The place of comparative methods in Theda Skocpol’s theory of revolution. Cover Image

Miejsce metody porównawczej w teorii rewolucji Thedy Skocpol.
The place of comparative methods in Theda Skocpol’s theory of revolution.

An attempt at an explication within the conceptual framework of the idealizational theory of science

Author(s): Krzysztof Brzechczyn
Subject(s): Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Philosophical Traditions, Special Branches of Philosophy
Published by: Uniwersytet Warszawski - Wydział Filozofii i Socjologii, Instytut Filozofii
Keywords: idealization; theory of revolution; comparative method; comparative historical sociology; Theda Skocpol

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this article is to explicate the basic types of comparative methods used in Theda Skocpol’s States and Social Revolution within the conceptual framework of the Idealizational Theory of Science, and to determine the usefulness and place of the comparative methods in the structure of the idealizational theory. In the introduction, I outline a characterization of comparative-historical sociology. Some classifications of comparative analysis are presented in section 1. An analysis of comparative methods used in Skocpol’s theory of revolutions and what methodological discussion it stimulated is outlined in section 2. Section 3 presents the key tenets of the idealizational theory of science and in section 4 the basic types of comparative analysis (parallel, contrast oriented, and macro-causal) are explicated within the conceptual framework of this theory, thus allowing to locate these methods in the idealizational approach to science. In the final section, I consider the status of the theory of revolution developed in historical-comparative sociology in light of the vision of the history of scientific knowledge provided by the idealizational approach to science.

  • Issue Year: 24/2016
  • Issue No: 4 (96)
  • Page Range: 49-72
  • Page Count: 24
  • Language: Polish