Key Concepts in Classical Social Theory

Alex Law is Professor of Sociology at Abertay University, Dundee.

Introduction: Classical Social Theory Alienation Anomie Base and Superstructure Bureaucracy Capital Civil Society Class Class, Status and Party Collective Effervescence Collective Representations Commodity Fetishism Conscience Collective Division of Labour (Smith and Ferguson) Division of Labour (Marx) Division of Labour in Society (Durkheim) Fashion Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft Historical Materialism Ideal-Types Ideology Legitimate Domination Mechanical and Organic Solidarity Metropolis Mode of Production Modernity Money Normal and Pathological Positivism Primitive Accumulation Protestant Ethic and the 'Spirit of Capitalism' Rationality and Rationalization Sacred and Profane Social Action Social Facts Social Forms and Sociation Social Morphology Social Space Suicide Totemism Value Freedom Verstehen

I think this will prove to be a very useful text for undergraduate students. Alex Law has produced a comprehensive list of key classical social theory concepts and provides an accessible account of the meaning of central terms, their place in the work of the classical analysts considered and the contemporary significance of their ideas. In addition he has offered useful additional reading guidance from which students will derive considerable benefit. I would certainly recommend the text to my students and I think they would find it a very useful addition to the library Barry Smart University of Portsmouth