Sociologists have long recognized that sociological insight can be gleaned from creative thinkers outside their formal discipline. "Sociological Insights of Great Thinkers: Sociology through Literature, Philosophy, and Science" captures and examines those insights in 32 essays that discuss scholars and writers not normally associated with any sociological school of thought.

Following a tradition of enriching the sociological toolkit by finding influence in philosophy and literature, the volume's contributors--an international group of renowned scholars--eschew biography to focus solely...