John Dewey and the Notion of Trans-action

Engaging with three interconnected approaches in the social sciences (pragmatism, processual thinking, and relational thinking), this book leverages John Dewey and Arthur Bentley's often misunderstood work Knowing and the Known and the concept of trans-action developed therein to revisit and redefine our perceptions of social relations and social life. As it moves us beyond essentialist notions of 'self-action' and 'inter-action,' trans-action allows us to perceive anew our understandings of ourselves, others, and the social fields, networks, organizations, and processes through which we make our way in the world. The contributors gathered here use these notions in a more specific sense, showing why and how social scientists and philosophers might use them to better understand our social life and social problems. As the first collective sociological attempt to apply the concept of trans-action to contemporary social issues, this volume is a key reference for the growing audience of relational and processual thinkers in the social sciences and beyond.

Auteur

Christian Morgner's (University of Leicester, UK) research interests include social justice, communication, social theory and development. He previously held a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at Hitotsubashi University, Japan, and was as a Research Affiliate at the University of Cambridge, UK. He has also held visiting fellowships at Yale University, USA; University of Lucerne, Switzerland; University of Leuven, Belgium, and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, France.

Résumé
Engaging with several emerging and interconnected approaches in the social sciences, including pragmatism, system theory, processual thinking and relational thinking, this book leverages John Dewey and Arthur Bentley's often misunderstood concept of trans-action to revisit and redefine our perceptions of social relations and social life. The contributors gathered here use trans-action in a more specific sense, showing why and how social scientists and philosophers might use the concept to better understand our social life and social problems. As the first collective sociological attempt to apply the concept of trans-action to contemporary social issues, this volume is a key reference for the growing audience of relational and processual thinkers in the social sciences and beyond.

Contenu
Chapter 1: Reinventing Social Relations and Processes: John Dewey and Trans-actionsChapter 2: Causation is not everything: on constitution an dtrans-actional view of social science methodologyChapter 3: There is More to Groups of People than Just Groups and People: On Trans-Actional Analysis and Nationalism StudiesChapter 4: Trans-action, a processual and relational approach to organizationsChapter 5: Trans-actions in MusicChapter 6: The Emergence of Artistic Practice: From Self-Action to Trans-actionChapter 7: Updating Dewey's Transactional Theory of Action in Connection with Evolutionary TheoryChapter 8: From Inter-action to Trans-action: Ecologizing the Social SciencesChapter 9: Human language as trans-actional autopoiesis.