The Sociological Tradition

370 Pages·2017·47.083 MB·English

by  Robert A. Nisbet

THE SOCIOLOGICAL TRADITION
Q
Taylor & Francis
~-
Taylor & Francis Group
http:// taylorandfra ncis.com
THE SOCIOLOGICAL TRADITION
ROBERT A. NISBET
With a New Introduction by the Author
~l Routledge
~~
,aylor&, rands Group
LONDON AND NEW YORK
Originally published in 1966 by Basic Books, Inc.
Published 1993 by Transaction Publishers
Published 2017 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
New material this edition copyright © 1993 by Taylor & Francis.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and
are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Catalog Number: 92-35189
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nisbet, Robert A.
The sociological tradition / Robert A. Nisbet, with a new introduction by
the author.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 1-56000-667-6
1.Sociology—History. I. Title.
HMI9.N5 1993
301'09—dc20 92-35189
CIP
ISBN 13: 978-1-56000-667-1 (pbk)
To
C.B.N.
Q
Taylor & Francis
~-
Taylor & Francis Group
http:// taylo randfra nci s.com
CONTENTS
Introduction to the Transaction Edition ix
Preface xvii
PAR TON E Ideas and Contexts
I The Unit-Ideas of Sociology 3
IDEAS AND ANTITHESES • THE REVOLT AGAINST
INDIVIDUALISM • LIBERALISM, RADICALISM,
CONSERVATISM· IDEOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY·
mE SOURCES OF SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION
2 The Two Revolutions 2I
mE BREAKUP OF THE OLD ORDER • mE THEMES
OF INDUSTRIALISM • DEMOCRACY AS REVOLUTION •
INDIVIDUALIZATION, ABSTRACTION, GENERALIZATION
PAR T TWO The Unit-Ideas of Sociology
3 Community 47
THE REDISCOVERY OF COMMUNITY • mE IMAGE
OF COMMUNITY • THE MORAL COMMUNITY-
COMTE • mE EMPIRICAL COMMUNITY-LE
PLAY • A NOTE ON LE PLAY AND MARX •
COMMUNITY AS TYPOLOGY-TONNIES AND
WEBER • COMMUNITY AS METHODOLOGY-
DURKHElM • THE MOLECULAR COMMUNITY-
SIMMEL
4 Authority 107
THE SPECTER OF POWER • AUTHORITY VERSUS
POWER • THE DISCOVERY OF ELITES • THE
ROOTS OF POWER-TOCQUEVILLE • THE USES
OF POWER-MARX • THE RATIONALIZATION OF
AUTHORITY-WEBER • THE FUNCTION OF AU-
mORITY-DURKHEIM • THE FORMS OF A1,1THOR-
lTY-SlMMEL
viii CONTENTS
5 Status 174
THE EMERGENCE OF CLASS • THB MODEL OF
CLASS • THE CHALLENGE TO CLASS • THB
TRIUMPH OF STATUS-TOCQUBVILLB • A NOTE
ON LE PLAY, TAINE, AND DURKHEIM • THE
CRYSTALLIZATION OF CLASS-MARX • CLASS
AS GESELLSCHAFT-TONNIES • CLASS VERSUS
STATUS-WEBER • THE AUTGNOMIZATION OF
STATU8-SIMMEL
6 The Sacred 221
THE RECOVERY OF THE SACRED • THE SACRED
AND THE SECULAR • DOGMA AND DEMOCRACY-
TOCQUEVILLE • THE SACRED AS PERSPECTIVE-
FUSTEL DE COULANGES • THE SACRED AND
PROFANE-DURKHEIM • CHARISMA AND CALLING
-WEBER • THE FUNCTION OF PIBTY-SIMMEL
7 Alienation
THE MEANING OF ALIENATION • THE INVERSION
OF PROGRESS • THE INVERSION OF INDIVIDUALISM
• THE DIMINUTION OF MAN-TOCQUEVILLB
• THE ALIENATION OF LABOR-MARX • THE
NEMESIS OF RATIONALISM-WEBER • ISOLATION
AND ANOMIE-DURKHEIM • THE TYRANNY OF
OBJECTMSM-SIMMEL
PART THREE Epilogue
Dates of Principal Writers and Works
Referred to in Text 320
Notes 323
Acknowledgments 339
Index 341
INTRODUCTION TO THE
TRANSACTION EDITION
No changes of substance or text have been made in this edition. I
continue, after a quarter of a century, to hold to the basic perspectives
and analyses that fonn the framework of this book. The novel
treatment of the history of sociology-that is, in tenns of what I call
unit-ideas instead of the customary biographical and systems-
approaches-yielded, along with some most welcome praise, critical
reviews in a number of instances. I shall return to these criticisms and
dissents shortly. First it is perhaps useful to explain how the book
came to be written.
At Berkeley in the 1930s when I did both undergraduate and
graduate work, there was no sociology-as this word was in use
throughout most of the country at the time-to be had. I can't say that
I missed it. Some sample reading of expressly labeled sociological
works in the library didn't impress, much less edify me. In the first
place, it seemed to me that so many of these books were simply
introductory textbooks, each claiming to hold the secret of what
sociology was all about. In one it might be culture-as though the field
of ethnology in America and England hadn't long ago opened up that
area of human behavior. In another it might be social interaction, with
no credit given pioneering works in American psychology going back
at least as far as William James. In yet another it might be what was
commonly called the integrated approach that generally meant not the
illumination of a field of learning but instead snippets of psychology,
political science, economics, geography-leftovers from other fields, as
some unkind but accurate critic put it, instead of a field in and for
itself. In so many of the books there was a sense of inferiority felt by
the author almost as if he were a member of some minority group. In
the main, there was little if any sense of a genuine field, comparable to
chemistry, political science, or economics: only a rather thin and
fragile network of arguments for a sociology rather than the kind of
ix