THEORIES
... all our knowledge results from questions, which is another way of saying that question-asking is
our most important intellectual tool. I would go so far as to say that the answers we carry about in
our heads are largely meaningless unless we know the questions which produced them. ... What,
for example, are the sorts of questions that obstruct the mind, or free it, in the study of history?
How are these questions different from those one might ask of a mathematical proof, or a literary
work, or a biological theory? ... What students need to know are the rules of discourse which
comprise the subject, and among the most central of such rules are those which govern what is
and what is not a legitimate question.
--Neil Postman, Teaching as a Conserving Activity, 1979.
THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION
So what is the "sociological imagination"? It is the perspective described thusly (in pre-gendersensitive times) by C. Wright Mills:
Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without
understanding both. Yet men do not usually define the troubles they endure in terms of historical
change and institutional contradiction. ... The sociological imagination enables its possessor to
understand the larger historical scene in terms of its meaning for the inner life and the external
career of a variety of individuals. ... The first fruit of this imagination--and the first lesson of the
social science that embodies it--is the idea that the individual can understand his own experience
and gauge his own fate only by locating himself within this period, that he can know his own
chances in life only by becoming aware of those of all individuals in his circumstances. ...We have
come to know that every individual lives, from one generation to the next, in some society; that
he lives out a biography, and that he lives it out within some historical sequence (The Sociological
Imagination, 1959:3-10).
THEORISTS AND THEORETICAL TRADITIONS
Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.
--Voltaire (1694-1778)
A definition is no proof.
--William Pinkney, American diplomat (1764-1822)
A theory is more impressive the greater the simplicity of its premises, the more different the kinds
of things it relates and the more extended its range of applicability.
--Albert Einstein, 1949
According to Karl Popper (Logik der Forschung, 1935: p.26), Theory is "the
net which we throw out in order to catch the world--to rationalize,
explain, and dominate it." Through history, sociological theory arose out of
attempts to make sense of times of
dramatic social change. As Hans Gerth
and C. Wright Mills observed in
Character and Social Structure
(Harbinger Books, 1964:xiii), "Problems of the nature of human
nature are raised most urgently when the life-routines of a
society are disturbed, when men are alienated from their
social roles in such a way as to open themselves up for new
insight." Consider the historical contexts spawning the
theoretical insights below:
SocioSite: Noted Sociological Theorists and Samplings of their
Works
Frank E'well's Great Social Theorists: Malthus, Comte, Marx, Spencer, Veblen, Durkheim, Weber
and DuBois
Alan Liu's Voice of the Shuttle: Great collection of synopses and primary works of the great
theorists
Society for Social Research Page: Classical Sociological Theory. Good site for excerpts from the
classics, courtesy of the University of Chicago.
Serdar Kaya's The Sociology Professor, a portal to social theories and theorists
Sociolog: many phenomenological links
Larry Ridener's Dead Sociologists' Society Index: Biographies of and excerpts from those who
carved the discipline
Ed Stephan's "A Sociology Timeline from 1600"
Carl Cuneo's Course on Theories of Inequality
Marxist Internet Archive
Marxism Made Simple
Marx and Engels' Writings
Engels' The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State
Antonio Gramsci writings
Habermas links collected by Antti Kauppinen
The Durkheim Page from Hewett
Verstehen: The Sociology of Max Weber
Mannheim Centre for European Social Research
Charles Horton Cooley's Social Organization: A Study of the Larger Mind
George Herbert Mead Repository at Brock University
All Things Simmelian--Georg Simmel Homepage
Erving Goffman
Game Theory Society--mathematically modeling "strategic interaction in competitive
and cooperative environments"
Thorsten Veblen's The Theory of the Leisure Class
Foucault Homepage
Jean Baudrillard speaks
Anthony Giddens
Howard S. Becker's Home Page--replete with recent papers, biographical updates and web
recommendations
Amitai Etzioni's Articles in Professional Journals and Books
"Contemporary Philosophy, Critical Theory and Postmodern Thought" from the University of Denver
Norbert Elias site from University of Sydney
FreudNet: The A.A. Brill Library
An evolving site to keep an eye on is Jim Spickard's Social Theory Pages, with historical
backgrounds and intellectual biographies of the key players
Need a dictionary for those works of critical theorists and postmodernists? Try the Red Feather
Dictionary of Critical Social Science
Gene Shackman's Social, Economic and Political Change--featuring links to theory, data and research about large
scale long term political, economic and social systems change at the national and international level
World-Systems Archive
The Research Committee on Sociocybernetics (of the Intl. Sociological Association)
Want to see what theories sociologists are currently cooking up? Below is a sampling of sociological
journals.
