Sociological Insights of Great Thinkers

Christofer Edling is professor of sociology at Jacobs University, Bremen, Germany. Jens Rydgren is professor of sociology at Stockholm University, Sweden.

• PrefaceCHAPTER 1. IntroductionChristofer Edling and Jens RydgrenPart I. Sociological IllustrationsCHAPTER 2. William Shakespeare: On Social StratificationHiroshi OnoCHAPTER 3. Plato: Seven Sociological Ideas for the Happy LifeGuillermina JassoCHAPTER 4. Franz Kafka: Bureaucracy, Law, and Abuses of the "Iron Cage"Joachim J. SavelsbergCHAPTER 5. Marcel Proust: On Social Status and Capital FormsJens RydgrenCHAPTER 6. George Orwell: From Democratic Revolution to Authoritarian RuleKarl-Dieter OppCHAPTER 7. Robert Musil: State, Nation, and NationalityHelmut KuzmicsCHAPTER 8. August Strindberg: Forms of InteractionChristofer EdlingCHAPTER 9. Henrik Ibsen: The Power of CharismaFredrik EngelstadCHAPTER 10. Chinua Achebe: Colonial AnomieWendy GriswoldPart II. Sociological ConceptsCHAPTER 11. Ernst Cassirer: Science, Symbols, and LogicsJohn W. MohrCHAPTER 12. Cicero: Persons and PositionsLars UdehnCHAPTER 13. Charles Darwin: Selfishness and AltruismWendelin ReichCHAPTER 14. François Rabelais: Materiality and CultureEmily EriksonCHAPTER 15. Émile Zola: Seductions and Emancipations of ConsumptionHelena FlamCHAPTER 16. Fyodor Dostoevsky: On Extreme Political ViolenceEva M. Meyersson Milgrom and Joshua Thurston-MilgromCHAPTER 17. Goethe: The Ambivalence of Modernity and the Faustian Ethos of PersonalityHans-Peter MüllerPart III. Meta SociologyCHAPTER 18. Pearl Sydenstricker Buck: At the Intersection of Sociocultural WorldsKaren A. Cerulo and Janet M. RuaneCHAPTER 19. Dante Alighieri: The Afterworlds Are Hell for SociologistsPeter BearmanCHAPTER 20. Galileo Galilei: Which Road to Scientific Innovation?Roberto FranzosiCHAPTER 21. Jorge Luis Borges: Reduction of Social ComplexityFilippo BarberaCHAPTER 22. Isaac Asimov: Impacting and Predicting Sociocultural ChangeKathleen M. CarleyCHAPTER 23. Alfred North Whitehead: From Universal Algebra to Universal SociologyThomas J. FararoCHAPTER 24. Kurt Vonnegut: From Semicolons to ApocalypsesBarry MarkovskyCHAPTER 25. Jonathan Swift: Political Satire and the Public SphereGary Alan FinePart IV. Sociological FoundationsCHAPTER 26. Baruch Spinoza: Monism and ComplementarityRonald L. BreigerCHAPTER 27. Isaiah Berlin: On the Sociology of FreedomMargareta BertilssonCHAPTER 28. Bertrand Russell: Insights on PowerDavid WillerCHAPTER 29. Immanuel Kant: An Analytic Grammar for the Relation between Cognition and ActionJohn Levi MartinCHAPTER 30. John Dewey: The Sociology of ActionChristopher Muller and Christopher WinshipCHAPTER 31. Charles Sanders Peirce: On the Sociology of ThinkingRichard SwedbergCHAPTER 32. Thomas Hobbes: On Generating Social OrderMohammed CherkaouiCHAPTER 33. Jean Piaget: Sociology Beyond Holism and IndividualismOmar LizardoBibliographyIndexAbout the Editors and Contributors

Read this book for pleasure. It is a reassuring reminder that sociology has had a greater impact than its defenders sometimes realize. Summing Up: Highly recommended.