Lecture 1: Concepts

September 28, 2010

Theoretical FrameworkFrom Connelly et al:

“A framework is a system of ideas or conceptual structures that help us “see” the social world, understand it, explain it, and change it. A framework guides our thinking, research, and action. It provides us with a systematic way of examining social issues and providing recommendations for change.

Connelly et al (2)

A framework consists of basic assumptions about the nature of the social world and how it works and about the nature of people and how they act. For example, some people assume that society is basically harmonious and that harmony results from a set of shared values. Others assume that society is in conflict and that conflict is rooted in class, race, and gender struggles over power and access to and control over resources.”

Why are there so many frameworks?

Historical change (relationship between theory and history)

Differences in Social context Different lived experiences Different agendas of change, different

problems

Frameworks: Mainstream and Critical

Robert W. Cox describes the difference between problem-solving and critical theory in this way: "[problem solving theory] takes the world as it finds it, with the prevailing social and power relationships and the institutions into which they are organized, as the given framework for action. The general aim of problem solving is to make these relationships and institutions work smoothly..”

Critical theory

"stands apart from the prevailing order of the world and asks how that order came about. Critical theory ... does not take institutions and social power relations for granted but calls them into question by concerning itself with their origins and how and whether they might be in the process of changing.

Central Concepts

• Structures; structure and agency • State formations • social relations • Political economy and Production; • Inequality & Difference (class, gender,

race) • Culture and identity

What are structures?

“Persistent social practices made by collective human activity and transformed by collective human activity”.. (Cox)

Structures

structures comprise of Norms and values Institutions Behaviour patterns (individual and

collective)

Structures are engendered through a historical process – hence the term historical structures

Structures

Are historically engendered

InstitutionsMaterialCapabilities

Ideas

Historical structures

Consist of 3 dimensions (from Cox)

Social Forces

Forms of state World Orders

Agency

“Agency is the ability to identify objectives for change and act and bring about change”, Amartya Sen in Development as Freedom, 1997. Sen is Nobel Prize winning economist. Read about him here.

Agency is the ability to define ones goals and act upon them, even in the face of opposition. This action brings about a transformation from disempowerment to empowerment (Based on Naila Kabeer 1999:438). Kabeer is a feminist development theorist. Read about her here

Types of agency

Individual Collective Institutions Can you give examples?Let us watch a short video on Kerala,

India

Kudumbashree: a women’s movement

http://www.youtube.com/womenandchange

Different frameworks for undertsanding the State

What is the state? an organized political community occupying a definite territory, having an organized government, and possessing internal and external sovereignty

Three understandings of the state: Liberal, institutionalist, critical

Liberal

the state’s role is to protect life, liberty and property.

Best performed by a liberal democracy

Institutionalist

State’s function is to fill gaps that individual and market actions create

Distribution; welfare; public services welfare state (what is it? Is Canada a

welfare state)

Critical theory of the state

Critical theory will distinguish between what we want the state to be (normative) and what the real-existing state is

State is a site of power Reflects existing social relations,

power relations State is not equal to government