Sociological Objects : Reconfigurations of Social Theory

What are the aims of sociology? How do they relate to the classical tradition? How, today, can we understand the relation between sociology and its object of study? This volume interrogates the changing relationship between contemporary and classical sociology and the conceptual and theoretical foundations of the discipline. The contributors argue that recent historical and conceptual developments make a reconsideration of these questions timely.

What are the aims of sociology? What are its objects of study? How relevant is the classical tradition to the practice of sociology today? This volume brings together internationally renowned and new scholars to consider the changing relationship between contemporary and classical sociology. Arguing that recent historical and theoretical developments make reconsideration timely, it suggests that whilst the classical tradition has a continuing pertinence, it is inevitably subject to ongoing reconfiguration. Assessing the explanatory value of classical and contemporary forms of sociology, interrogating social theory as both a form of explanation and a mode of practice, and considering the possible consequences for the discipline of questions about its subject matter, Sociological Objects steers a course between assertions about radical epistemological breaks on the one hand, and reverence for the classical tradition on the other. Rather, it emphasizes the value of reworking, reconsidering and reconfiguring sociological thought.