Four Sociological Traditions
By:
Randall Collins
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Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5
Description:
Organized along the same lines as Three Sociological Traditions, Four Sociological Traditions is Randall Collins' updated guide to the development of modern sociology. Explaining in a brief, readable format the 4 main schools of sociological thought, this book represents a concise intellectual history of the development of sociology. Widely adopted as either a main or supplemental text, Four Sociological Traditions presents clearly the conflict tradition of Marx and Weber, the ritual solidarity tradition of Durkheim, and the microinteractionist tradition of Mead, Blumer, and Garfinkel, and - new in this edition - the rational choice/utilitarian tradition. One of the most lively and exciting writers in sociology, Randall Collins introduces students to the roots of social theory, indicating areas where progress has been made in our understanding, as well as those areas where controversy still exists. Students will find Four Sociological Traditions a fresh, thorough, and thought-provoking examination.
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Customer Review: 3 out of 5
Introduces the world to schools of thought - The history of sociological theory is not exactly the most facinating course material. Even if you have a great instructor, the basic content is both dry and monotone.
By intergrating questions of social justice into this text, Collins draws in current day readers. Far from being stodgy, Sociologists/sociologists in the making were some of the world's most visible radicals during their time.
Customer Review: 3 out of 5
More History than Theory - I found this book a bit disappointing. Collins provides a lot of information, but the book isn't very well organized and doesn't often clearly outline the theories. I recommend instead Ken Morrison's "Marx, Durkheim, Weber: Formations of Modern Social thought" for a good breakdown of early sociological theory.
Customer Review: 5 out of 5
First sociology book for social scientists - This was my first book on sociology, and I must admit that I thoroughly enjoyed Collins' description of the branches that compose modern sociology and the frontiers of knowledge in the field. As an economist, I was especially interested in the "rational" school, and was not disappointed. Of course many of the scholar transcend economics and sociology (Herbert Simon, Mancur Olson), but I found it interesting to see concepts that I had treated as predominantly economic from a different perspective. Also interesting to read about Marx in the context of all other who followed him in the "conflict" tradition. This book is great for those who would like to have an overall good knowledge of sociology without spending the time to read the actual founders of the field's works.
Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Finally A Distillation of Sociology's Major Theories! - Collins' work is a must for the serious scholar of sociology. He is able to "boil-down" the four major theories in sociology, without resorting to the confounding language of the original authors. This work succinctly outlines the four major theories and gives some of the more lucid quotes of the "fathers" of classical theory. Finally a sociology text that does not presume familiarity with the subject matter.
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