Restoring the Classic in Sociology

This book examines the way sociology has eliminated the importance of the past, history, and tradition in favour of the transience of the present. The role of theclassic text in sociology has produced criticism that the ideas of Weber, Marx and Durkheim are now ideologically dubious and sociologically irrelevant. Challenging this view, the author criticises such notions as de-traditionalization, structuration and postmodernism, emphasizing instead the relevance of habit, re-traditionalization, and social integration across time. Demonstrating that classical sociology continues to be highly relevant to cutting-edge debates in the contemporary social sciences, he revisits the Habermas-Gadamer debate to argue that tradition is the ground of the classic, and the classic something that must prove itself anew in subsequent situations. He uses the work of Durkheim, Simmel and Weber to illustrate this process. Drawing on Archer's account of structure and agency, he makes a parallel distinction between 'classic' and 'canon', allowing us to appreciate the separate qualities of each. This major contribution to the field is essential reading for scholarsand students of sociology and social theory.

This book demonstrates that classical sociology is essential to cutting-edge debates in the contemporary social sciences. It has become fashionable to play down the importance of the classic text in sociology and critique the ideas of Weber, Marx and Durkheim as ideologically outdated. The author mounts a strong challenge to this view, criticising such notions as de-traditionalization, structuration and postmodernism, emphasizing instead the relevance of habit, re-traditionalization, and social integration across time. Arguing that sociology has eliminated the importance of the past, history, and tradition in favour of the transience of the present, he revisits the Habermas-Gadamer debate to argue that tradition is the ground of the classic, and the classic something that must prove itself anew in subsequent situations. He uses the work of Durkheim, Simmel and Weber to illustrate this process. Making a distinction between 'classic' and 'canon' which parallels that between 'agency' and 'structure', he allows the reader to appreciate the separate value of both. This major contribution to the field is essential reading for scholars and students of sociology and social theory.

Introduction.- Part I.- Chapter 1. The Issue: The Sense of an Ending.- Part II. The Wider Context: The Past, the Classic, and the Identity of Sociology.- Chapter 2. In Pursuit of Identity: Fragmentation, Conflict and Crisis.- Chapter 3. On the Antipathy of Sociology to the Past.- Chapter 4. Contested Identity: Sociology in Postmodern Times.- Chapter 5. Rethinking Tradition.- Part III. Hermeneutics, Tradition, Classic and Canon.- Chapter 6. The Hermeneutic Approach.- Chapter 7. Hermeneutics, Tradition and the Classic Text.- Chapter 8. Canons and Their Discontents.