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Rejecting the French: Classical British Sociology at the London School of Economics

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Abstract

Apart from the Edinburgh School of Sociology led by Patrick Geddes and Victor Branford, a parallel attempt was conducted at the London School of Economics under Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse to devise a proper, un- (if not anti-) Durkheimian discipline called sociology. This was characterised by an Idealist point of view in which the individual was the centre, society seen as an illusion and morality an inner, natural sense. All this denigrated the Durkheimian contribution and was in competition with France. The school following Hobhouse can be described as ‘Classical British sociology’ and was foundational for the interwar decades although it was R. H. Tawney who remained the most influential figure over the LSE sociology—despite never claiming to do so.

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Rocquin, B. (2019). Rejecting the French: Classical British Sociology at the London School of Economics. In: British Sociologists and French 'Sociologues' in the Interwar Years . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10913-4_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10913-4_4

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