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Based on a comparative study of the theories of such sociologists as Ward, Sumner, Keller, Giddings, Ross, Small and Cooley, this is a systematic and rigorous analysis of the main features of earlier sociological theory in the USA. The author identifies and characterizes the basic assumptions of early American sociological thought in terms of an abstract analytical scheme. He shows that early theory focused on social ontological interests, the pervasive ontological stance being evolutionary naturalism, within which the problems of social origins and social change tended to be paramount. He also points out that some sociologists preferred a social process theory. In his final chapter the author suggests the degree of similarity and dissimilarity, of continuity and discontinuity, between earlier and later theory in American sociology, and provides a basis for explaining and interpreting the character of the prevalent assumptions of one period in American theory in relation to other periods.
List of contents
1. Towards a Sociology of the History of Sociological Theory 2. Contexts of Early Sociological Theory 3. An Overview of the Major Characteristics of Early Theory in Terms of an Analytic Scheme 4. Social Epistemological-Methodological Theories 5. Theories of Social Origins 6. The Theory and Characteristics of Primordial Social Structure 7. Toward Theories of Social and Societal Structures 8. An Overview of Theories of Social Change and Social Evolution 9. Anti-Social Evolutionism and the Social Process Theory of Social Change 10. Social Evolution, Social Process, and Social Progress in Social Change: Summary 11. A Basic Synoptic Characterization of Founding Theory 12. Toward Discontinuity and Continuity in the History of American Sociological Theory
About the author
Roscoe C. Hinkle
Summary
Based on a comparative study of the theories of such sociologists as Ward, Sumner, Keller, Giddings, Ross, Small and Cooley, this is a systematic and rigorous analysis of the main features of earlier sociological theory in the USA. The author identifies and characterizes the basic assumptions of early American sociological thought in terms of an abstract analytical scheme. He shows that early theory focused on social ontological interests, the pervasive ontological stance being evolutionary naturalism, within which the problems of social origins and social change tended to be paramount. He also points out that some sociologists preferred a social process theory. In his final chapter the author suggests the degree of similarity and dissimilarity, of continuity and discontinuity, between earlier and later theory in American sociology, and provides a basis for explaining and interpreting the character of the prevalent assumptions of one period in American theory in relation to other periods.
