical Exercises (Askesis)
Further Readings
Notes
Chapter 6: Feminist Theories
Prelude: “Battle of the Sexes”
Thy Name Is Woman: Deconstructing Gender Injustice
What Is Feminist Theory?
Strands of Feminist Theory
Forward Thinking: Toward Intersectionality as Critical Social Theory
The Gordian Knot
Feminist Theory for Research
Philosophical Exercise (Askesis)
Further Readings
Notes
Chapter 7: Poststructuralism
Prelude: Beginning in the Middle
What Is Poststructuralism?
Foucault (1926–1984): Knowledge, Power, and the Self
Deleuze (1925–1995): Multiplicities of Rhizomatic Thinking
Derrida (1930–2004): Deconstruction as Justice
Forward Thinking: Toward a “Logic of the AND”
The Gordian Knot
Poststructuralism for Research
Philosophical Exercises (Askesis)
Further Readings
Notes
Chapter 8: Postcolonial Theory, Indigenous Ways of Knowing, and Decoloniality
Prelude: Columbus Day and Indigenous Day
Why Postcolonialism?
What Is Postcolonialism?
Fanon (1925–1961): From Psychiatrist to Architect of Postcolonial Theory
Said (1935–2003): Pioneer of Postcolonialism and Critique of Orientalism
Bhabha (1949–): Negotiating Postcolonial Identity
Asia: Decolonization, Deimperialization, and De-Cold War
Latin America: Coloniality and Decoloniality
Indigenous Ways of Knowing
Forward Thinking: Toward a Decolonial Being—“I Am Where I Think”
The Gordian Knot
Postcolonialism for Research
Philosophical Exercise (Askesis)
Further Readings
Notes
Chapter 9: Posthuman Theory and New Materialisms
Prelude: A River as a Legal Person
Posthumanism
Woman Troika of Posthuman Theory
Haraway (1944–): “We Are They”
Barad (1956 –): Agential Realism
Braidotti (1954 –): Posthuman Predicament in the Anthropocene
New Materialisms
Forward Thinking: Toward One Health and One Wellbeing
The Gordian Knot
Posthumanism for Research
Philosophical Exercise (Askesis)
Further Readings
Notes
Chapter 10: New Beginnings: Toward an Axio-Onto-Epistemology of the Earth
Prelude: Who’s Afraid of Theory?
Hybridity as Braiding
Narrative, Medicine, and Education: My Braiding
Forward Thinking: Toward an Axio-Onto-Epistemology of the Earth
References
