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Major Works
by Randall Collins
Interaction Ritual Chains
From the Publisher:
Sex, smoking, and social stratification are
three very different social phenomena. And yet, argues sociologist
Randall Collins, they and much else in our social lives are driven by a
common force: interaction rituals. Interaction Ritual Chains is
a major work of sociological theory that attempts to develop a "radical
microsociology." It proposes that successful rituals create symbols of
group membership and pump up individuals with emotional energy, while
failed rituals drain emotional energy. Each person flows from situation
to situation, drawn to those interactions where their cultural capital
gives them the best emotional energy payoff. Thinking, too, can be
explained by the internalization of conversations within the flow of
situations; individual selves are thoroughly and continually social,
constructed from the outside in.
The first half of Interaction Ritual
Chains is based on the classic analyses of Durkheim, Mead, and
Goffman and draws on micro-sociological research on conversation,
bodily rhythms, emotions, and intellectual creativity. The second half
discusses how such activities as sex, smoking, and social
stratification are shaped by interaction ritual chains. For example,
the book addresses the emotional and symbolic nature of sexual
exchanges of all sorts--from hand-holding to masturbation to sexual
relationships with prostitutes--while describing the interaction
rituals they involve. This book will appeal not only to psychologists,
sociologists, and anthropologists, but to those in fields as diverse as
human sexuality, religious studies, and literary theory.
The Discovery of Society
From the Publisher:
In this now classic text, Collins and Makowsky
explore the lives and ideas of the social thinkers who have shaped and
continue to forge traditions in sociology. Focusing on the great names
in the field, they weave biographical and conceptual details into a
tapestry of the history of social thought of the 19th and 20th
centuries..
The biographical and historical details provide context, giving the
reader a sense of where ideas and discoveries have come from and where
they may be going, as well as an appreciation of these thinkers as real
human beings who were influenced by the social, political, and economic
environments in which they lived.
While the main thrust of this revision continues to be the development
of the great classical tradition, Collins and Makowsky do an excellent
job discussing contemporary developments as the friuts of real,
on-going efforts to enhance our understanding of society--a task that
will never be complete. Accessible and engaging, The Discovery of
Society provides a solid foundatio in social/sociological theory,
presenting theory as a dynamic, relevant, exciting, and on-going
enterprise.
The Sociology of
Philosophies: A Global Theory of Intellectual Change
From the Publisher:
Distinguished by both the American
Sociological Association (1999) and the Association of American
Publishers (1998), Collins comparative study of intellectual
development within cultures and the development of ideas across
cultures sheds new light on the history of philosophy.
Four
Sociological Traditions
From the Publisher:
This text presents a concise
intellectual history of sociology organized around the development of
four classic schools of thought:
Sociological Insight: An Introduction to
Non-Obvious Sociology
From the Publisher:
Revised and expanded to incorporate recent
research, this essential classic now offers a more comprehensive
introduction to many of sociology's most interesting and elegant ideas,
written with a grace and wit that have delighted a generation of
students.
Macrohistory: Essays in the Sociology of the
Long Run
From the Publisher:
This book explores the accomplishments of the
golden age of "macrohistory, " the sociologically informed analysis of
longterm patterns of political, economic, and social change that has
reached new heights of sophistication in the last decades of the
twentieth century. It describes the scholarly revolution that has taken
place in the Marxian-inspired theory of revolutions, the shift to a
state-breakdown model in which revolutions, rather than bubbling up
from discontent below, start at the top in the fiscal strains of the
state. The author links revolutions to military-centered
transformations of the state, and reviews how he used this theory in
the early 1980s to predict the breakdown of the Soviet empire. He goes
on to show the implications of viewing states and societies from the
outside in, including the geopolitical patterns that affect the
legitimacy of dominant ethnic groups and thus determine the direction
of ethnic assimilation or fragmentation. Another application is the
author's new theory of democratization, which asserts that democracy
depends not merely on a widening of the franchise but on a geopolitical
pattern favoring federated structures of collegially shared power.
Using this new theoretical tool, the author argues that Anglophone
scholars have polemically misinterpreted German history, and that the
roots of the Holocaust cannot be determined by German-bashing but must
be attributed to processes that affect all of us. Other essays
generalize about the historical dynamics and transformations of
markets. Going beyond Weber's Eurocentric model, the author proposes a
more general theory that explains the origins of capitalism in Japan on
an independent but parallel path.
Max Weber: A Skeleton Key
From
the Publisher:
A concise overview of sociology's greatest
classic thinker. Weber emerges as a multisided intellectual
personality, whose intellectual ambivalence is related to a neurotic
breakdown in mid career and to the compromises he was forced to make
among the conflicting political and intellectual currents of his
time. Here we see what kinds of philosophical idealism Weber favored
and what kinds he rejected, as well as his position on the "battle of
methods" among the economists of his day. Weber's famous "Protestant
Ethic" thesis is put in proper perspective as an intellectual gambit in
one particular period of his life, rather than as his central
achievement. Weber's overall view of social change is examined, drawing
on several of his crucial but little-known works, on the sociology of
ancient agrarian societies and on the long chain of organizational
conditions that finally led to modern capitalism. Also treated are
Weber's major works on the sociology of religion and his contributions
to systematic theory, especially social stratification. The many
strands of Weber's theorizing, and his tremendous scope of comparisons
across world history, are here brought into a clear and manageable
focus.
"Randall Collins is the leading sociological theorist of his
generation. He has also done more than anyone else to use and develop
Weberian sociology. Accordingly we expect much from Collins on Weber
and Max Weber does not disappoint."
--Whitney Pope, Indiana University
"A lively, efficient, reliable interpretation, captivating for the
novice, provocative for the expert. . .Typical Collins."
--Alan Sica, University of Kansas
"A good introductory survey of Weber's major writings. It is
interesting reading and highly informative."
--Contemporary Sociology
"A good capsule biography . . . very readable . . .honors clarity,
style, and the value of popular understanding."
--The Madison Independent Books in Review
"Ideal for an introductory course on Weber."
--Ethics
Dr.
Elwell's Home Page
©Frank Elwell
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