Main Currents in Sociological Thought in 2 Vols

Volume 1 This Is The First Of Raymond AronS Magisterial TwoVolume Treatment Of The Sociological Tradition Perhaps The Definitive Work Of Its Kind. AronS Study Is, At Its Deepest Level, An Engagement With The Question Of Modernity: What Constitutes The Essence Of The New Modern Order That, Having Emerged In The Eighteenth Century, Still Forms The Categories Of Our Experience, Sweeping Us Along Toward An Unknown Destination? With His Usual Scrupulous Fairness, Aron Looks To The Major Social Thinkers To Discern How They Answered This Pressing Question. Volume 1 Explores Three Traditions: The French Liberal School Of Political Sociology, Represented By Montesquieu And Tocqueville; The Comtean Tradition, Anticipating Durkheim In Its Deemphasis Of The Political And Its Elevation Of Social Unity And Consensus; And The Marxists, Who Posited The Struggle Between Classes And Placed Their Faith In Historical Necessity. A Foreword By The Eminent French Philosopher Pierre Manent Highlights Main Currents As A Unique Contribution To Political Philosophy As Well As The History Of Sociological Thought, While Daniel J. Mahoney And Brian C. Anderson Provide An Introduction Situating Main Currents Within The Corpus Of AronS Work As A Whole. This Work Is Essential Reading For Philosophers, Historians, Sociologists, And Political Scientists. Volume 2 In This Second Volume Of Main Currents Of Sociological Thought, Raymond Aron Continues The Analysis, Begun In The First Volume, Of The Great Doctrines Of Historical Sociology. Aron Explores The Work Of Three Figures Who Profoundly Shaped Sociology As It Entered The Twentieth Century: Emile Durkheim, The Great French Theorist Of Consensus, Who Continued Auguste ComteS Quest For A Science Of Society And A Scientific Validation Of Morality; Vilfredo Pareto, The Italian NeoMachiavellian Who Mocked Traditional Morality And Humanitarian Pretensions And Emphasized The Oligarchic Or Elitist Character Of All Societies; And The German S