The book ranges widely over modern social theory, giving detailed treatments of major sources to identify common themes and deficiencies in apparently disparate schools of thought. The object is to lay bare negative assumptions forming methodologies in modern social theory in order to redirect the social sciences towards real problems and the progressive consequences of their solution. Examples are given and, throughout, the continuity of particular and general concerns is demonstrated.

Autorentext

Author John Holmwood: John Holmwood is Professor of Sociology at the University of Nottingham, UK. He is President of the British Sociological Association and is co-editor (with Stephen Turner) of the Palgrave Pivot series Sociology Transformed, which explores national histories of sociology. John Scott is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Plymouth University, UK. He is a former President of the British Sociological Association and Honorary Professor in Sociology at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He is author of Envisioning Sociology: Victor Branford, Patrick Geddes, and the Quest for Social Reconstruction.

Inhalt
List of Figures - List of Tables - Acknowledgements - Preface - Introduction - Positivism - Relativism - Vertical and Horizontal Fallacies - Rationality and Action - Action and Structure - Power and Normative Order - Structure, Function and Contradiction - False Consciousness and Ontological Alienation - Conclusion - Notes - Bibliography - Index