Time Matters

by Abbott, Andrew

• ISBN13: 9780226001036
• ISBN10: 0226001032
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-07-15
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

What do variables really tell us? When exactly do inventions occur? Why do we always miss turning points as they transpire? When does what doesn't happen mean as much, if not more, than what does? Andrew Abbott considers these fascinating questions in Time Matters, a diverse series of essays that constitutes the most extensive analysis of temporality in social science today. Ranging from abstract theoretical reflection to pointed methodological critique, Abbott demonstrates the inevitably theoretical character of any methodology. Time Matters focuses particularly on questions of time, events, and causality. Abbott grounds each essay in straightforward examinations of actual social scientific analyses. Throughout, he demonstrates the crucial assumptions we make about causes and events, about actors and interaction and about time and meaning every time we employ methods of social analysis, whether in academic disciplines, market research, public opinion polling, or even evaluation research. Turning current assumptions on their heads, Abbott not only outlines the theoretical orthodoxies of empirical social science, he sketches new alternatives, laying down foundations for a new body of social theory.

Author Biography

Andrew Abbott is the Gustavus F. and Ann M. Swift Distinguished Service Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago. He is author of Chaos of Disciplines, Department and Discipline, and The System of Professions.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	ix
Prologue An Autobiographical Introduction	1	(36)
PART ONE METHODS AND ASSUMPTIONS
Transcending General Linear Reality	37	(27)
Seven Types of Ambiguity	64	(33)
The Causal Devolution	97	(32)
PART TWO TIME AND METHOD
What Do Cases Do?	129	(32)
Conceptions of Time and Events in Social Science Methods	161	(22)
From Causes to Events	183	(26)
PART THREE TIME AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE
Temporality and Process in Social Life	209	(31)
On the Concept of Turning Point	240	(21)
Things of Boundaries	261	(19)
Epilogue Time Matters	280	(19)
References	299	(14)
Index	313