A History and Theory of the Social Sciences

Divided into two parts, this book examines the train of social theory from the 19th century, through to the organization of modernityundefined, in relation to ideas of social planning, and as contributors to the rationalistic revolutionundefined of the golden ageundefined of capitalism in the 1950s and 60s. Part two examines key concepts in the social sciences. It begins with some of the broadest concepts used by social scientists: choice, decision, action and institution and moves on to examine the collectivist alternativeundefined the concepts of society, culture and polity, which are often dismissed as untenable by postmodernists today. This is a major contribution to contemporary social theory and provides a host of essential insights into the task of social scie