Concepts and Society [Paperback]

The main concern of Dr Jarvies book is the relation of belief to action. He argues that people act in society because of beliefs, because of the way they see things. There is the world of physical and social conditioning  where fixed roles, tropisms, adaptations seem to operate; there is the world of mind  where action, alternatively, seems to originate; but then there is Karl Poppers third world  where dwell the objects of thought (ideals, theories, beliefs, values) which directly affect how people act, and thus affect the way the world is. Reform, change, improvement, modification, all proceed from the competitive interaction between our private beliefs about the world, and their third world brothers. Jarvie contends that the struggle of privately held beliefs to realize themselves in the world through the actions of their believers is a fundamental force behind social change.

Part 1. Preliminaries  1. The Logic of the Situation  2. Understanding and Explaining in the Social Sciences  Part 2. Case Studies 3. Between Adult and Child: Notes on the Teenage Problem  4. The Idea of Social Class  Part 3. Concepts and Society 5. The Sociology of Knowledge Reconsidered  6. Concepts and Society