Perspectives on Sociological Theories, Methodological Debates and Organizational Sociology

330 Pages·2023·8.438 MB·English

by  Medani P. Bhandari

Perspectives on Sociological
Theories, Methodological Debates, and
Organizational Sociology
RIVER PUBLISHERS SERIES IN SOCIAL, URBAN,
ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
Series Editors:
Medani P. Bhandari
Akamai University, USA; Summy State University, Ukraine and Atlantic State Legal Foundation,
NY, USA
Jacek Binda
Rector of the International Affairs, Bielsko-Biala School of Finance and Law, Poland
Durga D. Poudel
University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Louisiana, USA
Hanna Shvindina
Sumy State University, Ukraine
Scott Garner
Asia Environmental Holdings Group (Asia ENV Group), Asia Environmental Daily, Beijing / Hong
Kong, People's Republic of China
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Perspectives on Sociological
Theories, Methodological Debates, and
Organizational Sociology
Medani P. Bhandari
Akamai University, Hawaii, USA;
Sumy State University, Ukraine;
Gandaki University, Nepal
Published 2023 by River Publishers
River Publishers
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Perspectives on Sociological Theories, Methodological Debates, and
Organizational Sociology / by Medani P. Bhandari.
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Dedication
TO MY FRIEND, WIFE, AND COAUTHOR IN CREATING WRITINGS,
MRS. PRAJITA BHANDARI. WITHOUT YOUR HELP AND SUPPORT,
THIS BOOK WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE.
TOGETHER, WE HAVE MILES TO GO
v

Content
Dedication v
Preface xi
Forewords xxi
Acknowledgment lix
List of Figures lxiii
List of Tables lxv
List of Abbreviations lxvii
1 The Major Theories of Sociology, and Contemporary
Development of Organizational Perspectives in Social Sciences 1
Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Founders of Sociology – Theory and Perspectives . . . . . . . . 2
First Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
The Founding Writers of Western Sociology . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Karl Marx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Emile Durkheim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Max Weber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Second Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
The Development of Organizational Theory and the Emergence
of Challenges to the Traditional Rational Approaches to
Understanding the Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Classical Theorists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Third Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Contemporary Theories and Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
vii
viii Content
Fourth Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
The Feminist Approach to Organizational Analysis . . . . . . . 21
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Endnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2 The Debates Between the Quantitative and Qualitative Methods:
An Ontology and Epistemology of the Qualitative Method 61
Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Section 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Debates on Quantitative Versus Qualitative
Historical Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
The Distinction Between Qualitative and Quantitative . . . . . 63
Durkheimian Notion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Ontological Assumptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Max Weber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
The Chicago School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
The Positivist Research Paradigms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Bronislaw Malinowski . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Robert E. Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
The Qualitative Inquiry Accepts the Notion
of Social Variation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Qualitative Ontology and Epistemology . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Qualitative and Quantitative Debate is Still There . . . . . . . 76
The Paradigms of Qualitative Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Theories and Approaches of Qualitative Method . . . . . . . . 78
Phenomenology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Hermeneutical Phenomenology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Symbolic Interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Bridging the Gap Between the Two Methods . . . . . . . . . . 84
Content ix
Section 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Features of Successful Qualitative-based Work by Discussing
Three Exemplary Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Three Successful Examples of Qualitative Research . . . . . . 86
1. William Foote Whyte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
2. Erving Goffman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
3. Robert J. Thomas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Section 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Application of the Qualitative Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Why Qualitative Method? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
3 International Organization and Organizational Sociology
Theories and Perspectives 111
Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112
How Were International Organizations Formed? . . . . . . . .112
The Origin of the Term International Organization . . . . . . .116
Historical Roots of International Organization Studies . . . . .118
Definition of International Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . .119
Types of International Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122
International Organizations in the Contemporary World . . . .123
International Relation (IR) Theory and International
Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126
Regime Theory and International Organizations . . . . . . . .130
Globalization, Organizations, and International
Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132
Organizational Sociology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .138
Organizations as Complex Phenomena . . . . . . . . . . . . .142
Application Network Theory in the Study of International
Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .144