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SUBSTANCE AND STYLE: AN APPRAISAL OF THE SOCIOLOGICAL LEGACY OF HERBERT BLUMER
Author(s) -
Stryker Sheldon
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
symbolic interaction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.874
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1533-8665
pISSN - 0195-6086
DOI - 10.1525/si.1988.11.1.33
Subject(s) - symbolic interactionism , argumentation theory , interactionism , sociology , style (visual arts) , epistemology , the symbolic , pragmatism , social science , psychology , psychoanalysis , philosophy , archaeology , history
The substance and the style of Herbert Blumer's legacy to sociology are examined. Examining the former proceeds by specifying essentials and nonessentials of a symbolic interactionist framework, and by distinguishing between Blumer's ideas that do and do not contribute toward the objective of general explanatory theory premised on the framework together with rigorous tests of such theory using a full arsenal of research methods and techniques. Examining the latter proceeds by suggesting that Blumer's style of combative and oppositional argumentation, while not without its utility, has contributed to a present‐day scholasticism within symbolic interactionism that inhibits the development of the framework.