Tradition - Softcover

Shils, Edward

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226753263 ISBN 13: 9780226753263

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2006

Synopsis

Tradition, by esteemed sociologist Edward Shils, was the first book to fully explore the history, significance, and future of tradition as a whole. Intent on questioning the meaning of the antitraditionalist impulse in today's society, Shils argues here that the tendency to distrust and rebel against tradition is at the heart of tradition itself; only through suspicion and defiance does tradition actually move forward. Revealing the importance of tradition to social and political institutions, technology, science, literature, religion, and scholarship, Tradition remains the definitive work on this vital element of our society.

"Shils is a man of fabled learning, whose mind purrs powerfully like the moth at dusk. I hesitate to use the word conservative of him because it misses the central concern of his work, which is not conservatism, but the conservation of those human resources and achievements which are richest, and matter most."—David A. Martin, Times Literary Supplement

"Tradition is the first comprehensive treatment of the subject that encompasses the totality of tradition in all its multifaceted variables and functions. . . . It is a landmark analytical and theoretical sociological study that not only fills a need but also provides a basic model and impetus for further research."—H. Leon Abrams Jr., Sociology

About this title

About the Author

Edward Shils (1910-95) was the Distinguished Service Professor in the Committee on Social Thought and in the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago. He was the author of many books, including The Calling of Education andThe Constitution of Society, both published by the University of Chicago Press.

Review

"Shils is a man of fabled learning, whose mind purrs powerfully like the moth at dusk. I hesitate to use the word conservative of him because it misses the central concern of his work, which is not conservatism, but the conservation of those human resources and achievements which are richest, and matter most." - David A. Martin, Times Literary Supplement "Tradition is the first comprehensive treatment of the subject that encompasses the totality of tradition in all its multifaceted variables and functions....It is a landmark analytical and theoretical sociological study that not only fills a need but also provides a basic model and impetus for further research." - H. Leon Abrams Jr., Sociology "Shils tries to explore not this or that tradition, but the role in human societies of tradition as such - in the very wide sense of everything that is traditum, handed down, from one generation to another....Shils merits appreciation for having restated, with much learning and considerable eloquence, the sheer indispensability of tradition to human society." - Peter L. Berger, New York Times Book Review"

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0226753263
• ISBN 13: 9780226753263
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 334