Rethinking the Social Through Durkheim, Marx, Weber and Whitehead

ISBN-13: 9781783083695 / Angielski / Miękka / 2014 / 184 str.

Michael Halewood

Opis

Sociologists and social theorists use the term social frequently. We talk of social relations, social media, social networks, social factors, and so on, as well as the social . But do we always know what we mean or what we are invoking when we deploy the term social ? The concept of the social has often been treated as almost self-explanatory, inherited from the works of the instigators of sociology and social theory who, it is assumed, all meant the same thing by the term. Rethinking the Social argues that this is not the case, and that there are major differences between their approaches. This the first book to systematically analyse the different concepts of the social developed by Durkheim, Marx and Weber. It examines how the concept of the social became unproblematic for twentieth-century writers and suggests that debates surrounding this concept remain very much alive. Building on A. N. Whitehead s work, Halewood develops a novel philosophy of the social ."

According to some social theorists, we are at the end of the social. This book argues that such pronouncements may be premature, as we need to reengage with what sociologists have previously meant by the social. Rethinking the Social is the first book to systematically analyse the different concepts of the social developed by Durkheim, Marx and Weber. It examines how the concept of the social became unproblematic for twentieth-century writers and suggests that debates surrounding this concept remain very much alive. Building on A. N. Whiteheads work, Halewood develops a novel philosophy of the social.