In this provocative analysis of the central issues and developments in modern social theory, Dr Strasser contends that enquiry into the function, tasks and mission of sociology as a discipline can be understood only in relation to the subject's historical development. He believes that a discussion of the origin and intention of sociology, particularly in relation to the established social order, enables us to grasp fully the nature of sociological theory, both past and present. He maintains that a sociologist's own position in society, and consequently his views on its development and his way of expressing those views, will affect the theoretical position he takes up.
Hermann Strasser has been a Professor of Sociology at the University of Duisburg, Germany, since 1978. He studied economics at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, and the Free University of Berlin. He received his doctorate in 1976. As a Fullbright Scholar he continued to study sociology at Fordham University, New York, where he was awarded a Ph.D. in Sociology in 1974. He has written numerous articles in scientific and other journals on sociological theory, social stratification, social change, the causes and consequences of long-term unemployment, the career of drugs and drug users, and the problems of multicultural society.