printOn the Question of the Concepts’ Specificity in Sociology
Kliucharev G.A.
Dr. Sci. (Philos.), Head of the Center for Sociology of Education and Science of the Institute of Sociology of FCTAS RAS; Professor of the Department of Philosophy, Sociology and Law named after G. S. Arefiev of the NRU “Moscow Power Engineering Institute"; Editor-in-Chief of the journal “Sociological Studies”, Moscow, Russia Kliucharev@mail.ru
Kliucharev G.A. On the Question of the Concepts’ Specificity in Sociology. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2025. No 10. P. 3-14
What philosophers consider as conceptual thinking, sociologists attribute to theoretical tools, the result of operationalization in the process of working with empirical data. The necessary abstraction is limited by the recognition of the special role of subjectivity and social determination of cognition. In this transcendental-empirical space, sociological concepts are born, evolve and disappear into oblivion. They are the result of cognition of a continuously changing social world, the main rational form of being of science (Hegel). The specificity of sociological concepts is that they, as a rule, are excessively loaded with empiricism, environment of origin is everyday life itself. The article examines the features of the genesis and development of those sociological concepts that are conditioned by (associated with) the main modern scientific trends – deanthropocentrism, epistemology supplemented by sociality. The heuristic role of recent conceptual innovations is shown – invariants (G. G. Tatarova) and noumena (Zh. T. Toshchenko).
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