UMass Boston

Course Overview

Description

Social theory is trained reflection on ways of knowing social life. But it is not only this, and it never begins purely as trained reflection. Social theory arises first and foremost from everyday life, from an enormous variety of contexts of conversation, discussion, and interaction between ordinary people. These are the same contexts that lead to the formation of such things as social movements, political parties, trade unions, and organized mass actions such as consumption, strikes, and revolutions. Social theory emerges from these contexts and is only a more reflective expression of the disputes and agendas that dominate ordinary communication about social and political issues. It is itself a social and political issues. It is itself a social product with a multitude of everyday contexts of origination.