The Emergence of Human Rights

Abstract

This chapter attempts to develop a social characterisation of human rights through some further exploration of the dilemma in understanding rights identified earlier. The discussion is organised in a manner that is consistent with the contention that, in sociologically understanding human rights, a compromise can be found between emotional/moral and rational/self-interested theorisation. Moreover, given the current interdisciplinary diversity in approaching human rights, which contextualises the disparity that has been demonstrated in current sociological approaches, a statement of position is necessary. This will act as a support to the foundation of theory developed in the next chapter. It will also give some comparative point of reference for the empirical application of theory to the example of human rights violation in Turkey in the remainder of the book.