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Question

John Scott – A Matter of Record: Documentary Sources in Social Research

Answer 1

Concept: Documentary Research | Definition: Uses documents (e.g. newspapers, archives) as data, stressing critical evaluation of source authenticity and meaning.

Answer 2

Concept: Uniplexity vs. Multiplexity | Definition: Multiplexity describes layered social reality (spiritual/material, individual/collective) and critiques reductionist methods.

Answer 3

Concept: Oral History | Definition: Uses personal memories as historical evidence, giving voice to marginalized groups and challenging archival silence.

Answer 4

Concept: Hayy ibn Yaqzan – Philosophy in Story | Definition: Explores autodidactic enlightenment; the idea that isolated reason can lead to truth without society or revelation.

Answer 5

Concept: Double Consciousness | Definition: Describes the dual awareness African Americans experience—seeing themselves through their own eyes and through a racist society’s gaze.

Answer 6

Concept: Mechanical vs. Organic Solidarity | Definition: Mechanical solidarity binds traditional societies via shared norms; organic solidarity binds modern societies via specialized interdependence.

Answer 7

Concept: Social Integration & Anomie | Definition: Identifies four types of suicide based on levels of integration and regulation, introducing anomie as normlessness in modern life.

Answer 8

Concept: Collective Effervescence & Sacred/Profane | Definition: Religion emerges from rituals that distinguish sacred from profane, uniting society through collective emotional energy.

Answer 9

Concept: Civilizing Process (Habitus & Self-Control) | Definition: Traces how external social constraints (etiquette, norms) become internalized as self-discipline over time.

Answer 10

Concept: Dramaturgy & Impression Management | Definition: Social life is like theater; people perform roles in everyday interactions to manage others' perceptions using scripts, settings, and props.

Answer 11

Concept: Cultural Hegemony | Definition: Ruling classes maintain power not only through coercion but by securing consent via civil institutions that naturalize dominant ideologies.

Answer 12

Concept: Autodidactic Enlightenment | Definition: Allegorical tale showing how reason alone, without teacher or scripture, can lead to knowledge of the natural and divine order.

Answer 13

Concept: 'Asabiyyah (Social Cohesion) | Definition: Group solidarity drives the rise and fall of dynasties; strong 'asabiyyah fosters power, while its decline leads to social decay.

Answer 14

Concept: Alliance Theory (Exchange of Women) | Definition: Kinship systems form through reciprocal marriage exchanges that create social bonds and alliances beyond blood ties.

Answer 15

Concept: Alienation | Definition: Under capitalism, workers are alienated from their labor, products, human essence, and others, causing self-estrangement and disempowerment.

Answer 16

Concept: Class Forces in History | Definition: Analyzes how class divisions and historical conditions enabled Napoleon III's rise; shows how the state can balance classes when no class dominates.

Answer 17

Concept: Class Struggle & Revolution | Definition: History is driven by class conflict; capitalism produces its own gravediggers (proletariat), who must unite and overthrow the bourgeoisie.

Answer 18

Concept: Du Bois as Canonical Founder | Definition: Argues that Du Bois pioneered empirical sociology and race studies, but was excluded from the canon due to systemic racism.

Answer 19

Concept: Jahiliyya and Islamic Vanguard | Definition: Modern society is in a state of ignorance (jahiliyya); a devout vanguard must restore true Islam and God's sovereignty, justifying revolutionary jihad.

Answer 20

Concept: Classical Canon Summary | Definition: Synthesizes foundational concepts from classical theorists to show how their insights remain central to analyzing modern social life.

Answer 21

Concept: Postmodern Social Theory | Definition: Highlights ideas like hyperreality, deconstruction, and fragmented identity; critiques grand narratives and emphasizes plurality and irony in social analysis.

Answer 22

Concept: Orientalism (Discourse of Power) | Definition: Western depictions of the East served colonial interests, constructing the Orient as inferior to justify domination; knowledge as power.

Answer 23

Concept: Individuality and Social Form | Definition: Individual identity is shaped by social forms; modern urban life fosters both uniqueness and detachment within patterned interactions.

Answer 24

Concept: Subaltern & Voice | Definition: Argues that the subaltern is structurally silenced in both imperial and academic discourse; calls for reflexive methods that resist ventriloquizing the marginalized.

Answer 25

Concept: Immanent Frame | Definition: Rather than transcendent, modernity shifted belief into a choice within a secular, naturalistic frame; even religious life is shaped by secular reason and pluralism, not naive certainty.

Answer 26

Concept: Patrimonialism in Islam | Definition: Revisits Weber’s claim that Islamic societies lacked the rationalization needed for capitalism; critiques orientalist assumptions and highlights patrimonial structures.

Answer 27

Concept: Core-Periphery World-System | Definition: Modern capitalism is a global system structured by core, periphery, and semi-periphery regions, generating wealth through unequal exchange and exploitation.

Answer 28

Concept: Muslim Subaltern & Representation | Definition: Builds on Spivak to question how Muslim voices are silenced or distorted in colonial and academic discourse; urges awareness of Islamophobia in subaltern theory.

