Social Theory as a Vocation

In this unprecedented collection, Donald N. Levine rejuvenates the field of social theory in the face of lagging institutional support. The work canvasses the universe of types of theory work in sociology and offers probing examples from his array of scholarly investigations.

List of FiguresPrefaceAcknowledgmentsPrologue: Social Theory as a VocationPart I Custodial Theory Work1 Note on Park, The Crowd and the Public 2 Max Weber's 1908 Note Regarding Simmel 3 Review of the Variorum Edition of Max Weber's Economy and Society 4 Taking the Measure of Auguste Comte 5 emile Durkheim, Univocalist Manque 6 Robert K. Merton On and In Ambivalence 7 Revisiting Georg Simmel 8 Simmel's Stranger and His Followers 9 Simmel and Parsons ReconstructedPart II Heuristic Theory Work: Internal to the Discipline10 The Concept of Cultural Integration 11 The Organism Metaphor in Sociology 12 The Concept of Rationality: From Kant to Weber 13 Rationality and Freedom, Weber and Beyond 14 Putting Voluntarism Back into a Voluntaristic Theory of Action 15 Ambiguity and Modernity: Engaging a Serendipitous Problem 16 Somatic Elements in Social Conflict 17 Reconfiguring Ethiopia's Nationhood in a Global EraPart III Heuristic Theory Work External to the Discipline18 Simmel as a Resource for Sociological Metatheory 19 Sociology after MacIntyre 20 Images and Assumptions in a Scholarly Domain: Ethiopian Studies 21 Missed Opportunities as a Diagnostic Issue:Ethiopia, 1960-2005 22 A Problem of Collective Identity 23 Modernity and Its Endless Discontents 24 Crises in Liberal EducationAppendixesA Syllabus: American Sociological Theory, 1900-1980 B Syllabus: Perspectives on Modern Social Theory C Syllabus: The Forms and Functions of Social Knowledge D Syllabus: Organizations of the Social Sciences E Organizing a Practicum in Social TheoryReferencesIndex