Exploring Sociological Theory

The introductory chapter to the book, published in 1999. It's great, a reassuring & pleasant vision for science studies! The cases sound interesting as well.

The last chapter of an epic & forgotten book in sociology.

It's a bit wordy, but also a bit epic & deep.

Curious if anyone (including me) will ever make it to the end.

Enjoy!

Sociability refers to  different forms of social interaction and human association. The  concept, in both descriptive and normative senses, can be found in many  branches of study. In sociology the concept occupied a central place in  the work of Georg Simmel, who developed and presented it as a sociological ideal type.

This was published in AJS in 1949 "The Sociology of Sociability," original from 1910

Published in 1939, when this guy was just 38 years old, the book as a whole gives a sweeping defense of science in light of popular critiques at the time. But the last chapter I read here gives a beautiful and comprehensive vision of science as a scaffolding for all future human action, and a program for its merging with culture, history, etc. and its morphing and supporting humanity's quest towards the future. Great read.

Erving Goffman’s posthumously published essay, ‘The interaction order’,  which was to have been presented as a presidential address at an annual  meeting of the American Sociological Association, is usually taken to be  an attempt at a systematic summary by Goffman of his key ideas. (This) address can also be understood as a profoundly  personal and deeply scornful critique by Goffman of the varieties of  mainstream sociology and the pretensions of its practitioners.  Incorporated into that critique is a simulacrum in which Goffman  demonstrated what a systematic treatment of his work might look like had  he actually been inclined to generate one. In that respect, ‘The  interaction order’ transcends the boundaries of what we ordinarily  expect to find in an academic address: it is simultaneously an artful  display of Goffman’s real vocational commitment to sociology, a  contribution to the rhetorical debate in which he engaged with the  practitioners of orthodox versions of sociology and a brief but  significant demonstration of some aspects he considered distinctive  about his own form of sociology.

- Michael Rosenberg (2019)

One publisher's description

The excerpt that follows is from Mills' acclaimed book, The Sociological Imagination. Since its original publication in 1959, this text has been a required reading for most introductory sociology students around the world. Mills' sociological imagination perspective not only cornpels Lhe besl sociological analyses but also enables the sociologist and the individual to distinguish between "personal troubles" and "public issues." By separating these phenomena, we can better comprehend the sources of and solutions to social problems.

The first of his famous lectures

from Frame Analysis

(Goffman) Intro to frame analysis -- Chapter 1.

Tumin challenged the Davis–Moore hypothesis of social stratification  with his paper "Some principles of stratification: a critical  analysis".[5][6] Tumin took Davis–Moore to imply that social  stratification was mostly inevitable and provided a positive function  for society. He analyzed the arguments of Davis and Moore and found them  wanting in a number of respects.[6] In a reply to Tumin's paper, Davis  stated that his ideas seek to explain inequality, rather than justify  it. Davis also accused Tumin of a number of errors.[7]  Tumin's 1967 book Social Stratification: The Forms and Functions of  Inequality was widely used as a textbook and was re-issued in 1985.[1]