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Classical Sociological Theory cover

Sociology

Sociology

Classical Sociological Theory

Craig Calhoun (editor); Joseph Gerteis (editor); James Moody (editor); Steven Pfaff (editor); Indermohan Virk (editor)

An edited reader that collects foundational texts of sociology, from Enlightenment and nineteenth-century precursors through Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Simmel, Mead, Du Bois, and mid-twentieth-century figures such as Parsons and Merton. Editorial introductions place each selection in its intellectual and historical context.

Prerequisites: An introductory sociology course is helpful; the editorial introductions supply the rest of the context.

Difficulty Level
Intermediate
Academic Level
Undergraduate
classical sociological theoryreadermarxdurkheimweberTextbook

01 / Reading Guide

Reading Guide

Citation

Calhoun, C., Gerteis, J., Moody, J., Pfaff, S., & Virk, I. (Eds.). (2022). Classical Sociological Theory (4th ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.

Chapter Summary

This is a reader, not a continuous textbook. Its 576 pages hold 45 numbered selections (excerpts from books and essays, many marked "from ..." in the contents) arranged in ten parts. The editors open the volume with a General Introduction and preface each part with an introduction of its own; the publisher says these introductions place every reading in its intellectual and historical setting. The entries below keep the titles given in the table of contents.

Part I: Precursors to Sociological Theory (Readings 1–4)

Four Enlightenment and early-modern texts that the editors treat as the "pre-history" of the discipline: Thomas Hobbes, "Of the Natural Condition and the Commonwealth"; Jean-Jacques Rousseau, "Of the Social Contract"; Immanuel Kant, "What is Enlightenment?"; and Adam Smith, "The Wealth of Nations".

Part II: Liberal Theories of Social Order (Readings 5–10)

Three selections from Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America ("Influence of Democracy on the Feelings of the Americans", "Tyranny of the Majority", "What Sort of Despotism Democratic Nations Have to Fear"), followed by Harriet Martineau, "Society in America", Jane Addams, "'A Belated Industry'", and Karl Polanyi, "Freedom in a Complex Society".

Part III: The Sociological Theory of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (Readings 11–17)

Seven readings: "The German Ideology", "Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1884", "Manifesto of the Communist Party", "Wage-Labour and Capital", "Classes", "The Fetishism of Commodities and the Secret Thereof" and "The General Formula for Capital". The last two come from an abridged edition of Capital.

Part IV: The Sociological Theory of Emile Durkheim (Readings 18–21)

Excerpts from The Rules of Sociological Method, The Division of Labor in Society, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life and Suicide, one reading per book.

Part V: The Sociological Theory of Max Weber (Readings 22–27)

"'Objectivity' in Social Science", "Basic Sociological Terms", "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism", "The Distribution of Power within the Political Community: Class, Status, Party", "The Types of Legitimate Domination" and "Bureaucracy". Methodology and definitions come first, then the substantive studies of religion, power, legitimacy and organisation.

Part VI: Self and Society (Readings 28–33)

George Herbert Mead, "The Self"; Georg Simmel, "The Stranger", "The Triad" and "The Metropolis and Mental Life"; and W. E. B. Du Bois, "The Souls of Black Folk" and "The Damnation of Women".

Part VII: Critical Theory (Readings 34–37)

Max Horkheimer, "Traditional and Critical Theory"; Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno, "The Culture Industry"; Herbert Marcuse, "One-Dimensional Man"; and Hannah Arendt, "'Reflections on Violence'".

Part VIII: Sociology of Knowledge (Readings 38–40)

Karl Mannheim, "Ideology and Utopia"; Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann, "The Social Construction of Reality"; and Alfred Schutz, "The Phenomenology of the Social World".

Parts IX–X: Functionalism; Social Exchange (Readings 41–45)

Talcott Parsons, "The Position of Sociological Theory"; Robert K. Merton, "Manifest and Latent Functions" and "'Social Structure and Anomie'"; then George Homans, "Social Behavior as Exchange", and Peter Blau, "Exchange and Power in Social Life".

