IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jothpo/v2y1990i2p131-149.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Structure and Social Action in Stein Rokkan's Work

Author

Listed:
  • Einar Berntzen
  • Per Selle

Abstract

The article discusses Stein Rokkan's research strategy, i.e. that of retrospectively explaining structural variations, in the light of the crucial problem of modern social science, namely: how to reconcile the sociology of structures and the sociology of action. The authors' hypothesis is that Rokkan, who takes as his point of departure how contexts influence and guide human action does not succeed in his efforts to combine these levels of analysis. Through an analysis of the role played by the `counter cultures' in Rokkan's analyses of Norwegian political development the authors argue that Rokkan's lack of success in this respect is a logical consequence of his structural functional models combined with his retrospective method. Even though Rokkan attributes decisive weight to goal-oriented actions of social groups, their intentions and meaning are introduced post festum , and Rokkan never undertakes any real analysis of the ideologies, resources and strategic choices of political groups.

Suggested Citation

  • Einar Berntzen & Per Selle, 1990. "Structure and Social Action in Stein Rokkan's Work," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 2(2), pages 131-149, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jothpo:v:2:y:1990:i:2:p:131-149
    DOI: 10.1177/0951692890002002001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0951692890002002001
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0951692890002002001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wildavsky, Aaron, 1987. "Choosing Preferences by Constructing Institutions: A Cultural Theory of Preference Formation," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 81(1), pages 3-21, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sun-Ki Chai & Dolgorsuren Dorj & Katerina Sherstyuk, 2018. "Cultural Values and Behavior in Dictator, Ultimatum, and Trust Games: An Experimental Study," Research in Experimental Economics, in: Experimental Economics and Culture, volume 20, pages 89-166, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    2. Emre Toros, 2010. "The Relationship Between Islam and Democracy in Turkey: Employing Political Culture as an Indicator," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 95(2), pages 253-265, January.
    3. Michael Hechter, 1994. "The Role of Values in Rational Choice Theory," Rationality and Society, , vol. 6(3), pages 318-333, July.
    4. Woll, Cornelia, 2005. "Learning to Act on World Trade: Preference Formation of Large Firms in the United States and the European Union," MPIfG Discussion Paper 05/1, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    5. Kauder, Björn & Potrafke, Niklas & Ursprung, Heinrich, 2018. "Behavioral determinants of proclaimed support for environment protection policies," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 26-41.
    6. Henry J. Aaron, 1994. "Distinguished Lecture on Economics in Government: Public Policy, Values, and Consciousness," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 8(2), pages 3-21, Spring.
    7. Metodi Sotirov & Georg Winkel, 2016. "Toward a cognitive theory of shifting coalitions and policy change: linking the advocacy coalition framework and cultural theory," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 49(2), pages 125-154, June.
    8. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/8529 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. J. Travis Bland & Adam M. Williams, 2019. "Collaborative Ties Within: Public Organizations and the Latent Capacity for Advice Network Formation," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 367-386, September.
    10. Eyert, Florian & Irgmaier, Florian & Ulbricht, Lena, 2022. "Extending the framework of algorithmic regulation. The Uber case," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 16(1), pages 23-44.
    11. Brock, J. Michelle, 2020. "Unfair inequality, governance and individual beliefs," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 658-687.
    12. Unni Edvardsen, 1997. "A Cultural Approach to Understanding Modes of Transition to Democracy," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 9(2), pages 211-234, April.
    13. Cornelia Woll, 2005. "Learning to Act on World Trade. Preference Formation of Large Firms in the United States and the European Union," Working Papers hal-01065571, HAL.
    14. Daniel Bertram & Ammar Maleki & Niels Karsten, 2020. "Factoring in Societal Culture in Policy Transfer Design: the Proliferation of Private Sponsorship of Refugees," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 253-271, March.
    15. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/8529 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. van de Graaff, Shashi, 2016. "Understanding the nuclear controversy: An application of cultural theory," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 50-59.
    17. Partha Dasgupta, 2005. "Economics of Social Capital," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 81(s1), pages 2-21, August.
    18. Ruikun An & Feng Wang & Jiro Sakurai & Hideki Kitagawa, 2024. "Willing or Not? Rural Residents’ Willingness to Pay for Ecosystem Conservation in Economically Underdeveloped Regions: A Case Study in China’s Qinling National Park," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-17, March.
    19. Abdul Halik & Marco Verweij & Achim Schlüter, 2018. "How Marine Protected Areas Are Governed: A Cultural Theory Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-23, January.
    20. Gregory Kivenzor, 2015. "Cultural dynamics and marketing strategies for emerging markets: characterization of group subcultures and consumption preferences," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 5(3), pages 142-158, December.
    21. Francesco Di Maria & Amani Maalouf, 2023. "Application of Entropy-Based Ecologic Indicators for Intrinsic Sustainability Assessment of EU27 Member States Waste Management Systems at Technosphere Level," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, January.
    22. Rachael M. Moyer, 2022. "Images of controversy: Examining cognition of hydraulic fracturing among policy elites and the general public," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 39(4), pages 441-467, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:jothpo:v:2:y:1990:i:2:p:131-149. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.