Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

One of the purposes of this volume is to contribute to the narrative history of social theories. In other words, to tell stories about theories and theorists. This seems harmless and academic, at least until one realizes that neither theories about society nor stories about theories of society are confined to professional academics. Indeed, social change that is not merely reactive requires theories. Pragmatic agents engaged in changing their society cannot avoid thinking about how their society works and how the society affects the way that individuals think. It is but a short step from there to considering how others have thought a society works and how they were affected by their society. Such considerations only become useful when we have developed a story that connects the way that we think about society to the way that others have thought about society. Thus we move naturally from wanting to change society, to developing a social theory, to studying other social theories, to developing narratives about social theories. This collection contributes to the narrative history of social theories in at least three ways. First, and most obviously, the chapters themselves are narratives about social theorists. They are biographies related to tales of intellectual disputes set within epic social histories. The stories move from the theorists’ social and intellectual context to present-day ... log in or subscribe to read full text