One of the stereotypical notions that are used to characterize the post-modern turn is that “It” championed the end of grand/meta-narratives, but it might be more useful these days to focus on how various “micro” studies (ethnographic, phenomenological, etc) have brought to light the lack of any actual common standards/norms of measure at work in our practices, so we must be wary of attempts to re-vitalize/naturalize underlying/overarching themes/cycles/etc.

http://oregon.academia.edu/DanielaVallegaNeu

see also: http://sociologicalimagination.org/archives/3222

In this podcast Stephen Turner, plenary speaker for the theory stream at this year’s BSA conference, talks about his new book Explaining the Normative. The discussion explores changing theories of normativity and the different meanings they hold for philosophy and social science.