Answer 29

Concept: Theoretical Pluralism | Definition: Surveys diverse sociological paradigms (e.g. functionalism, conflict theory, feminism, postmodernism), emphasizing no dominant framework but a plural set of tools.

Answer 30

Concept: Social Action & Authority | Definition: Lays out the foundation for interpretive sociology, types of social action, and forms of legitimate domination including traditional, charismatic, and legal-rational authority.

Answer 31

Concept: Religious Roots of Capitalism | Definition: Argues that Protestant asceticism, especially Calvinism, contributed to the development of capitalist rationality and work ethic.

Answer 32

Concept: Religious Roots of Capitalism | Definition: Argues that Protestant asceticism, especially Calvinism, contributed to the development of capitalist rationality and work ethic.

Answer 33

Concept: Legitimate Domination & Ethics | Definition: Defines the state by its monopoly on legitimate violence and contrasts the ethics of conviction vs. ethics of responsibility.

Answer 34

Concept: Rational-Legal Authority | Definition: Bureaucracy is the most efficient form of organization due to rules, hierarchy, and impersonality, but risks dehumanization and disenchantment.

Answer 35

Concept: Islamic Critique | Definition: Explores Islamic traditions as a source of critical thought, challenging the Eurocentric assumption that critique is exclusive to secular Enlightenment reason.

Answer 36

Concept: Affective Politics | Definition: Emotions are not private feelings but circulate socially and politically to shape bodies, identities, and collective attachments.

Answer 37

Concept: Epistemological Integration | Definition: Proposes the restructuring of knowledge systems by integrating Islamic worldview with contemporary academic disciplines.

Answer 38

Concept: Ideological State Apparatus | Definition: Institutions such as schools, churches, and media reproduce capitalist relations by inculcating ideology in subjects.

Answer 39

Concept: Imagined Communities | Definition: Nations are socially constructed communities, imagined by the people who perceive themselves as part of them.

Answer 40

Concept: Vita Activa | Definition: Distinguishes labor, work, and action as fundamental modes of human activity; emphasizes action and plurality as the basis of political life.

Answer 41

Concept: Genealogy of Secularism | Definition: Secularism is not neutral but historically Christian; Asad critiques its assumptions and effects in shaping religious discourse.

Answer 42

Concept: Multiple Secularities | Definition: Differentiates between the secular as condition, process, and ideology; reassesses religion’s role in public life.

Answer 43

Concept: Hyperreality | Definition: In postmodern culture, reality is replaced by simulations and signs that refer only to themselves, erasing the distinction between real and representation.

Answer 44

Concept: Civilizational Renewal | Definition: Argues that cultural underdevelopment in Muslim societies stems from loss of creative energy and dependence on external models.

Answer 45

Concept: Qualitative Inquiry | Definition: Introduces foundational approaches to qualitative research, including interviews, ethnography, case studies, and thematic analysis.

Answer 46

Concept: Social Constructionism | Definition: Reality is created and maintained through social processes, especially habitualized interactions and institutionalization.

Answer 47

Concept: Ethnographic Technique | Definition: Comprehensive guide to methods such as participant observation, structured interviewing, and comparative analysis in anthropological fieldwork.

Answer 48

Concept: Marxist Theory | Definition: Summarizes and applies Marx’s historical materialism, class struggle, and critiques of capitalism within sociological analysis.

Answer 49

Concept: Sociological Traditions | Definition: Traces key debates and intellectual trajectories within classical and modern sociological theory.

Answer 50

Concept: Habitus and Field | Definition: Introduces habitus, capital, and field to explain how social practices reproduce structures through embodied dispositions.

Answer 51

Concept: Capital Conversion | Definition: Capital exists in economic, cultural, social, and symbolic forms; power stems from converting between them within social fields.

Answer 52

Concept: Movement Theories | Definition: Surveys resource mobilization, political process, and new social movement theory as frameworks for collective action.

Answer 53

Concept: Reflexive Sociology | Definition: Advocates using cases to extend theory by situating micro-level ethnography in relation to macro-level structures.

Answer 54

Concept: Performativity | Definition: Gender is not a stable identity but a series of acts; critiques binary frameworks and foundationalism in gender theory.

Answer 55

Concept: Discursive Formation | Definition: Examines how modern concepts of religion are shaped by Western discourse, power, and colonial epistemologies.

Answer 56

Concept: Tactics vs. Strategies | Definition: Everyday people resist institutional power through subtle practices and appropriations within structured environments.

Answer 57

Concept: Postcolonial Historicism | Definition: Challenges the universalizing narratives of European modernity and calls for plural temporalities in historiography.

Answer 58

Concept: Postcolonial Nationalism | Definition: Critiques nationalist discourse in postcolonial states as reproducing colonial hierarchies while creating a hybrid political modernity.

Answer 59

Concept: Binary Oppositions | Definition: Human cultures are structured by universal patterns in myths, kinship, and language, which reveal underlying binary oppositions.

