Restoring the Classic in Sociology

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vi

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2. The Issue of the Classic

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Introduction

      • Alan R. How

      Pages 3-18

   3. The Sense of an Ending

      • Alan R. How

      Pages 19-32

3. The Wider Context: The Past, the Classic, and the Identity of Sociology

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 33-33

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   2. In Pursuit of Identity: Fragmentation, Conflict and Crisis

      • Alan R. How

      Pages 35-55

   3. On the Antipathy of Sociology to the Past

      • Alan R. How

      Pages 57-85

   4. Contested Identity: Sociology in Postmodern Times

      • Alan R. How

      Pages 87-108

   5. Rethinking Tradition

      • Alan R. How

      Pages 109-148

4. Hermeneutics, Tradition, Classic and Canon

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 149-149

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   2. The Hermeneutic Approach

      • Alan R. How

      Pages 151-185

   3. Hermeneutics, Tradition and the Classic Text

      • Alan R. How

      Pages 187-220

   4. Canons and Their Discontents

      • Alan R. How

      Pages 221-255

5. Back Matter

   Pages 257-260

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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the importance of the classic text in sociology and critique the ideas of Weber, Marx and Durkheim as ideologically outdated.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.

• Hermeneutics
• Critical Theory
• Durkheim
• Simmel
• Weber
• Habit
• Critical realism

“Presenting an argument that brings many voices into the conversation while relying in particular on Hans-Georg Gadamer, the book is engaging and full of insights … . Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students/faculty.” (P. Kivisto, Choice, Vol. 54 (6), February, 2017) 

• Humanities and Creative Arts, Worcester University, Worcester, United Kingdom

  Alan R. How

Alan R. How is Senior Lecturer at the University of Worcester, UK.

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