About the Book
A new appreciation of Durkheim, now into its fourth decade, has extended our grasp of his intellectual ambitions beyond standard academic boundaries. Contributions to this revival of interest in Durkheim, many secreted away in obscure periodicals, are well worth being recognized for their unqualified excellence in helping us to uncover the original Durkheimian intellectual project in all its interdisciplinary complexity. Besides classic Durkheimian subjects such as religion, social solidarity and suicide, these studies bring to light Durkheim's intellectual inquiry into political theory, comparative ethnology, social reconstruction, questions of civil society, and his articulation of an updated individualism in conversation with Marx, Hegel, Spencer and others. Authors who have helped us attain this more rounded conception of the Durkheimian project include such well-known figures as Robert N. Bellah, Robert Alun Jones, Anthony Giddens, W. S. F. Pickering and Edward Tiryakian. More than matching these contributions are the surprising writings by authors from across the disciplines, including such contemporaries of Durkheim as historian Henri Berr and theologian Alfred Loisy, as well as modern-day writers who deserve to be much better known, such as philosopher, John Brooks III or historian John Bossy. Although this collection is overwhelmingly drawn from sources in English, two classic critical pieces by French contemporaries of Durkheim enhance the value of this anthology.
Table of Contents:
Contents: Introduction; Part I History and Philosophy: Durkheim and history, Robert N. Bellah; The definition of sociology and the sociology of definition: Durkheim's Rules of Sociological Method and high school philosophy in France, John I. Brooks III; Durkheim's pragmatism lectures: a contextual interpretation, Neil Gross; Durkheim's friendship with the philosopher Octave Hamelin: together with translations of 2 items by Durkheim, D. Némedi and W.S.F. Pickering; Charles Renouvier and Emile Durkheim: Les Règles de la Méthode Sociologique, S.G. Stedman Jones; Durkheim, Hamelin and the French Hegel, Ivan Strenski. Part II Division of Labour and Suicide: Revisiting sociology's first classic: The Division of Labor in Society and its actuality, Edward A. Tiryakian; Durkheim et les femmes, ou le Suicide inachevé, Philippe Besnard; The true nature of Anomie, Philippe Besnard; Durkheim on occupational corporations: an exegesis and interpretation, M.J. Hawkins. Part III Sociology, Culture and Education: Durkheim, realism and Rousseau, Robert Alun Jones; Emile Durkheim's inaugural lecture at Bordeaux, Neville Layne; French ethnology and the Durkheimian breakthrough, Victor Karady; The uses of studying primitives: a note on the Durkheimians, 1890-1940, W. Paul Vogt; The cultural and educational influence of Durkheim, 1900-1945, W.D. Halls; Rousseau and Durkheim: the relation between the public and the private, Mark S. Cladis. Part IV Religion, the Sacred and Elementary Forms: Bergson and Durkheim as sons and assimilators: the early years, Louis M. Greenberg; On understanding a sociological classic, Robert Alun Jones; Robertson Smith, Durkheim and sacrifice: an historical context for The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, Robert Alun Jones; Durkheim's individual in society: a sacred marriage?, Mark S. Cladis. Part V Politics: Durkheim's political sociology, Anthony Giddens; La vocation originelle d'Émile Durkheim, Bernard Lacroix. Part VI From History of Science
About the Author :
Ivan Strenski is Holstein Family and Community Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California, Riverside. He is the author of nine books including Durkheim and the Jews of France (University of Chicago Press, 1997) and The New Durkheim: Essays on Philosophy, Religious Identity and the Politics of Knowledge (Rutgers University Press, 2006). Robert N. Bellah, John I. Brooks III, Neil Gross, D. Nemedi, W.S.F. Pickering, S.G. Stedman Jones, Ivan Strenski, Edward A. Tiryakian, Philippe Besnard, M.J. Hawkins, Robert Alun Jones, Neville Layne, Victor Karady, W. Paul Vogt, W.D. Halls, Mark S. Cladis, Louis M. Greenberg, Anthony Giddens, Bernard Lacroix, Steven Lukes, Josep R. Llobera.
