Radical Structuralism Discussion Questions
From SandeepPurao
Discussion
- Theorists in the functionalist quadrant are committed to the so-called 'march of progress.' At what seems to be the other exreme, theorists in the radical structuralist quadrant are committed to 'overthrowing the regime.' Yet, they share "ontological and epistemological commitments." Do you agree? What are these commitments?
- This paradigm is dominated by Marxian ideology. A key idea in his ideology is 'contradiction' leading to 'revolutionary overthrow' of status quo. For Marx, what role does the individual play in in this course of events?
- Other key ideas include 'substructure' and 'relations of production' that lead to identification of classes in society. What effect do you think ideas such as 'employee stock ownership,' and 'employee participation in management' would have on Marx's argument?
- Following the 'conflict theory' perspective, that originates with Radical Weberianism, Dahrendorf and Rex provide interesting descriptions that remind us of ideas in politics such as multi-party system, interest groups, co-opting agendas from other parties etc. A key to understanding these descriptions is the role of "power" instead of "contradiction." How are these two different? What is the consequence of emphasizing this distinction?
- Explain the idea of 'totality' that underlies much theorizing in this quadrant. What are its ontological assumptions? What does this mean for the role of the individual? How does the Althusserian view interpret totality? What was Bukharin's perspective on totality? How did the idea of totality 'require' overthrow following a Marxian perspective?
- Returning to the discussion from question 1 above, this paradigm shares the assumption of "society as ontologically prior to individual." What do these words mean for you, as a researcher? How does it affect your epistemological stance?
