Problematics of Sociology: The Georg Simmel Lectures, 1995

Smelser, Neil J. & Hans-Peter Müller

ISBN 10: 0520206754 / ISBN 13: 9780520206755

Published by University of California Press, Berkeley, 1997

About this Item

Inscribed by the author on the front endpaper, edge tear and spine fading to jacket. A nice solid copy. ; 6 X 0.6 X 9 inches; 111 pages; Signed by Author. Seller Inventory # 327054

Bibliographic Details

Title: Problematics of Sociology: The Georg Simmel ...

Publisher: University of California Press, Berkeley

Publication Date: 1997

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Very Good

Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good

Signed: Signed by Author(s)

Edition: First Edition.

About this title

Synopsis:

These skillfully written essays are based on the Georg Simmel Lectures delivered by Neil J. Smelser at Humboldt University in Berlin in the spring of 1995. A distillation of Smelser's reflections after nearly four decades of research, teaching, and thought in the field of sociology, the essays identify, as he says in the first chapter, ". . . some central problematics―those generic, recurrent, never resolved and never completely resolvable issues―that shape the work of the sociologist."

Each chapter considers a different level of sociological analysis: micro (the person and personal interaction), meso (groups, organizations, movements), macro (societies), and global (multi-societal). Within this framework, Smelser covers a variety of topics, including the place of the rational and the nonrational in social action and in social science theory; the changing character of group attachments in post-industrial society; the eclipse of social class; and the decline of the nation-state as a focus of solidarity.

The clarity of Smelser's writing makes this a book that will be welcomed throughout the field of social science as well as by anyone wishing to understand sociology's essential characteristics and problems.

From the Back Cover:

Based on the Georg Simmel Lectures delivered at Humboldt University in the spring of 1995, Problematics of Sociology is a distillation of Neil Smelser's reflections after nearly four decades of research, teaching, and thought in the field of sociology. Each chapter considers a different level of analysis: micro, meso, macro, and global. Within this framework, the themes considered range over a variety of topics, including the place of the rational and nonrational in social action and in social science theory; social institutions as imagined entities; the eclipse of social class; and the decline of the nation-state as a focus of solidarity.