For Sociology : Legacies and Prospects

First published in 2001. For Sociology is not the dogmatic stand of a single discipline against the tide of interdisciplinarity. Rather it is an attempt to explore the nature of sociological argument and the relationship of sociology both to the natural sciences and other social sciences, as well as assessing its role in understanding the complexities of the contemporary world. The essays in the collection were all presented at the British Sociological Association's annual conference in 1999, which sought to reassess sociology thirty years on from Alvin Gouldner's famous challenge to the discipline. Through reflection on the continuities and discontinuities in the discipline, and an exploration of some of the key themes and issues of our time, the writers represented here pose new challenges to the sociological imagination.