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First published in 1984 Tradition and Innovation by viewing Western civilization as a culture, puts the common perspectives of our major Western institutions in bolder relief. The author shows how the institutionalization of central modes of Western rationality-found in capitalism, industrialization, science, science - based technology, bureaucracy, the rule of law, the social and behavioral sciences-has created a culturally and historically unique form of collective life: advanced industrial society. Indicative of this development is the nature and meaning of the so-called innovative society itself, where rationality is increasingly seen to repose in institutions and organized structures rather than in individuals. Professor Wilson argues that this rationality is becoming traditionalized as a central artifact of our form of life, one which believes in the independent existence of the facts of life'. This is borne out by the increasing autonomy of what professor Wilson calls disembodied disciplined observation', determined as it is to annihilate contemplation and reflection in its effort to reconstitute practice in its own image. This is an interesting read for students of sociology, political science, public administration, and social science in general.

1. Marx's critique of political economy as a problem-posing framework -- 2. Conceptualization and critique in Marx and today -- 3. The meaning and significance of Marx's critique of the method of political economy -- 4. Making analytical and practical sense of Marx's critical/dialectical procedure -- 5. Ontological underpinnings of the critical/dialectical procedure -- 6. Retroduction and empiricism in Marx's practice and theory of understanding -- 7. Labour as the objective basis of materialist dialectics.

This book, first published in 1991, demonstrates that Marx is the legitimate founder of what was to become the critical theory of society. It argues that in order to justify a new conception of humans as collective, cultural and historical beings, Marx undertook a radical critique of the theoretical/analytical method of his predecessors and his contemporaries in political economy, philosophy and the natural sciences. While elements of the methods of some of these thinkers - most conspicuously from the work of Aristotle, Kant and Hegel - were present in Marx's thought, he achieved a new synthes.

Wilson (York U., Toronto) collects ten journal articles and book chapters published between 1976 and 2004 on the thought, influence, and milieu of American philosopher Weber (1864-1920). Some consider the limits of rationality by discussing such topics as critical theory in American from 1938 to 1978 as a case of intellectual innovation and its rec

This work addresses issues in the old and new political economy. Going back to Marx, Weber and Habermas, it concludes that social intellectuals still have to rise to the occasion, rather than assisting in the massive self-confirming prophecy that postmodernism threatens to become

Examines the influence of Max Weber's class position, his idea of nationality & nationalism, & his upbringing during the late ninteenth century in Wilhemine Germany, on his political philosophy. It is shown that the tension between his class position & his political ideology produced a highly unique concept of individualism, as well as an ambivalence toward the conflict between liberalism & the machtstaat's policy of realpolitik. 39 References. W. Howard

The social sciences became an important force for those members of the original Frankfurt school concerned about the impact of intellectual & professional knowledge on political, administrative, & business-industrial practice. This initial concern, best represented in Theodor W. Adorno's reflections on his own participation in several projects carried out during his stay in the US, was significantly altered in the work of Jurgen Habermas after 1967. Though Habermas is by far the best known student of Adorno & Max Horkheimer, his work after this date shows an interest in reformulating the critical theory of society as a critical social science, in line with his revised attitude to the relation between knowledge & practice expressed in his post-1967 commitment to radical reformism. AA

(For Part I, see abstract in this section.) Critical theory's critique of the social sciences concerns their commitment to traditional theory & empirical method. Theory & method in these disciplines work together to attempt to simultaneously eliminate reflexivity & reconstitute practice in a form better suited to the ascendancy of society as a culturally & historically specific form of collective life, rather than as a synonym for such life & living. The sense & significance of this critique in the contemporary setting of advanced industrial societies is analyzed. AA