Concepts are central tools of sociology: They shape how social phenomena are delineated, classified, and interpreted. Today, sociological work with concepts faces new challenges – ranging from internal disciplinary pressures for innovation to broader political struggles over meaning. The questions addressed by this special issue are therefore both timely and fundamental: How do sociological concepts emerge? How do they evolve over the course of research and application? And what different forms of conceptual practice can be identified within the discipline? The collected contributions offer orientation and open up space for debate on one of sociology’s key metatheoretical concerns. With contributions by Fabian Anicker| Elena Beregow | Jenni Brichzin | Lena M. Friedrich | Sascha Münnich | Karl-Dieter Opp | Kurt Rachlitz | Tilman Reitz | Wolfgang LudwigSchneider | Thomas Schwinn | Janna Vogl The Book will also be available in open access upon publication.
Subversive Begriffe. Anti-essentialistische Begriffsbildung als paradigmatische Theorietechnik – und wo sie in der Gegenwart an Grenzen stößtPages 274 - 308
Zur begrifflichen Architektur des Parsons’schen Theorieprogramms: Iteration und re-entry der Leitunterscheidungen als analytische Figuren der TheorieentfaltungPages 309 - 360
The Context of Discovery in the Social Sciences: The Heuristic Value of Concepts, the Theorizing Approach, and the Goals-Beliefs HeuristicPages 361 - 396
