On Networks and Dialogues

This essay inquires into the possibility of extending Randall Collins' analysis (as it is presented in The Sociology of Philosophies) of the process of innovation within intellectual networks

Compatibility of various approaches to heavy-quark fragmentation

We find that the definition of the heavy-quark fragmentation function given by Jaffe and Randall differs by a factor of the longitudinal-momentum fraction z from the standard Collins-Soper definition. Once this factor is taken into account, the explicit calculation of Braaten et al. is found to be in agreement with the general analysis of Jaffe and Randall. We also examine the model of Peterson et al. for heavy-quark fragmentation and find that the quoted values of the width and of the value of $z$ at the maximum are in error. The corrected values are in agreement with the analysis of Jaffe and Randall.Comment: 4 pages late

Rituales de interacción y especies de capital en el neonietzscheanismo español (1968-1976)

In the first part of this paper, we present a general approach to the Sociology of the Spanish «Neonietzscheanism». We take this intellectual movement as a «philosophical fact» (Martin Kustch), embedded in the Spanish philosophical field of the seventies. In the second part, we use the «interaction ritual chains» (Randall Collins) in order to explain the philosophical recognition of Eugenio Trías. Keywords: Sociology of philosophy, Spanish neonietzscheanism, Eugenio Trías, philosophical field, Spanish philosoph

Parmenidész és a bölcsek kö(ny)ve

A tanulmány Jan Assman hipolepszis- és Randall Collins intellektuálisrítus-elméletét összekapcsolva elemzi a korai görög gondolkodók szövegeit. Fő kérdése, hogy mennyiben fedezhetők fel a nyugati innovatív tudományos-filozófiai kultúra e két alapvető elemének, a hipoleptikus szövegszerveződésnek és az intellektuális rítusoknak a nyomai a fennmaradt töredékes szövegekben. Végkövetkeztetése, hogy leginkább Parmenidész és Empedoklész verses tankölteményeiben találunk erre utaló jeleket. E szövegekben (a legkorábbi ismert nyugati filozófiai „tankönyvekben”) éppen a verses forma őrizte meg számunkra az intellektuális rítusokban való részvételre nevelés korai eszközeit

Emotion, interaction and the structure-agency problem: building on the sociology of Randall Collins

Sociology today faces a number of serious challenges to its integrity as a discipline. As a synthesis of Weberian and Durkheimian traditions, the work of Randall Collins represents an innovative vindication of sociology in the early 21st century. This article explores Collins’s interaction ritual theory to demonstrate its contemporary utility. However, to highlight the importance of Collins’s work, it seeks to advance and refine it theoretically. Specifically, it seeks to develop Collins’s argument about the role of emotions and, specifically, effervescence, in rituals. This paper argues that, while important, effervescence alone cannot be sufficient to ensure the conformity which is a typical feature of interaction and essential to explaining social order. Drawing on Goffman, Asch and Scheff, the paper argues that effervescence is underpinned by more robust mechanisms of honour and shame, themselves immediately connected to access to collective goods. In this way, the paper affirms the importance of Randall Collins’s work for sociology today

Boundary tastes at work: the gendered effect of authority positions in the workplace on taste in clothing and food

In this article, we test three hypotheses about the gendered effect of authority positions in the workplace on tastes in the areas of food and clothing. We use the micro-interactionist model of Randall Collins to formulate new hypotheses on the development of aesthetic and practical taste patterns, as described by Pierre Bourdieu. This leads to the following hypotheses: (1) people in superordinate positions will develop more aesthetic tastes; (2) men in subordinate positions will develop more practical tastes; and (3) women in subordinate positions will develop more aesthetic tastes. Our results show that there is a significant effect of being in a superordinate position on food preferences but not on clothing preferences. Among people in subordinate positions, women score higher than men on a fashion taste in clothing, lower on practical taste in clothing, and lower on a conventional taste in food

Unified Brane Gravity: Cosmological Dark Matter from Scale Dependent Newton Constant

We analyze, within the framework of unified brane gravity, the weak-field perturbations caused by the presence of matter on a 3-brane. Although deviating from the Randall-Sundrum approach, the masslessness of the graviton is still preserved. In particular, the four-dimensional Newton force law is recovered, but serendipitously, the corresponding Newton constant is shown to be necessarily lower than the one which governs FRW cosmology. This has the potential to puzzle out cosmological dark matter. A subsequent conjecture concerning galactic dark matter follows.Comment: 6 pages, to be published in Phys. Rev.