Books in the Rethinking Classical Sociology series

Focuses on the work of Karl Mannheim by demonstrating how his theoretical conception of a reflexive sociology took shape as a collaborative empirical research program. This book shows how contemporary work along these lines can benefit from the insights of Mannheim and his students into both morphology and genealogy.

Bringing together the author's major scholarly work on Max Weber, this title addresses major themes in Weber's thought, whilst also examining the mode of analysis practised in his comparative-historical writings. By exploring Weber's concepts and procedures, it conveys the rigor of his research strategies, demonstrating their uniqueness.

Raises important questions about the relationship between theological discourse and the sociological imagination, and it firmly places the development of theoretical and practical social analysis and application within the context of social history. The author investigates and compares the work and thought of William Booth and Karl Marx.

Discusses the importance of Durkheim within sociology. This book describes his concerns on ethics, morality and civil religion which have much relevance for our own troubled and divided society. It is suitable for sociologists, anthropologists, social historians and those interested in critical questions of modernity.

A guide to the development of contemporary Durkheimian thought. Offering a re-reading of the writings of Emile Durkheim and Talcott Parsons on religion, this book aims to move beyond rationalistic readings, which have neglected the significance of collective human emotion in Durkheim's accounts of the link between society, religion and morality.

Affectivity and the Social Bond offers a fresh and original perspective on the relationship between affectivity and transcendence in nineteenth and twentieth century French social theory. Engaging in a conceptual analysis of the works of Comte, Durkheim, Bataille and Girard.

Dealing with Weber's methodological writings, this work traces the relationship between values and science in Max Weber's methodology of its central aspects: value freedom, value relation (Wertbeziehung), value analysis, the ideal type and the special problems which pertain to the sphere of politics.

Offers a reading of the work of Talcott Parsons, keeping in view the important influences of Max Weber on his sociology and the central place occupied by methodology - which enables us to better understand the relationship between American and European social theory. This title demonstrates what the conceptual approaches of Parsons can accomplish.