Theory@Madison
is a forum that aims to bring sociologists together from
all across the department and disciplinegraduate
students and faculty with many different theoretical as
well as methodological and substantive orientationsin
a serious dialogue concerning foundational issues in the
social sciences. It is not a weekly brownbag for the theory
subfield of the department, but rather, a more inclusive,
wide-ranging colloquium series that encompasses areas
as diverse as the philosophy of science, race theory,
stratification research, ethnographic theory, normative
political philosophy, cultural inquiry, action theory,
gender studies, and historical analysis. Theory@Madison
provides a space in which already published selections
in those areas, as well as the occasional work in progress,
can be read and discussed. In the past, we have followed
seminar-style sessions on particular theorists' work with
open, unstructured "conversations" with those
same theorists. This year, we shall occasionally go back
to that format, while also experimenting with others,
such as one-time-only meetings with theorists in which
we distribute selections by them ahead of time to provide
a framework and an agenda for our conversations.
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