The Sociology of Social Change

The first comprehensive survey of a key area of contemporary sociology. The author is respected worldwide as a leading authority in the field. Carefully structured and clearly written.

Informationen zum Autor Piotr Sztompka is a Full Professor of Sociology at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, and a regular Visiting Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has also taught as Visiting Professor at Columbia University, the University of Michigan, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Rome, La Sapienza. He has published many books, including: System and Function (1974), Sociological Dilemmas (1979), Rethinking Progress with J. Alexander (1990) and Society in Action (1991). Klappentext The sociology of social change has always been the product of times of flux, and the unmatched dynamism of our period is already reflected in the revitalization of theories of change. Piotr Sztompka takes stock of and reappraises the whole legacy of sociological thinking about change, from the classical to the contemporary, providing the intellectual tools necessary for a critical and rational grasp of our own turbulent times. As an advanced textbook for upper-division and graduate students, as well as researchers, this book covers the four grand visions of social and historical change which have dominated the field since the 19th century: the evolutionary, the cyclical, the dialectical, and the post-developmentalist. In so doing, it provides indispensable analytic discussions of the concepts focal to contemporary debates such as social process, development, progress, social time, historical tradition, modernity, post-modernity, and globalization . Zusammenfassung aeo The first comprehensive survey of a key area of contemporary sociology. aeo The author is respected worldwide as a leading authority in the field. aeo Carefully structured and clearly written. Inhaltsverzeichnis Preface. Part I: Concepts and Categories:. 1. Fundamental Concepts in the Study of Change. 2. Vicissitudes of the Idea of Progress. 3. Temporal Dimension of Society: Social Time. 4. Modalities of Historical Tradition. 5. Modernity and Beyond. 6. Globalization of Human Society. Part II: Three Grand Visions of History:. 7. Classical Evolutionism. 8. Neo--evolutionism. 9. Theories of Modernization: Old and New. 10. Theories of Historical Cycles. 11. Historical Materialism. Part III: Alternative Vision: Making History:. 12. Against Developmentalism: Modern Critique. 13. History as a Human Product: Evolving Theory of Agency. 14. New Historical Sociology: Concreteness and Contingenc. 15. Social Becoming: the Essence of Historical Change. Part IV: Aspects of Social Becoming:. 16. Ideas as Historical Forces. 17. Normative Emergence: Evasions and Innovations. 18. Great Individuals as Agents of Change. 19. Social Movements as Forces of Change. 20. Revolutions: the Peak of Social Change. Bibliography ...

Autorentext

Piotr Sztompka is a Full Professor of Sociology at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, and a regular Visiting Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has also taught as Visiting Professor at Columbia University, the University of Michigan, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Rome, La Sapienza. He has published many books, including: System and Function (1974), Sociological Dilemmas (1979), Rethinking Progress with J. Alexander (1990) and Society in Action (1991).

Klappentext

The sociology of social change has always been the product of times of flux, and the unmatched dynamism of our period is already reflected in the revitalization of theories of change. Piotr Sztompka takes stock of and reappraises the whole legacy of sociological thinking about change, from the classical to the contemporary, providing the intellectual tools necessary for a critical and rational grasp of our own turbulent times. As an advanced textbook for upper-division and graduate students, as well as researchers, this book covers the four grand visions of social and historical change which have dominated the field since the 19th century: the evolutionary, the cyclical, the dialectical, and the post-developmentalist. In so doing, it provides indispensable analytic discussions of the concepts focal to contemporary debates such as social process, development, progress, social time, historical tradition, modernity, post-modernity, and globalization.

Zusammenfassung
aeo The first comprehensive survey of a key area of contemporary sociology. aeo The author is respected worldwide as a leading authority in the field. aeo Carefully structured and clearly written.

Inhalt
Preface. Part I: Concepts and Categories: 1. Fundamental Concepts in the Study of Change. 2. Vicissitudes of the Idea of Progress. 3. Temporal Dimension of Society: Social Time. 4. Modalities of Historical Tradition. 5. Modernity and Beyond. 6. Globalization of Human Society. Part II: Three Grand Visions of History: 7. Classical Evolutionism. 8. Neo-evolutionism. 9. Theories of Modernization: Old and New. 10. Theories of Historical Cycles. 11. Historical Materialism. Part III: Alternative Vision: Making History: 12. Against Developmentalism: Modern Critique. 13. History as a Human Product: Evolving Theory of Agency. 14. New Historical Sociology: Concreteness and Contingenc. 15. Social Becoming: the Essence of Historical Change. Part IV: Aspects of Social Becoming: 16. Ideas as Historical Forces. 17. Normative Emergence: Evasions and Innovations. 18. Great Individuals as Agents of Change. 19. Social Movements as Forces of Change. 20. Revolutions: the Peak of Social Change. Bibliography