Four myths in the history of social thought
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2160003 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Anthony Giddens (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1972 |
| Volume | 1 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 357-385 |
| Publication date | 1972-11-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Economy and Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0308-5147 • E-ISSN: 1469-5766 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03085147200000020 |
| OpenAlex | W2014494128 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 20 |
Four commonly held interpretations of the development of European social thought in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are analysed and criticised, with particular reference to Durkheim's writings. These four myths are: the notion that Durkheim's sociology developed in substantial degree as a response to the ‘problem of order’; the conception that Durkheim's work is to be understood in terms of its origins in ‘conservative’ social thought; the view that Durkheim's writings, together with those of some of his contemporaries, mark a radical break in the transition from ‘social philosophy’ to ‘sociology’; and the idea that the type of intellectual tradition represented by Durkheim, concerned with the ‘problem of order’, can be usefully compared with a divergent tradition concerned with ‘conflict’ and ‘change’. It is argued that while these myths each contain a kernel of truth, this can only be extracted if Durkheim's writings are examined in relation to the historical context in which he developed his sociological concerns
Context (archaeology · Epistemology · Mythology · Order (exchange · Politics · Relation (database · Social order · Social science · Social thought · Sociology · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Emile Durkheim and Sociology · History · Law · Philosophy · Social and Cultural Dynamics
Individual and Community in Modern Debates about Religion and Secularism
Durkheim, Socialism and Marxism
Classical Social Theory and the Origins of Modern Sociology
Beyond the ‘Parsonian Problem of Order’
Morality as rebellion
Challenges in Sociological Theory
The problem of order
Autonomy and tradition
Leadership-as-Sentiments
Marxism and Romanticism
Formal and Substantive Voluntarism in the Work of Talcott Parsons
The New History of Sociology
On Understanding a Sociological Classic
The Problem of Early English Sociology
The paradox of the 'two sociologies
Herbert Blumer on the Possibility of Science in the Practice of Sociology
Rethinking Durkheim's Intellectual Development I
Canon Formation in Late 20th-Century British Sociology
Mythic Facts and Park's Pragmatism
The Theory of Industrial Society and Cultural Schemata
| Citations per year | 0.38 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1974 - 2025 (52) |
| Highly cited | No |