Answer 60

Concept: Civilizational Sociology | Definition: Proposes a tripartite framework of relationality, horizontal and vertical pluralism to study Islamic and global societies.

Answer 61

Concept: Sociological Imagination | Definition: The ability to link personal troubles to public issues by situating biography within historical and social contexts.

Answer 62

Concept: Racial Alienation | Definition: Examines the psychological effects of colonization and the internalization of whiteness among the colonized.

Answer 63

Concept: Discourse of Othering | Definition: Critiques Western representations of the East as a discursive construction used to justify domination and colonialism.

Answer 64

Concept: Hybridity | Definition: Cultural identity is formed through in-between spaces of colonial encounter, creating ambivalence and hybrid subjectivities.

Answer 65

Concept: Subaltern Silencing | Definition: Argues that colonial and academic structures prevent true representation of the subaltern, reinforcing epistemic violence.

Answer 66

Concept: Biopower | Definition: Power is productive, managing populations through knowledge of bodies, sexuality, and life itself.

Answer 67

Concept: Actor-Network Theory | Definition: Challenges the separation of nature and society, arguing that humans and nonhumans form networks of agency.

Answer 68

Concept: Panopticism | Definition: Modern power operates through surveillance, normalization, and discipline rather than overt violence.

Answer 69

Concept: Liquid Modernity | Definition: Describes a postmodern condition of constant change, instability, and individualization in contrast to 'solid' modern structures.

Answer 70

Concept: Plural Modernities | Definition: Modernity is not a single Western trajectory but takes diverse cultural and historical forms globally.

Answer 71

Concept: Structuration Theory | Definition: Social practices are recursively produced through the duality of structure and agency.

Answer 72

Concept: Reflexive Modernization | Definition: Late modernity is characterized by manufactured risks(not goods) and the transformation of institutions and identities.

Answer 73

Concept: Civilizing Process | Definition: Long-term changes in manners and state formation led to increased self-regulation and interdependence in Western Europe.

Answer 74

Concept: Decolonizing Sociology | Definition: Calls for recognition of social theory from the Global South as valid and necessary for global sociology.

Answer 75

Concept: Matrix of Domination | Definition: Interlocking systems of oppression—race, gender, and class—shape the experiences and knowledge of Black women.

Answer 76

Concept: Categorical Inequality | Definition: Inequality persists because social categories are reproduced through organizational practices and social closure.

Answer 77

Concept: World-Systems Theory | Definition: Global capitalism is organized into core, semi-periphery, and periphery regions linked by unequal economic exchange.

Answer 78

Concept: Eurocentrism | Definition: Critiques the ideological dominance of European historical narratives and their universalist claims about modernity.

Answer 79

Concept: Cognitive Justice | Definition: Advocates for the inclusion of non-Western knowledges in global epistemological debates and institutional practices.

Answer 80

Concept: Social Production of Space Definition: Lefebvre argues that space is not a neutral container but is socially produced through political, economic, and symbolic practices. He distinguishes between perceived (everyday spatial practices), conceived (representations by planners, scientists), and lived space (subjective and symbolic experience), emphasizing how capitalist spatial logic shapes urban life and marginalizes alternatives.

Answer 81

Concept: Disalienation through Islamic Consciousness Definition: Shariati calls for a return to an authentic Islamic self as a response to Western cultural imperialism and spiritual alienation. Blending existentialist and Shiʿi thought, he emphasizes self-awareness (khudi) as a revolutionary act that reconnects individuals with divine purpose and collective historical identity.

Answer 82

Concept: Education as Liberation Definition: Du Bois argues that true freedom for African Americans requires more than vocational skills—it demands access to liberal arts education that cultivates critical thought, moral leadership, and historical consciousness. Education, for Du Bois, is not merely instrumental but emancipatory, forming the basis for racial uplift, civic agency, and the development of a cultured elite capable of challenging structural injustice.

Answer 83

Concept: Critique of Geertz’s Definition of Religion Definition: Asad critiques Clifford Geertz’s symbolic definition of religion for assuming a universal, transhistorical essence rooted in meaning-making and belief. He argues that this view decontextualizes religion from power, discipline, and historical specificity. For Asad, religion is not just a system of symbols but a discursive tradition shaped by institutions, practices, and forms of regulation—particularly within the context of Western secular modernity.

Answer 84

Concept: Fusion of Horizons (as Reflexivity) Definition: Gadamer’s “fusion of horizons” describes the dialogical process through which understanding occurs by merging the interpreter’s historical perspective with that of the text or other. This is not relativism, but a reflexive openness to being transformed by the encounter. Reflexivity here means recognizing one’s own historical prejudices and allowing them to be challenged through genuine engagement with the other’s horizon of meaning.

Answer 85

Concept: Islamic Civil Society as Counter-Hegemony Definition: Mardin frames Nursi’s movement as a moral civil society challenging secular modernization, not through opposition but via Islamic reinterpretation. The Nur community fosters ethical literacy and collective piety, illustrating how religious discourse can modernize without secularizing.

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