Electronic Journal of Sociology Home Page
Sociological Research Online
Journal of World-Systems Research
Journal of Mundane Behavior (first issue February 2000)
Annual Review of Sociology--with 12-years of searchable abstracts
Sociological Abstracts Home Page
The Canadian Journal of Sociology
Tables of Contents for all issues of Postmodern Culture
Return to A Sociological Tour Through Cyberspace
CLASSICAL SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY
Durkheim, EmileOn the Division of Labor in Society. New York: Free Press, 1964, book 1, chs.
1-4, 7; book 2, ch. 2; book 3, chs. 1-3.
_________. 'Types of Suicide.' TS, pp. 213-18.
_________. 'Anomic Suicide.' TS, pp. 916-29.
_________. 'On the Normality of Crime.' TS, pp. 872-76.
_________. Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. New York: Free Press, 1947 (orig. 1915).
'Introduction'; book 1, ch. 1; book 2, ch. 7; book 3, ch. 1; 'Conclusion.'
Marx, Karl. The Marx-Engels Reader. 2nd ed. Edited by Robert C. Tucker. New York: W. W.
Norton, 1978, pp. 3-5, 70-81, 143-75, 203-17, 224-26, 236-44, 302-12, 319-29, 469-91, 594-617.
Parsons, TalcottTalcott Parsons on Institutions and Social Evolution: Selected Writings. Edited
by Leon R. Mayhew. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982, chs. 1-5 (early writings), ch. 6
('The Pattern Variables'), ch. 7 ('Integration and Institutionalization'), ch. 9 ('Illness and the Role
of the Physician'), ch. 15 ('On the Concept of Influence'), ch. 19 ('Evolutionary Universals in
Society').
_________. Essays in Sociological Theory. Glencoe IL; Free Press, 1954, ch. 2 ('The Professions
and Social Structure'), ch. 5 ('Age and Sex in the Social Structure of the U.S.').
_________. ''Suggestions for a Sociological Approach to the Theory of Organizations.'
Administrative Science Quarterly (1956):63-85, 225-39.
_________. 'An Outline of the Social System.' TS, pp. 30-79.
Simmel, Georg Georg Simmel on Individuality and Social Forms.. Edited by Donald N. Levine.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971, chs. 3, 5, 6, 7, 16, 24.
_________.The Sociology of Georg Simmel. Translated by Kurt H. Wolff. Glencoe IL: Free
Press, 1964, Pt. 2 [ch. 1 ([the sociological] significance of [group size]), ch. 3 ('The Isolated
Individual and the Dyad'), ch. 4 ('The Triad')], pp. 307-16 ('Knowledge, Truth, and Falsehood in
Human Relations'), pp. 379-95 ('Faithfulness and Gratitude').
Weber, Max. Economy and Society. Edited by Guenther Roth and Claus Wittich. New York:
Bedminister Press, 1968, vol. 1, Conceptual Exposition, pp. 3-38 (Basic Terms), 212-54
(Legitimate Domination), 926-40 ( Class, Status, Party), 956-1005 (Bureaucracy).
_________. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Translated by Talcott Parsons.
New York: Scribner, 1976.
