Contents
List of Tables xi;
Preface xii;
1. Introduction: Locating the Discourse 1;
1.1 Research: The Generator of Valid Knowledge;
1.2 Theory;
1.3 Logic;
1.4 Method;
Overview of the Book;
2. Enlightenment and the Origins of Sociology: Comte and Positivism;
2.1 The Context;
2.2 Comte: 'The Founder-in-Chief' of Sociology;
2.3 The Foundations of Comte's Sociology;
2.4 The Methodology of Sociology;
2.5 The Ironical Turn in Comte's Thinking;
2.6 The Legacy of Comte;
3. Society as Objective Reality: Durkheim and the Study of 'Social Facts';
3.1 The Background;
32 Intellectual Antecedents and Social Milieu;
3.3 Laying the Methodological Foundation of Sociology;
3.4 Obiectivist Ontology: Delineation of 'Social Facts';
3.5 Positivist Epistemology: The Methodology for Studying Social Facts;
3.6 Championing the Autonomy of Sociology;
4. Community as Socio-Cultural Laboratory: Radcliffe-Brown, the Natural Science of Society, and Beyond 91;
4.1 Community as a Socio-Cultural Laboratory;
4.2 The British School of Social Anthropology: The Two Founders;
4.3 Radcliffe-Brown: 'The Natural Science of Society;
4.4 Methodological Turn in Social Anthropology;
5. Socio-Economic Dynamics as Historical Inevitability: Marx and the 'Materialist Conception of History' 121;
5.1 Ontology and Epistemology;
5.2 The Materialist Conception of History;

5.3 Capital and the Outcome of the Materialist Conception of History;
5.4 The Influence of Marx and His Methodology;
6. Hermeneutics and the Verstehen Approach: Weber and the Study of Social Action;
6.1 The Intellectual Background;
6.2 The Ontology of Systematic Sociology;
6.3 Generalisation through Interpretation: A Methodological Exercise
6.4 The Ideal Type as a Conceptual Tool;
6.5 Objectivity and Value-Freedom;
7. Society as Symbolic Interaction: The Contributions of Mead, Blumer, and Goffman 194;
7.1 Mead: Mind, Self, and Society;
7.2 Blumer and the Chicago School;
7.3 Kuhn and the Iowa School;
7.4 Goffman and the Dramaturgical go Approach;
8. The Life-World and the Social Construction of Reality: The Contributions of Schutz and Berger and Luckmann 224;
8.1 Husserl and Philosophical Phenomenology;
8.2 Schutz: Sociological Phenomenology;
8.3 Berger and Luckmann: The Social Construction of Reality;
8.4 Sociological Phenomenology and Research Methods;
9. Making Sense of Everyday Life: Garfinkel and Ethnomethodology;
9.1 The Genesis of Ethnomethodology;
9.2 The Intellectual Influence;
9.3 The Fundamentals;
9.4 The Methods of Ethnomethodology;
9.5 Ethnomethodology and Symbolic Interactionism;
9.6 Ethnomethodology and the Critique of Conventional Sociology;
10. Feminism and Sociology: Dorothy Smith and Standpoint Epistemology; Goffman and Gender Differences 281;
10.1 Feminism: A Brief Historical Introduction;
10.2 Dorothy Smith and 'A Sociology for Women;
10.3 Goffman on Gender Differences and Institutional Reflexivity;
11. Postmodernism and Sociology: Lyotard and the Critique of Scientific Knowledge 307;
11.1 Post-Modern, Postmodern, and Sociology;
11.2 Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition, and Sociology;
11.3 Lyotard on 'Computerisation of Society and 'Mercantilisation of Knowledge';
11.4 Postmodernism as 'Anti-Theory and its Methodological Implications;
11.5 Sociology Responds to Postmodernism;
12. Conclusion: On Dualisms and Eclecticism in Sociological Analysis 327;
12.1 The Trajectory: A Recapitulation;
12.2 Dualisms in Sociological Analysis;
12.3 Eclecticism in Sociological Analysis;
References 353;
Index of Names 407;
Index of Subjects 419.