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Divided into two parts, this book examines the train of social theory from the 19th century, through to the 'organization of modernity', in relation to ideas of social planning, and as contributors to the 'rationalistic revolution' of the 'golden age' of capitalism in the 1950s and 60s. Part two examines key concepts in the social sciences. It begins with some of the broadest concepts used by social scientists: choice, decision, action and institution and moves on to examine the 'collectivist alternative': the concepts of society, culture and polity, which are often dismissed as untenable by postmodernists today. This is a major contribution to contemporary social theory and provides a host of essential insights into the task of social science today.
List of contents
PART ONE: RECONSIDERING THE HISTORY OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
As a Philosophical Science Unjustifiable, as an Empirical Science Anything Else but New
Classical Sociology and the First Crisis of Modernity
Time of Politics, and Not of Law
Political Analysis during the First Crisis of Modernity
Adjusting Social Relations
Social Science and the Organization of Modernity
The Mythical Promise of Societal Renewal
Social Science and Reform Coalitions
Out of Step
The Social Sciences in the Second Crisis of Modernity
PART TWO: RETHINKING KEY CONCEPTS OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
Choice and Decision-Making
Action and Institution
Culture (with
Heidrun Friese)
Society
Polity
Modernity
About the author
Peter Wagner is Professor of Social and Political Theory in the Department of Political and Social Sciences, European University Institute, Florence
Summary
Examines the train of social theory from the 19th century, through to the 'organization of modernity', in relation to ideas of social planning, and as contributors to the 'rationalistic revolution' of the 'golden age' of capitalism in the 1950s and 60s. This title looks at key concepts in the social sciences.
