Category Archives: Musings on Sociological Theory

The Pedagogical Dead-End Known as “Classical” Sociological Theory

Posted on September 20, 2019 by Seth Abrutyn

This is the first in a series of (increasingly more practical) posts about teaching classical theory; or, perhaps, not teaching it. I have written about  this elsewhere, recently tweeted a thread, and recently recorded two different podcasts (here and here) … Continue reading →

Posted in Musings on Sociological Theory, Teaching | 4 Comments

On Institutional Entrepreneurship

Posted on August 2, 2019 by Seth Abrutyn

For the most part, social scientists either intentionally/unintentionally make vague the unit of selection, or what is being selected on (Runciman 2009; also, a previous post), or turn to the meme or something analogous (Blute 2010; Lenski 2005). But, much cultural evolution … Continue reading →

Posted in Evolution, Musings on Sociological Theory, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Sociocultural Evolution: Universal Human Concerns

Posted on May 13, 2019 by Seth Abrutyn

When I first began writing about institutional evolution (Abrutyn 2009), I was continually confronted with the same problem functionalists had – e.g., why does every society have a “polity” or a “kinship” system? That is, there is something seemingly biological … Continue reading →

Posted in Evolution, Musings on Sociological Theory | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Does Sociology Have Laws? (Spoiler Alert, Yes it Does!)

Posted on April 5, 2019 by Seth Abrutyn

Yesterday, I was sitting in a faculty retreat and we were discussing whether we needed to restructure the department given the continuous growth of faculty and the increasing number and complexity of exigencies the Head must deal with; exigencies which … Continue reading →

Posted in Musings on Sociological Theory | Tagged , , | 2 Comments