Title: The variable status of the classics in differing narratives of the sociological tradition
Abstract: Warrants for continued attention to the sociological classics take diverse forms. This variation appears to be linked to a diversity of narrative interpretations of the sociological tradition. Positivist narratives affirm classics as building blocks for a naturalistic social science and as sources of material not yet incorporated into mainstream sociology. Pluralist narratives celebrate classics as exemplars of different legitimate perspectives. In synthetic narratives, classics are hailed for raising fundamental problems and pointing the way toward culminating syntheses. In humanistic narratives, classics appear as texts of enduring significance for their admixture of poetic insight and moral rumination as well as deep sociological analyses. Contextualist narratives view classics as expressive documents, giving voice to a cultural ambience or complex of collective interests. Dialogical narratives hail classics as parties to transnational and transgenerational conversations. This schema helps organize the wide array of interpretations of Émile Durkheim.
Publication Year: 2015
Publication Date: 2015-02-23
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 6
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot