Social theory for old and new modernities : essays on society and culture, 1976-2005

Franco Ferrarotti is widely regarded as the founder of postwar Italian sociology. Along with such figures as Leo Strauss, Edward Shils, David Riesman, Robert Merton, and Ralf Dahrendorf, he established the terms and texts of contemporary sociology after the Second World War.Social Theory for Old and New Modernities is a collection of Ferrarotti's essays that brings his work back into the forefront of sociology. His writings, on theory and ethnographic research, on immigration and multiculturalism, on religion and secularization, speak directly to today's social and political dilemmas and crises and offer sociologists a critical and enlivened vision of their discipline. Maria Macioti's Introduction locates Franco Ferrarotti's work within his remarkable life, that of a politician, intellectual, and social scientist living amidst the social and political changes of the last half of the twentieth century, anticipating the changes and challenges of the twenty-first. E. Doyle McCarthy is the editor of this collection. Franco Ferrarotti is widely regarded as the founder of postwar Italian sociology. Along with such figures as Leo Strauss, Edward Shils, David Riesman, Robert Merton, and Ralf Dahrendorf, he established the terms and texts of contemporary sociology after the Second World War. Social Theory for Old and New Modernities is a collection of Ferrarotti's essays that brings his work back into the forefront of sociology. His writings, on theory and ethnographic research, on immigration and multiculturalism, on religion and secularization, speak directly to today's social and political dilemmas and crises and offer sociologists a critical and enlivened vision of their discipline. Maria Macioti's Introduction locates Franco Ferrarotti's work within his remarkable life, that of a politician, intellectual, and social scientist living amidst the social and political changes of the last half of the twentieth century, anticipating the changes and challenges of the twenty-first. E. Doyle McCarthy is the editor of this collection. Cover Page Title Page Copyright Page Contents Editor's Preface Acknowledgments Introduction by Maria I. Macioti I. OLD AND NEW MODERNITIES 1. The Modern World and Its Destiny 2. Counter-Cultures and Postmodernism 3. Beyond the Authoritarian Personality 4. Civil Society and State Structures in Creative Tension 5. The City and Civil Society 6. New Approaches to Social Movements in Western Europe 7. The Culture of Violence 8. Social Marginality and Violence in Neo-Urban Societies II. SOCIAL THEORIES AND METHODOLOGIES 9. Modern Rationality and the Paradox of the Sacred 10. History and Sociology 11. The Lessons of Positivism 12. American and European Social Science 13. Biography and the Social Sciences 14. Thorstein Veblen and his Critics 15. The Social Type of the Businessman III. SACRED AND SECULAR MODALITIES 16. Constantinian Christianity and the Future of the Catholic Church 17. The Media Pope 18. Reflections on America 19. Time and Its Social Transformations 20. On Photography About the Editor

Franco Ferrarotti's essays are of special interest to social scientists working in social theory and cultural sociology. His insights are far-reaching and applicable to those studying the areas of religion, immigration, violence, and social movements.