A short history of sociological thought /

Includes index

Part 1 Foundations: origins of sociology; human nature and social order; Vico - science and history; Montesquieu; the Scottish enlightenment; problems of method; the emergence of class; the dialectics of social change; industrialisation and the rise of sociological positivism: empiricism and positivism; the French Revolution and sociology; the concept of industrial society - Saint-Simon; Comte and positive science; positivism and determinism; sociology, political economy and the division of labour; evolutionism and sociological positivism - Mill and Spencer; Marxism - a positive science of capitalist development; the development of Marxism; alienation of labour; the concept of ideology; Marx's method - materialism and dialectics; calss formation and class consciousness; laws of development - the problem of historical determinism. Part 2 Classical sociology: critique of positivism - 1 Durkheim; Durkheim and the development of sociology; positivism and morality; division of labour, social cohesion and conflict; anomie; suicide and social solidarity; functionalism, holism and political theory; critique of positivism - 11 social action; inderstanding and the social sciences - Dilthey; formal sociology - Simmel and sociation; understanding and the problem of method - Weber; ideal types and social action; religion and social action - capitalism and the Priotestant ethic; capitalism and culture - Sombart and Simmel; social action and social system - Pareto; the socioloy of class and domination; Marx's theory of domination; the state and class domination; the theory of class - Weber; capitalism, bureaucracy and democracy - Weber's theory of domination; Marxism and sociology; Marxism after Marx; Marxism as revolutionary consciousness - Lukacs and the concept of totality; culture and domination - Gramsci and the concept of hegemony; Marxism and the sociology of intellectuals - Gramsci; Lukacs and Gramsci on sociology; Marxism and sociology - the Austro-Marxists; conclusion. Part 3 Modern sociology: functionalism; sociological functionalism - general features; the concept of system; functionalism and the dialectic of social life - Merton; functionalism, social conflict and social change; functionalism and stratification; self, society and the sociology of everyday life; action theory and the concept of slef - the early and later Parsons; psycho-analysis and self - Freud; the social self - Mead and symbolic interactionism; sociological phenomenology - Schutz and the reality of everyday life; structuralism; the development of structuralism - Saussure; post-Saussurian structuralism - language and culture; Marxism and structuralism. (part contents)

Examines the rise of sociological thought from its origins in 18th century philosophy and political economy to its development in the classical sociology of Marx, Durkheim, Weber and Simmel, and in the modern paradigms of functionalism, interactionism, structuralism and critical Marxism