_________. From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology. Translated by Hans H. Gerth and C. Wright
Mills. New York: Oxford University Press, 1946, pp. 77-156, 267-301, 323-59 (Vocation essays,
World Religion essays); (cf. corrected translation of pp. 293-94 in Appendix of Levine, The
Flight from Ambiguity).
_________. Max Weber on the Methodology of the Social Sciences. Translated and edited by
Edward Shils and Henry A. Finch. Glencoe IL: Free Press, 1949, pp. 50-112 (Objectivity essay).
_________. General Economic History. New York: Collier, 1961, chs. 22, 27-30 (skip pp. 23949 [pp. 323-37 in Free Press edition]).
Cooley, Charles H. 'Primary Groups.' TS, pp. 315-18.
Freud, Sigmund. 'The Libido's Attachments to Objects'and
'The Ego and the Superego.' TS, pp. 729-39.
_________. 'Anxiety as Motivation' and 'Mechanisms of Defense.' TS, pp. 799-818.
_________. 'Internal Sources of Behavioral Instability and Their Control.' TS, pp. 940-44.
Hobbes, Thomas. 'Of the Natural Condition of Mankind.' Theories of Society. Edited by Talcott
Parsons et al., pp. 99-101.
Linton, Ralph. 'Status and Role.' TS, pp. 202-08.
Maine, Henry. 'On Contract.' TS, pp. 429-36
Mead, George H. TS, pp. 163-617 ('The I and the Me'), pp. 739-40 ('Taking the Role of the
Other'), pp. 829-30 ('Internalized Others and the Self'), pp. 999-1004 ('From Gesture to Symbol').
Merton, Robert K. Social Theory and Social Structure. New York: Free Press, 1968, ch. 2
('Sociology in the Middle Range'), ch. 3 ('Manifest and Latent Functions'), ch. 4 ('The Bearing of
Sociological Theory on Empirical Research'), ch. 5 ('The Bearing of Empirical Research on
Sociological Theory'), ch. 6 ('Social Structure and Anomie'), ch. 10 ('Contributions to the Theory
of Reference Group Behavior') ch. 13 ('Self-Fulfilling Prophecy').
________. The Sociology of Science: Theoretical and Empirical Investigations. Edited by
Norman W. Storer. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973, ch. 1 ('Paradigm for the
Sociology of Knowledge'), ch. 13 ('The Normative Structure of Science'), ch. 14 ('Priorities in
Scientific Discovery').
Mosca, Gaetano. 'On the Ruling Class.' TS, pp. 598-603.
Ogburn, William F. 'The Hypothesis of Cultural Lag.' TS, pp. 1270-74.
Park, Robert E. 'Cultural Conflict and the Marginal Man.' TS, pp. 944-46.
Rousseau, Jean. 'On the Social Contract.' TS, pp. 119-25
Smith, Adam. 'Of the Principle Which Gives Occasion to the Division of Labor.' TS, pp. 104-06.
_________. 'Of Wages and Profit in . . . Labor Stock.' TS, pp. 518-29.
_________. Theory of Moral Sentiments. Liberty Classics, 1976, pp. 47-49, 54-57.
Spencer, Herbert. 'The Nature of Society.' TS, pp. 139-43.
Thomas, W. I., and Znaniecki, Florian. 'On Disorganization and Reorganization.' TS, pp. 129297.
Tocqueville, Alexis de. Democracy in America. Garden City NY: Anchor Books, 1969, vol. 1,
pt. 1 (chs. 4, 5), pt. 2 (chs. 1, 2, 4): pp. 58-98, 173-79, 189-95.
Toennies, Ferdinand. 'Gemeinschaft and Gessellschaft.' TS, pp. 191-201.
Engels’ The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1884/origin-family/index.htm
Social Theory Pages: http://www.socialtheory.info/
Journal of Mundane Behavior: http://www.mundanebehavior.org/index2.htm
http://www.socialpsychology.org/social.htm
http://www.uiowa.edu/~grpproc/crisp/crisp.html
A Social Psychology Glossary: https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~allison/glossary.html