In order to bring sociology to the recognition of a social world of contingencies and of an obdurate but protean reality that changes shapes as humans define it, Stanford Lyman re-introduces the concept of civilization, employing it as both an intellectual resource and a proper topic for sociological investigations.

The fifteen essays in this collection by one of America s premier sociologists reflect Lyman s concern with all that is meant by the term "civilization." Primarily inspired by his attempts to synthesize the ideas of Erving Goffman, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, Herbert Blumer,...