Blackwell Reference Online

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An oxymoron if ever there was one, this term refers to texts (or authors) that have assumed an exalted position in sociology as vital theoretical contributions to, and as fundamental points of reference for, the discipline as a whole. Classics are texts that are accorded a privileged status, which means that ‘contemporary practitioners of the discipline… believe that they can learn as much about their field through understanding this earlier work as they can from the work of their own contemporaries’ ( Alexander, 1989 , p. 9). But what is the nature of classical eminence and how are classics best understood? Modern discussion of these questions falls under four related approaches. First, classics are deemed to perform certain functions for sociology: offering some standardization of vocabulary in an increasingly specialized and fragmented discipline; providing touchstones of excellence to be emulated by neophytes and cognoscenti alike; affording a master heuristic of methods, tools and perspectives for social research; conferring on ambitious social scientists authorial legitimation (as they link the classics to their own projects); and giving sociologists a sense of historical continuity (Coser, 1981; Stinchcombe, 1982). A second approach to classic texts focuses on the rhetorical and aesthetic properties they purportedly share. Classics, from this vantage point, acquire their ... log in or subscribe to read full text