Key Concepts

Parts I–II: Precursors and liberal theories of social order

  • Commonwealth and social contract: the political-philosophy vocabulary of Hobbes and Rousseau, named in the titles of Readings 1 and 2.
  • Tyranny of the majority: Tocqueville's worry about democratic rule, the title of Reading 6.
  • Freedom in a complex society: the title of Polanyi's reading, which closes the part.

Parts III–V: Marx, Durkheim and Weber

  • Commodity fetishism and the general formula for capital: the two Capital selections in Part III.
  • Class: a topic of its own in Marx's "Classes" and, with status and party, in Weber's reading on the distribution of power.
  • Social facts and method: Durkheim's Rules of Sociological Method opens his part.
  • Legitimate domination and bureaucracy: Weber's types of authority and the study of organisation in Readings 26 and 27.

Parts VI–X: Self, critique, knowledge, function and exchange

  • The self, the stranger, the triad: Mead and Simmel on the individual and small-scale social forms.
  • Culture industry and one-dimensional man: the critical-theory readings in Part VII.
  • Social construction of reality: the central term of Reading 39.
  • Manifest and latent functions, anomie: Merton's two selections in Part IX.
  • Social exchange: the subject of the closing part.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

  • Primary texts with framing. Every part has its own introduction, and the publisher stresses that readings were chosen for a combination of theoretical sophistication and accessibility. A student meets the authors' own words rather than a summary of them.
  • Breadth beyond the usual trio. Marx, Durkheim and Weber receive 17 of the 45 readings, but the contents also include Martineau, Addams and Du Bois (two readings), the Frankfurt School and Arendt, and a Part I on the Enlightenment background. The publisher says the fourth edition integrates additional readings from the Enlightenment and from Tocqueville.
  • Parts organised by figure and by school. Parts III to V give each of the three founders a block of their own, while the other parts group authors by theme, which makes the reader easy to map onto a syllabus.

Limitations

  • Excerpts only. Most selections are extracts ("from ..."), so the reader cannot replace reading a whole work such as The Division of Labor in Society or Capital.
  • Not a narrative introduction. There is no continuous account of the field; the General Introduction and the part introductions are the only connective text.
  • A cut-off in the mid-twentieth century. The last parts reach Parsons, Merton, Homans and Blau; later theory is in a companion volume, Contemporary Sociological Theory (which opens with Goffman, Blumer and Collins), sold by the publisher as a set with this one.
  • Freud has no reading of his own. The publisher's description names him among the theorists, but the contents contain no Freud selection (he appears only in the index).

Where It Fits in the Course

Within this course list, the reader is the primary-source anchor. Ian Craib's Classical Social Theory is a short plain-language introduction to the founding figures, and Kenneth Allan and Sarah Daynes's Explorations in Classical Sociological Theory is a conversational introduction that includes figures older accounts leave out; either works well before or beside this reader, supplying the explanation that the excerpts do not. Anthony Giddens's Capitalism and Modern Social Theory compares Marx, Durkheim and Weber on capitalism and is a natural follow-up after Parts III to V, and Robert Nisbet's The Sociological Tradition organises the history around five "unit-ideas" rather than individual thinkers.

Single works in the list, namely Durkheim's The Division of Labor in Society and Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, give the full text of selections that appear here only in part. For a postcolonial reading of the same founders, see Bhambra and Holmwood's Colonialism and Modern Social Theory, which belongs to a different course in this list.

How to Use This Book

The publisher presents the book for undergraduate and graduate students of social and sociological theory, and also for human geography, anthropology, criminology and urban studies. The publisher lists no prerequisites; the editorial introductions are designed to supply the historical and intellectual context, so a first sociology course is enough preparation.

A practical plan for a one-semester course:

  • Core: the General Introduction, then Parts III, IV and V (Marx and Engels, Durkheim, Weber), reading each part's introduction before its selections.
  • Next: Part VI (Mead, Simmel, Du Bois) and Part II for the liberal tradition and its critics, such as Tocqueville and Martineau.
  • Optional or selective: Part I as background; Parts VII to X for a course that continues towards the twentieth century.

Read the introduction to each part first, then the selection, and keep a one-line note on the question each author is answering. Pair a short excerpt with its source work in a library to see what the extract leaves out. A reader wanting the later twentieth century should continue with the companion contemporary volume.