Practising Spatial Theories Literature
Inhoud
Literature Lecture 1
Brock, T. (2023): Welcome to Social Theory. Chapter 1:
Introduction
Some important things:
- Behind every theorist and every concept there is a philosophical
assumption about how the world ‘works’
- Social theory is about gathering new insights into life about things
previously taken for granted.
- Interconnectedness between theories and ideas
- Watch out for Eurocentrism which dominates the historical development of
social theory.
Main points of the whole book are highlighted.
Social theory involves ‘thinking’ about the social world. It’s about explaining how
a social event occurs or why a specific person or group behaves in a particular or
patternable way, but also about learning to think theoretically: learning from
ideas to use them to explain and understand some kind of experience or general
processes within the world. Social theory proposes ways of making sense of
society through reasoned consideration of why things happen.
Three branches of social thought:
1. Consensus: focus on role of human socialization and learned behavior in
explaining the order and predictability of societies.
2. Conflict: focus on conflicts that societies generate, whether as a result of
either socioeconomic and cultural inequalities or because conflict is an
inevitable part of human life.
3. Action: focus on the interpretations of individual actors and how these
interpretations shape or construct orderly behavior in society. (social
reality is constructed)
Other turns:
4. Linguistic turn: focus on role of language in shaping communication and
meaning
5. Materialist and affective turns: to do with materialism, set of perspectives
that share an interest in discussing the properties and agency of material
, things while raising important questions about how human relate to non-
humans.
Frequent themes in social theory
1. Structure and agency
2. Knowledge
a. Three ontological positions: realism, idealism and skepticism.
Different ideas about reality and the knowledge you can gain from
it.
b. Social epistemology: how social theories intend to study what they
think of as ‘real’ or not in the world.
3. Modernity
a. Concerning what society is like, how it operates and the direction in
which it is going.
Manouchehrifar (2024): Thinking Sideways: A Plea for “Weak
Theory”
Examination of the implications of interdisciplinary debates on the power of
‘weak theory’ for planning practice. Concept of ‘weak theory’ is significant for
understanding cities and informing city planning practices. It can promote
intellectual diversity and enhance planning practice by making theory less
dogmatic and more accessible.
Time of using strong theory in planning is over, now time for more weak theory.
Many debates on the reaches and limits of weak theory.
In some fields, it is crucial getting to know unfamiliar ideas and practices, with
different identities and traditions. Can make you see voices you otherwise didn’t
know off.
Weak theory is a way of thinking and theorizing about cities and city planning
that embraces doubt and emphasizes specificity and mid-level generalizations. It
makes no claims to certainty and welcomes improvisation. It is undisturbed by
inconclusiveness and appreciates provisional practices and unintended
consequences. It does not try to defend itself at every moment against criticism
and refutation.
It suggests that strong theoretical accounts are not the one-and-only ‘good’ ways
to help planners understand the complexity of urban phenomena and address the
lasting problems of injustice in contemporary cities.
, Swedberg (2016): Before theory comes theorizing or how to
make social science more interesting
Sociology and social science in general are hold back by the lack of attention
being paid to theory.
There is more attention for practical research with methods than theoretical
research.
More theorizing will also make social science more interesting. Students have to
learn how to make theory.
Theorizing = the process that comes before a theory is presented in its final
form.
Peirce’s model of theorizing:
- Abduction: come up with an idea for explaining a fact
- Deduction: making hypotheses
- Induction: testing part
Things that are needed to handle theory well according to Hughes
- The sociological eye
- Concepts
Importance of imagination and creativity.
Some interesting scientific facts about learning:
- You learn more if you do learning in different environments.
- If you want to teach/learn five different types of X, you learn better if you
discuss them all at the same time.
- Not repetition, but retrieval is the most efficient way to learn.
Inhoud
Literature Lecture 1
Brock, T. (2023): Welcome to Social Theory. Chapter 1:
Introduction
Some important things:
- Behind every theorist and every concept there is a philosophical
assumption about how the world ‘works’
- Social theory is about gathering new insights into life about things
previously taken for granted.
- Interconnectedness between theories and ideas
- Watch out for Eurocentrism which dominates the historical development of
social theory.
Main points of the whole book are highlighted.
Social theory involves ‘thinking’ about the social world. It’s about explaining how
a social event occurs or why a specific person or group behaves in a particular or
patternable way, but also about learning to think theoretically: learning from
ideas to use them to explain and understand some kind of experience or general
processes within the world. Social theory proposes ways of making sense of
society through reasoned consideration of why things happen.
Three branches of social thought:
1. Consensus: focus on role of human socialization and learned behavior in
explaining the order and predictability of societies.
2. Conflict: focus on conflicts that societies generate, whether as a result of
either socioeconomic and cultural inequalities or because conflict is an
inevitable part of human life.
3. Action: focus on the interpretations of individual actors and how these
interpretations shape or construct orderly behavior in society. (social
reality is constructed)
Other turns:
4. Linguistic turn: focus on role of language in shaping communication and
meaning
5. Materialist and affective turns: to do with materialism, set of perspectives
that share an interest in discussing the properties and agency of material
, things while raising important questions about how human relate to non-
humans.
Frequent themes in social theory
1. Structure and agency
2. Knowledge
a. Three ontological positions: realism, idealism and skepticism.
Different ideas about reality and the knowledge you can gain from
it.
b. Social epistemology: how social theories intend to study what they
think of as ‘real’ or not in the world.
3. Modernity
a. Concerning what society is like, how it operates and the direction in
which it is going.
Manouchehrifar (2024): Thinking Sideways: A Plea for “Weak
Theory”
Examination of the implications of interdisciplinary debates on the power of
‘weak theory’ for planning practice. Concept of ‘weak theory’ is significant for
understanding cities and informing city planning practices. It can promote
intellectual diversity and enhance planning practice by making theory less
dogmatic and more accessible.
Time of using strong theory in planning is over, now time for more weak theory.
Many debates on the reaches and limits of weak theory.
In some fields, it is crucial getting to know unfamiliar ideas and practices, with
different identities and traditions. Can make you see voices you otherwise didn’t
know off.
Weak theory is a way of thinking and theorizing about cities and city planning
that embraces doubt and emphasizes specificity and mid-level generalizations. It
makes no claims to certainty and welcomes improvisation. It is undisturbed by
inconclusiveness and appreciates provisional practices and unintended
consequences. It does not try to defend itself at every moment against criticism
and refutation.
It suggests that strong theoretical accounts are not the one-and-only ‘good’ ways
to help planners understand the complexity of urban phenomena and address the
lasting problems of injustice in contemporary cities.
, Swedberg (2016): Before theory comes theorizing or how to
make social science more interesting
Sociology and social science in general are hold back by the lack of attention
being paid to theory.
There is more attention for practical research with methods than theoretical
research.
More theorizing will also make social science more interesting. Students have to
learn how to make theory.
Theorizing = the process that comes before a theory is presented in its final
form.
Peirce’s model of theorizing:
- Abduction: come up with an idea for explaining a fact
- Deduction: making hypotheses
- Induction: testing part
Things that are needed to handle theory well according to Hughes
- The sociological eye
- Concepts
Importance of imagination and creativity.
Some interesting scientific facts about learning:
- You learn more if you do learning in different environments.
- If you want to teach/learn five different types of X, you learn better if you
discuss them all at the same time.
- Not repetition, but retrieval is the most efficient way to learn.
