"Part dialogue, part debate between Howard Schneiderman and a small number of social theorists, Engagement and Disengagement represents the culmination of a life's work in social theory. On the one hand, it is about cohesive social, cultural, and intellectual forces, such as authority, community, status, and the sacred, that tie us together, and on the other hand, about forces such as alienation, politics, and economic warfare that pull us apart. With a blend of humanism and social science, Engagement and Disengagement highlight this two-culture solution to understanding social and cultural history."--Provided by publisher
In his final work, Donald N. Levine, one of the great late-twentieth-century sociological theorists, brings together diverse social thinkers. Simmel, Weber, Durkheim, Parsons, and Merton are set into a dialogue with philosophers such as Hobbes, Smith, Montesquieu, Comte, Kant, and Hegel and pragmatists such as Peirce, James, Dewey, and McKeon to describe and analyze dialogical social theory. This volume is one of Levine's most important contributions to social theory and a worthy summation of his life's work. Levine demonstrates that approaching social theory with a cooperative, peaceful dialogue is a superior tactic in theorizing about society. He illustrates the advantages of the dialogical model with case studies drawn from the French Philosophes, the Russian Intelligentsia, Freudian psychology, Ushiba's aikido, and Levine's own ethnographic work in Ethiopia. Incorporating themes that run through his lifetime's work, such as conflict resolution, ambiguity, and varying forms of social knowledge, Levine suggests that while dialogue is an important basis for sociological theorizing, it still vies with more combative forms of discourse that lend themselves to controversy rather than cooperation, often giving theory a sense of standing still as the world moves forward. The book was nearly finished when Levine died in April 2015, but it has been brought to thoughtful and thought-provoking completion by his friend and colleague Howard G. Schneiderman. This volume will be of great interest to students and teachers of social theory and philosophy.
"Professing Sociology was originally published at a time when sociology commanded widespread interest and public funding. Written by one of the leaders of "the new sociology" of the late sixties, this volume captures the nature and intensity of the field's intellectual foundations and scope. It reveals the field's post-World War II development as a scientific discipline and as a profession, and includes the author's most significant writings on critical trends shaping the field. Irving Louis Horowitz divides the life cycle of sociology into three main sections. The first deals with the inner life of sociology, covering basic theoretical issues uniting and dividing the profession. In a second section, Horowitz shows the institutions and sources from which the struggle of ideas is nourished. A third section shows how political life shapes the inner life of American sociology. Horowitz gives a great deal of attention to international social science, to the relationship of social science to public policy, and to federal projects and grant agencies and their effects on research. Irving Louis Horowitz was undoubtedly influential in shaping his field, and Professing Sociology offers valuable insights into how ideas become part of the fabric of professional life. As the new introduction by Howard G. Schneiderman shows, Professing Sociology provides a clear picture of sociology at the height of its importance."--Provided by publisher.
