Social Theory, Social Values and Social Change

• In Event: 377 - Section on Sociological Practice and Public Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 01. Policy Research Table

Abstract

This paper is a discussion of the role values can play in social theorizing and the role theorizing can and should play in promoting social change. Social theorizing has the potential to expand the realm of human freedom by identifying the possibilities and consequences of human action. While social theorizing cannot identify the “ correct” moral position toward the world, it can broaden the context of reflection within which we make our moral choices and better enable us to think through the consequences of the actions we take in defense of the values we choose. When we theorize we should be mindful of the position we occupy in the intellectual life and social structure of our time and the values we wish to further. Making sense of social life can contribute toward changing it. The paper examines recent works by Charles Murray, Michelle Alexander and Thomas Piketty to illustrate how making sense of social life can help change it. Good theorizing addresses important social problems. Theorizing social change should take the form of an account of the various means through which the way things are can be transformed into the way things would need to be for the problem addressed to be solved. It should also include an account of the likely side effects of employing each of the alternative means available. The paper concludes by using Weber’s “ethics of intent” and “ethics of responsibility” to identify the moral quandaries people active in movements of social change face.

Author

• Devereaux Kennedy, Grand Valley State University