While other academic disciplines claim a focus around specific subject matter, sociologists think of their field as an approach to understanding the often invisible forces and social contexts that shape the way people conduct their lives. How these forces and contexts are structured is central to sociology. But how do sociologists analyze these invisible structures? This book contributes to our understanding by bringing together a remarkable set of master essays about modern sociology written by some of the leading figures of the field. Each author describes a vision of sociological inquiry or offers an example of research that illustrates approaches and problems encountered in doing sociological work. The collection is rounded out with a prologue by Kai Erikson, an epilogue by Paul DiMaggio, and an extraordinary autobiographical essay by Robert K. Merton. The book is introduced by its editor as a set of reflections, a gathering of visions. But the range of topics and the variety of authors represented make it a valuable introduction to sociology as a discipline and as a way of thinking.
Recenzijas
The whole book is in fact a treat for old stagers in the sociological establishment, full of serious reflections about the difficulties and intriguing intellectual charm of living nd working with a discipline which 'has never been able to make up its mind quite what it is' (Smelser, Sociology as Science, Humanism and Art, p.20). -- Martin Albrow, Roehampton Institute and London School of Economics and Political Science * British Journal of Sociology, Vol.50 No.2 (June 1999) *
Preface vii(4) Acknowledgments xi PART I 3(120) Prologue: Sociology as a Perspective 3(14) Kai Erikson SOCIOLOGY AS ART AND AS SCIENCE 17(106) Sociology as Science, Humanism, and Art 17(14) Neil J. Smelser The Two Faces of Social Science 31(26) Alan Wolfe Disciplined Artfulness and the Human Sciences 57(10) Jean Bethke Elshtain History and Sociological Imagining 67(16) Charles Tilly The Many Enchantments of Money 83(12) Viviana A. Zelizer Sociology and History: Terms of Endearment? 95(6) Ira Katznelson Social Science: An Imperfect Art 101(22) Daniel Bell SOCIOLOGY AND PUBLIC POLICY 123(96) Toward a Broader Vision of Inner-City Poverty 123(30) William Julius Wilson Race, Localism, and Urban Poverty 153(10) Margaret Weir Inner-City as Place 163(6) Michael Katz Social Science and Social Policy: A Case Study of Overreaching 169(16) Daniel Patrick Moynihan Epilogue: Sociology as a Discipline 185(34) Paul DiMaggio PART II 219(78) Introduction 219(6) Kai Erikson De-gendering Man of Science: The Genesis and Epicene Character of the Word Scientist 225(30) Robert K. Merton On Robert Merton, Mary Somerville, and the Moral Authority of Science 255(8) Gerald Holton Strange Relation 263(12) Denis Donoghue A Life of Learning 275(22) Robert K. Merton About the Contributors 297
Kai Erikson is Professor of Sociology at Yale University, the author of the classics.Everything In Its Path and other widley ready books.
