|
“Does this book fill a gap? Several articles illustrate creative ways to think about or utilize the classics. Academics not familiar with the reprinted articles might find it a convenient source. But the real market might be for teaching theory. Marx, Weber and Durkheim are the theorists almost everyone would like students to know about after finishing a course in classical theory.” —J. I. (Hans) Bakker, The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology
Readings that show how modern social scientists conceive and apply the concepts, methods and theories of the three great founders of sociology
Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber created many of the seminal concepts and methods at the heart of sociology, economics, political science, anthropology, and social psychology. Collectively, they wrote their major works between the middle of the 19th and early 20th centuries, yet their ideas and methods still largely define what social scientists think about, and how they analyze societal phenomena.
But what, in fact, have social scientists in the late 20th century been saying about the great masters’s concepts, methods, and findings? How have revolutionary cultural and social events such as the“Sixties,” the end of the Cold War, the demise of the Soviet Union, the rise of feminism, and the computer revolution affected the way social investigators apply and analyze Marx, Durkheim and Weber? And have these modern applications and analyses tended to support or weaken the classical sociological theories?
Answers to these and related questions are found in this anthology, which assembles for the first time a rich collection of articles by contemporary sociologists, economists, political scientists, anthropologists, and social psychologists. Together, the 31 selections clearly show how some of the world’s leading social scientists apply and analyze concepts such as class, anomie, bureaucracy, community, rationality, representations, capitalism, charisma, inequality, and religious ritual, which are at the heart of the writings of Marx, Durkheim, and Weber.
Reviews:
“Through the content and style of the articles, the collection demonstrates . . . the purpose of maintaining disciplinary continuity [and is] often fascinating on the level of individual articles. . . . The collection offers an excellent reference for sociologists looking for opinions on concepts or new research addressing classic theoretical questions, such as on the division of labor or on the social significance of religion.” —Shana Cohen , Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare
Click here for TABLE OF CONTENTS
From the Book:
Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber created many of the seminal concepts and methods at the heart of sociology, economics, political science, anthropology, and social psychology. Marx1 (1818-1883) wrote his greatest works in the decades around the middle of the 19th century, while Durkheim2 (1859-1917) and Weber3 (1864-1920) wrote their major works during the late 19th and early 20th centuries; and yet their ideas and methods still largely define what social scientists think about, and how they analyze societal phenomena. Contemporary scholars feel compelled to study and apply the theories and findings of the three great masters — either to test, support, or deconstruct that earlier work.
But what, in fact, have social scientists in the late 20th century been saying about the great masters’s concepts, methods, and findings? How have revolutionary cultural and social events such as the“Sixties,” the end of the Cold War, the demise of the Soviet Union, the rise of feminism, and the computer revolution affected the way social investigators apply and analyze Marx, Durkheim and Weber? And have these modern applications and analyses tended to support or weaken the classical sociological theories?
Answers to these and related questions are found in this anthology, which brings together for the first time a rich collection of articles by sociologists, as well as by economists, political scientists, anthropologists, and social psychologists. Collectively, the selections show how some of the world’s leading scholars research and dissect concepts such as class, anomie, bureaucracy, community, rationality, representations, capitalism, charisma, inequality, and religious ritual, which are at the heart of the writings of Marx, Durkheim, and Weber. Some of the articles apply the seminal concepts, such as anomie and rationalization, to examine contemporary behaviors and historical processes, while other articles analyze the concepts, methodologies, and philosophical and epistemological assumptions of the masters, such as positivism, verstehen, the dialectic, and ideal types.
As you will see from reading these articles, there is no agreement among the authors about the three giants of sociological theory, except for an important implied consensus: that the works of Marx, Durkheim, and Weber are still vital for understanding and studying human societies. The classical works serve as“fuel,” one might say, which provides energy that stimulates modern social scientists’s imaginations, sense of curiosity, critical intelligence, quest for the truth, and belief that a better society is possible through the application of reason and systematic observation of human behavior.
Some of the authors in this collection show reverence towards the masters, leaving their concepts and methods intact while applying them to contemporary societal phenomena; other contributors, however, are highly critical of the classical theorists, pointing out, for example, that they were either sexist, racist, or elitist. Still other contributors launch their attack on Marx, Durkheim, or Weber by showing that they were actually confused in their writings, defining key terms differently in different contexts, and even giving contradictory meanings to core concepts in different texts.
From reading these articles, one must come away with a heightened appreciation of the overwhelming mental power of Marx, Durkheim, and Weber, and the influence they have had on the world, to this day — not only on scholars, but also on those who actively work to maintain social order or bring about change, such as politicians, urban planners, and civil rights leaders. But more than this, from reading these articles, you will learn how to think about the works of Marx, Durkheim, and Weber in creative ways, rather than treat the old masters’s writings as petrified or sacred texts; and, as a result, your sociological imagination will be stimulated to conceive of new ways to envision the world, explain societal phenomena, and study human behavior in all its variegated manifestations.
Such creative thought is especially important now, as we enter the New Millennium, in a post-Cold War world characterized by a global breakdown of the traditional norms and structures that have largely defined political and social life throughout the 20th century in modern industrial societies, and for a much longer period of time in most of Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and South America. In such an“anomic,” inegalitarian world that is being rapidly transformed by microprocessor-based technologies, along with the more historic forces of bureaucratization, urbanization, and industrialization — analyzed in depth by Marx, Durkheim and Weber — the role of the social scientist becomes more important than ever. For who else is going to define this“strange new land” into which millions of individuals and families are moving all around the globe, and help leaders in government, communities, and business create policies and programs in the 21st century that will contribute to the building of a safe, sane social order for generations to come?
It is my hope that this anthology contributes to the emergence of social scientists able to create the concepts and methods of study that advance the standard of living and quality of life for human beings everywhere, who are increasingly forced to confront and cope with novel conditions of living unimagined by Marx, Durkheim, and Weber. These new phenomena, which affect all important aspects of life, include the Internet and "computerization" of home, work and leisure environments; life-threatening environmental pollution and depletion of natural resources; mass means of birth control and the female liberation movement; air travel that links the world and space exploration that erases traditional paradigms and creates new, unfathomable realities; and mass media that instantly spread verbal and visual messages around the globe, upsetting age-old traditions and stimulating new dreams, desires, and possibilities among men and women of every color, nationality, religion, ethnic background, language group, and culture.
If modern social scientists can adapt classical sociological theory to help define solutions to the novel problems that will increasingly alter the lives of the majority of people on Earth, then their contribution will ensure that the legacy of Marx, Durkheim and Weber continues to live, well into the 21st century.
“From the Introduction”
|
|
RICHARD ALTSCHULER, the publisher and founder of Gordian Knot Books and Chaucer Press Books, has taught courses on Sociological Theory, Research Methods, and Statistics at Temple University, New York University, and Queens College; edited, rewrote, and contributed chapters to over a dozen college textbooks in Sociology, Economics, and Psychology, published by McGraw-Hill, Prentice-Hall, and Random House, among other publishers; and coauthored trade books critical of the "consumer way of life," Open Reality (G. P. Putnam's Sons) and IC: An Introductory Exposition of Infinite Capitalism (Little, Brown) and an introductory sociology textbook, Sociology: An Introduction (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich).
|
|
|
|
