Sociological Realism

Dr Sal Restivo is a sociologist of science and a founding member of the Society for Social Studies of Science. He has held professorships and research posts in the United States, Canada, the UK, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, and China. Now retired and based in New York, he continues to write as an independent scholar. His recent books include The Social Bain and The Treachery of Realities.

• About the Author xiAcknowledgements xiiiChapter 1: Society as the Walls of Our Imprisonment 1On the Concept of Natural Kinds in Science 4The Road to Sociology 6Conclusion: On Perspective 9Chapter 2: Science and Sociology 10Science and Morals 12The Ethos of Science 13Chapter 3: Founders and Founding Ideas 19Origins 20Intervention on the Study of Culture 26Ibn Khaldun Again 27The Founding Ideas of the Sociological Imagination 28Themes 33The Role of Women in the Founding Moments of the Sociological Imagination 37Modern Era in Sociology and Anthropology 38Chapter 4: Key Literary Moments in My Sociological Biography 48Flashback 52Intervention: A Note on Numbers and Economics 57An Era of Crisis 59Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) 61Conclusion 62Chapter 5: Tolstoy’s Perspective on Human Being and Conduct 63Capturing the Life of a People 64Interlude: Physics Intervenes 69Tolstoy Again 70Free Will 70Conclusion 77Epilogue: On Power 78Chapter 6: Humans Among the Social Species 81The Decline of Face-to-Face as an Existential Threat 85Conclusion 92Caveat 93Epilogue: The Bonobos Natural Experiment 93Chapter 7: Gumplowicz and the Myth of the Individual 96Morals 103Basic Principles of Human Being and Conduct 103Rights 107Rights and the State 108Rights and Morals 109Conclusion 112Coda 113Chapter 8: The Social Origins of God 114How Can We Know A God Outside of Space and Time? 117A Case Study in Christian Philosophy 119I Discover God 122Moments of Awakening 125The Career of the Mythic Hero 128Sacred and Profane 130Collective Effervescence 131The Awakening Continues 132Conclusion: Religion, God, and the Sociological Imagination 135Chapter 9: The Social Brain 137Connectomes 138Genius, and Social Networks: Einstein and John Coltrane 139The Woman in Einstein’s Social Brain 141The Social Brain 142The Sociology of Improvisation: John Coltrane 143The Work Itself 145Not Anything Goes 146Networks of Jazz 150The Jazz Machine 153Conclusion: Creativity and the Anarchist Brain 156Chapter 10: Institutional Walls of Imprisonment 158The Concept of Total Institution 160A Methodological Intervention: The Ideal Type 161Institutions Once More 161Society and Survival 162Chapter 11: Social Class, Sex, and Gender: Case Studies in Walls of Imprisonment 165Social Class 165Ragged Dick 168Sex and Gender 168Are Escape Tunnels Illusions? 172Conclusion 173Epilogue on Non-Binary Concepts 174Definitions in Common Use 174Transgender and Transsexual 175Some Terms to Avoid 176Chapter 12: Race and Racism: A Case Study in Walls of Imprisonment 177Systemic Racism/Institutional Racism 178The Credential Society: Education and Social Stratification 179The Souls of Black Folk 181Intersectionality 183Racial Capitalism 183Critical Race Theory 184Culture Wars 185DEI and Affirmation Action 187Epilogue: Terms of Reference 188Chapter 13: Escape Tunnels in the Walls of Our Imprisonment 190The Story of a Wall of Imprisonment 191The Great Wall of China 192The Lesson of Concrete Walls 193Escape Tunnels in the Walls of Our Imprisonment 196Chapter 14: The Ultimate Wall: The Sociology of Death and Dying IT’S a Mystery 202Sex and Death: Where Walls of Imprisonment Meet 205Growing Old and Facing Death 207What is Life? 210The Pleasure of Death 213Enter Victor Frankl and Bruno Bettelheim 215The Medicalization of Dying 216When you and Others DIE 217Tolstoy Redux 217Enter Stage Right, David Brooks, 2025 219Exit Stage Left, Sal Restivo, 2025 220The Meaning of Life 221Ernest Becker (1924–1974) 222References 224Bibliography 231Index 000