The purpose of this paper is to describe an integrated (meta) theoretical framework that I call anti-reductionist sociology: this entails a focus on agency, structure (the `conditions-of-action'), and social chance; micro-macro; and time-space. What follows allows only for a sketch of the framework; I have published fuller theoretical, methodological and policy-related accounts elsewhere. Anti-reductionist sociology is a sensitising theoretical perspective, not a body of substantive theory. This differentiation has an affinity with Mouzelis's (1993:684) distinction between methodological generalisations and substantive generalisations, the present paper being concerned with the former. In Cohen's terminology (1987:279-80) the approach outlined in the paper is ontologically flexible and in some sense electic: while explicitly excluding reductionist, essentialist, reified and teleological formulations, anti-reductionist sociology is a synthetic metatheoretical framework designed to encourage the development of substantive theories that are not necessarily tied to any particular paradigm.
Abrams, P. 1982. Historical Sociology. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
2.
Bauman, Z. 1992. `Foreword', in F. Crespi, Social Action and Power. Oxford: Blackwell.
3.
Berger, P. 1969. The Social Reality of Religion. London: Faber and Faber.
4.
Berger, P. and Luckmann, T. 1972. The Social Construction of Reality. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
5.
Betts, K.1986. `The Conditions of Action, Power, and the Problem of Interests'. Sociological Review34:39-64.
6.
Boudon, R. 1986. Theories of Social Change. Oxford: Polity Press.
7.
Braithwaite, J.1994. `A Sociology of Modelling and the Politics of Empowerment'. British Journal of Sociology45:444-479.
8.
Bryant, C. 1995. Practical Sociology: Post-empiricism and the Reconstruction of Theory and Application. Cambridge, Polity Press.
9.
Callon, M. 1986. `Some Elements of a Sociology of Translation: Domestication of the Scallops and the Fishermen of St. Brieuc Bay', in J. Law (ed.), Power, Action and Belief: A New Sociology of Knowledge?London: Routledge.
10.
Callon, M. 1991. `Techno-Economic Networks and Irreversibility', in J. Law (ed.), A Sociology of Monsters: Essays on Power, Technology and Domination. London: Routledge.
11.
Callon, M. and Latour, B. 1981. `Unscrewing and the Big Leviathan: How Actors Macro-Structure Reality and How Sociologists Help Them to Do So', in K. Knorr-Cetina and A. V. Cicourel (eds.), Advances in Social Theory and Methodology: Towards an Integration of Micro-And Macro-Sociology. London: Routledge.
12.
Charon, J. M. 1995. Symbolic Interactionism. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
13.
Clegg, S. 1989. Frameworks of Power. London: Sage.
14.
Cohen, I. 1989. Structuration Theory: Anthony Giddens and the Constitution of Social Life. London: Macmillan.
15.
Cohen, I. 1987. `Structuration Theory and Social Praxis', in A. Giddens and J. Turner (eds.), Social Theory Today. Cambridge: Polity Press.
16.
Cohen, P. 1968. Modern Social Theory. London: Heinemann.
Elias, N. 1978. What is Sociology?London: Hutchinson.
19.
Eyerman, R. and Jamison, A. 1991. Social Movements: A Cognitive Approach. Oxford: Polity Press.
20.
Fararo, T. J. 1992. The Meaning of General Theoretical Sociology: Tradition and Formalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
21.
Foucault, M. 1972. The Archaeology of Knowledge. New York: Pantheon Books.
22.
Foucault, M. 1980a. Power/Knowledge. New York: Pantheon.
23.
Foucault, M. 1980b. The History of Secuality. New York: Vintage Books.
24.
Foucault, M. 1982. `The Subject and Power' in H. L. Dreyfus and P. Rabinow, Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics, with an Afterword by Michel Foucault. Brighton: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
25.
Freund, J. 1970. The Sociology of Max Weber. London: Allen Lane.
26.
Giddens, A. 1979. Central Problems in Social Theory: Action, Structure and Contradition in Social Analysis. London: Macmillan.
27.
