Early Theorists & the Science of Society (The Sociology Reference Guide Series)

The Sociology Reference Guide series is designed to provide a solid foundation for the research of various sociological topics. Divided into three main parts, this volume offers an historical overview of the field and the foundational figures and theories related to the history of sociology. The first section surveys the pre-modern sociological movements of the nineteenth-century, while the second studies the three major figures of modern sociology: Émile Durkheim, Karl Marx and Max Weber. The third section concludes the collection with an introduction to major sociological theories that emerge in the twentieth-century. Contents......Page 4 Introduction......Page 5 Enlightenment Roots......Page 8 Sociology in the Nineteenth-Century......Page 19 Durkheim’s Mechanical & Organic Solidarity......Page 29 Durkheim & Social Facts......Page 39 Durkheim: The Structure & Function of Society......Page 51 Marx, Social Change & Revolution......Page 65 Marx & Historical Materialism......Page 74 Marx’s Political Economy......Page 84 Weber’s Interpretive Sociology......Page 93 Max Weber: Religious Ideals & the Capitalist Society......Page 103 Weber & Rationalization......Page 118 Weber: Antipositivism & Verstehen......Page 127 Modern Sociology......Page 137 Contemporary Sociology......Page 149 Habermas & Communicative Actions......Page 160 Mills & the Sociological Imagination......Page 170 George Herbert Mead: Taking the Role of the Other......Page 178 Marcuse & Administration......Page 186 Terms & Concepts......Page 198 Contributors......Page 211 Index......Page 213 In the first two essays, a summary account of early sociology in England and Europe reviews foundational theories from a range of thinkers. Simone I. Flynn’s “Enlightenment Roots” establishes the “ways in which sociological thought has borrowed from and built on Enlightenment-era ideas.” Her essay “Sociology in the Nineteenth Century” introduces readers to the social, political, and economic transformations in Europe that would preoccupy sociological thinkers throughout the West. This work is designed to provide a solid foundation for the research of various sociological topics. Divided into three main parts, this volume offers an historical overview of the field and the foundational figures and theories related to the history of sociology