University Press of New England - Dartmouth College

Gordian Knot Books
www.upne.com · 800.421.1561
26
University Press of New England Welcomes Gordian Knot Books
April
196 pp., 6 x 9"
Paper, $22.95
978-1-884092-97-8
social science
also of interest
Modern Terrorism
and Psychological
Trauma
edited by brian
trappLer, M.d.
Paper, $26.95 s
978-1-884092-72-5
Seminal Sociological Writings:
From Auguste Comte to Max Weber
An Anthology of Groundbreaking Works that
Created the Science of Sociology
edited by richard altschuler
with a foreword by johannes i. (hans) bakker, ph.d.
A collection of writings by the founding fathers of sociology that provides
an invaluable primary research resource for professors, students, and
laypersons interested in the birth and growth of the social sciences
This book fills a void by assembling seminal writings from many original works
that created the science of society — by Auguste Comte, Émile Durkheim, Karl
Marx, Herbert Spencer, George Herbert Mead, Ferdinand Tönnies, Georg
Simmel, Thorstein Veblen, Max Weber, and other founding fathers of sociology.
The seminal writings in this anthology originally appeared in articles and
books published from the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth century.
They are, therefore, primary source documents that allow modern students
to see how the authors introduced the paradigm-changing constructs that
shattered earlier perceptions of reality. They include social class, conspicuous
consumption, division of labor, collective consciousness, social self, survival
of the fittest, anomie, culture lag, charisma, social solidarity, and other concepts
that dominate how social scientists today think about and study human
relationships, institutions, societies, and cultures.
In addition to allowing students to experience the great theorists’ thoughts
and reasoning processes directly, these primary source documents provide an
invaluable research resource because they were written by the theorists in the
first person, as they were making their groundbreaking theoretical insights and
discoveries, and while they were recording, reflecting on, witnessing, and living
through the phenomena that engaged them as they occurred.
For these reasons and more, Seminal Sociological Writings: From Auguste
Comte to Max Weber is an important resource that can serve as either a primary
or ancillary text in courses on theory, and will enlighten all scholars and
laypersons interested in the birth and development of the social sciences.
richard altschuler, Ph.D., has taught courses on sociological theory, statistics,
and research methods in the sociology departments of Temple University,
New York University, and Queens College. He is the editor of The Living Legacy
of Marx, Durkheim & Weber, Volumes 1 and 2, among other sociology books;
coauthor of Sociology: An Introduction, Open Reality, and IC: An Introductory
Exposition of Infinite Capitalism; and author of many articles on sociological
topics. For the past decade, he has presided over the publishing division of
Richard Altschuler & Associates, Inc., which has published numerous books
by notable scholars in the social, psychological, and health sciences.