Giddens, A. 1984. The Constitution of Society. Cambridge: Polity Press.
28.
Giddens, A. 1993. New Rules of Sociological Method, 2nd edn.Cambridge: Polity Press.
29.
Goldthorpe, J. H. and Marshall, G.1992. `The Promising Future of Class Analysis'Sociology26:381-400.
30.
Gurnah, A. and Scott, A. 1992. The Uncertain Science: Criticism of Sociological Formalism. London: Routledge.
31.
Hamilton, P. 1974. Knowledge and Social Structure. London: Routledge.
32.
Harre, R. 1981. `Philosophical Aspects of the Micro-Macro Problem', in K. C. Knorr-Cetina and A. V. Cicourel (eds.), Advances in Social Theory and Methodology: Towards an Integration of Micro-And Macro-Sociologies. London: Routledge.
33.
Hindess, B.1982. `Power, Interests and the Outcomes of Struggles'. Sociology16:498-511.
34.
Hindess, B. 1986a. `Actors and Social Relations'. in M. L. Wardell and S. P. Turner (eds.), Sociological Theory in Transition. London: Allen and Unwin.
35.
Hindess, B. 1986b. `Interests in Political Analysis', in J. Law (ed.), Power, Action and Belief: A New Sociology of Knowledge?London: Routledge.
36.
Hindess, B. 1987. Politics and Class Analysis. Oxford: Blackwell.
37.
Hindess, B. 1988. Choice, Rationality and Social Theory. London: Unwin Hyman.
38.
Hindess, B. 1989. Political Choice and Social Structure: An Analysis of Actions, Interests and Rationality. London: Edward Elgar.
39.
Hindess, B. 1990. `Liberty and Equality', in B. Hindess (ed.), Reactions to the Right. London: Routledge.
40.
Hindess, B. 1996. Discourses of Power: From Hobbes to Foucault. Oxford: Blackwell.
41.
Holmwood, J. 1996. Founding Sociology? Talcott Parsons and the Idea of General Theory. London and New York: Longman.
42.
Holzner, B. 1978. `The Construction of Social Actors: An Essay on Social Identities', in T. Luckman (ed.), Phenomenology and Sociology. Harmondsworth, Midx: Penguin.
43.
Jackson, N. and Carter, P.1991. `In Defence of Paradigm Incommensurability'. Organization Studies12:109-127.
44.
Joas, H. 1987. `Symbolic Interactionism', in A. Giddens and J. Turner (eds.), Social Theory Today. Cambridge: Polity Press.
45.
Keane, J. and Held, D. 1984. `Reflections on the Welfare State and the Future of Socialism: An Interview', pp. 252-299 in C. Offe (ed.), Contradictions of the Welfare State. London: Hutchinson.
46.
Kellner, D. 1990. `The Postmodern Turn: Positions, Problems and Prospects', in G. Ritzer (ed.), Frontiers of Social Theory: The New Syntheses. New York: Columbia University Press.
47.
Kickert, W. , Klijn, E.-H. and Koppenjan, J. F. M. (eds.), 1997. Managing Complex Networks: Strategies for the Public Sector. London: Sage.
48.
Lash, S. and Friedman, J. 1992. `Introduction: Subjectivity and Modernity's Other', in S. Lash and J. Friedman (eds.), Modernity and Identity. Oxford: Blackwell.
49.
Latour, B. 1986. `The Powers of Association', in J. Law (ed.), Power, Action and Belief: A New Sociology of Knowledge?London: Routledge.
50.
Latour, B. 1991. `Technology is Science Made Durable', in J. Law (ed.), A Sociology of Monsters: Essays on Power, Technology and Domination. London: Routledge.
51.
Law, J.1986. `On Power and Its Tactics: A View from the Sociology of Science'. Sociological Review34:1-38.
52.
Law, J. 1991. `Power, Discretion and Strategy', in J. Law (ed.), A Sociology of Monsters: Essays on Power, Technology and Domination. London: Routledge.
53.
Law, J. 1994. Organizing Modernity. Oxford: Blackwell.
54.
Layder, D. 1994. Understanding Social Theory. London: Sage.
55.
Layder, D. 1997. Modern Social Theory: Key Debates and New Directions. London: UCL Press.
56.
Leyshon, A. and Thrift, N. 1997. Money/Space. London: Routledge.
57.
Lyman, S. and Scott, M. 1970. A Sociology of the Absurd. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
58.
Mannheim, K. 1950. Diagnosis of our Time. London: Routledge.
59.
Marsh, D.1995. `Explaining “Thatcherite” policies: Beyond Uni-dimensional Explanation'. Political Studies43:595-613.
60.
McLennan, G.1995. `After Postmodernism: Back to Sociological Theory?'Sociology29:117-132.
61.
Miller, P. and Rose, N.1988. `The Tavistock Programme: The Government of Subjectivity and Social Life'. Sociology22:171-192.
62.
Miller, P. and Rose, N. 1993. `Governing Economic Life', in M. Gane and T. Johnson (eds.), Foucault's New Domains. London: Routledge.
63.
Montesquieu, C. de S. 1965. Considerations on the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline. New York, Free Press.
64.
Mouzelis, N. 1991. Back to Sociological Theory: The Social Construction of Social Orders. London: Macmillan.
65.
Mouzelis, N.1993. `The Poverty of Sociological Theory'. Sociology27:675-695.
66.
Mouzelis, N. 1995. Sociological Theory: What Went Wrong? Diagnosis and Remedies. London: Routledge.
67.
Mouzelis, N.1996. `After Postmodernism: A Reply to Gregor McLennan', Sociology30:131-135.
68.
Popper, K. R. 1957. The Poverty of Historicism. London: Routledge.
69.
Ritzer, G. 1990. `Macro-Micro Linkages in Sociology: Applying a Metatheoretical Tool', in G. Ritzer (ed.), Frontiers of Social Theory: The New Syntheses. New York: Columbia University Press.
70.
Rose, N. and Miller, P.1992. `Political Power Beyond the State: Problematics of Government'. British Journal of Sociology43:173-205.
71.
Scott, A. 1990. Ideology and the New Social Movements. London: Unwin Hyman.
72.
Scott, J.1988. `Trend Report: Social Network Analysis'. Sociology22:109-127.
73.
Seidman, S. 1992. `Postmodern Theory as Narrative with a Moral Intent', in S. Seidman and D. Wagner (eds.), Postmodernism and Social Theory. Oxford: Blackwell.
74.
Sibeon, R. 1996. Contemporary Sociology and Policy Analysis: The New Sociology of Public Policy. London: Kogan Page and Tudor.
75.
Sibeon, R. 1998. `Governance and the Postnational Policy Process', in Mairtin Mac an Ghaill (ed.), Future Worlds: Migrations and Globalization. London: Macmillan.
76.
Sibeon, R. 1999a. Sociological Theory Today. London: Sage.
77.
Sibeon, R. 1999b. `Power and Social Action Beyond the State' in J. Chriss (ed.), The Therapeutic State. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
78.
Smith, M.1993. `Changing Sociological Perspectives on Chance'. Sociology27:513-531.
79.
Smith, M. J. 1993. Pressure, Power and Policy: State Autonomy and Policy Networks in Britain and the United States. London: Harvester.
80.
Stones, R. 1996. Sociological Reasoning: Towards a Past-Modern Sociology. London: Macmillan.
81.
Sztompka, P. 1993. The Sociology of Social Change. Oxford: Blackwell.
82.
Touraine, A. 1981. The Voice and the Eye: An Analysis of Social Movements. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
83.
Unger, R. M. 1987. Social Theory: Its Situation and Its Task. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
84.
Weber, M. 1949. The Methodology of the Social Sciences, trans. E. A. Shils and H. A. Finch. New York: Free Press.
85.
Wilsford, D.1994. `Path Dependency, or Why History Makes It Difficult but Not Impossible to Reform Health Care Systems in a Big Way'. Journal of Public Policy14:251-283.
