Western Social Thought (Vol. 1: The Early Masters)

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The book covers eighteen exponents of sociology who are regarded as masters of social thought. The book critically examines the major social thinkers from Auguste Comte to Robert King Merton chronologically. The sociological thinkers covered are Auguste Comte, Karl Marx, Herbert Spencer, Vilfredo Pareto, Ferdinand Tönnies, Thorstein Bunde Veblen, David Émile Durkheim, Georg Simmel, Maximilian Karl Emil Weber, George Herbert Mead, Charles Horton Cooley, Pitirim A. Sorokin, Herbert Marcuse, Alfred Schütz, Herbert Blumer, Talcott Parsons, George C. Homans, and Robert King Merton.

The book offers students a lively and critical introduction to different concepts and theories and to the ways in which sociologists are trained to think and work. It is written with a range of students in mind. It will also be of interest to anyone curious about the nature of classical sociology.

A central purpose of this text is to be as concise and simple as far as possible. No student of sociology and its related fields can ignore this book.

J. P. SINGH, an author and lexicographer, holds MA (PU, Patna) and MPhil in Sociology (JNU, New Delhi) and PhD in Demography from the Australian National University, Canberra. Worked as Associate Professor of Research Methodology at TISS, Mumbai, Addl. Director of Population Research Centre, Patna University, Director (Higher Education), Govt of Bihar, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Sociology at Patna University, Patna till his superannuation in 2015. He held Professional Associateship of the Population Institute, East-West Center, Hawaii (USA). In addition to numerous research papers in professional journals from India and abroad and standard textbooks in Hindi, the author has published such lexicographic titles as Samaj Vigyan Vishwakosh (2009), Manavshastra Shabdakosh (2019) and A Comprehensive Dictionary of Sociology (2021).

This is a book on a widely acclaimed topic of sociology. It attempts to deal with eighteen exponents of sociology in a chronological fashion who have rightly come to be regarded as masters of social thought. The book critically examines the major social thinkers from Auguste Comte to Robert K. Merton. The sociological thinkers covered are Auguste Comte, Karl Marx, Herbert Spencer, Vilfredo Pareto, Ferdinand Tönnies, Thorstein Bunde Veblen, David Émile Durkheim, Georg Simmel, Maximilian Karl Emil Weber, George Herbert Mead, Charles Horton Cooley, Pitirim A. Sorokin, Herbert Marcuse, Alfred Schütz, Herbert Blumer, Talcott Parsons, George C. Homans, and Robert K. Merton.

A short introduction to each sociological master, titled life and works, gives a very useful insight, into the social and political environment and the intellectual traditions under which the major theoretical views developed. The book offers students a lively and critical introduction to different concepts and theories and to the ways in which sociologists are trained to think and work. It is written with a range of students in mind from advanced level students in college to those involved in Master's level of education in universities. It will also be of interest to anyone curious about the nature of classical sociology.

There are many standard textbooks on social thinkers from the Western countries. With this book, students will no longer face the problems of vast and complicated literature in country like India. A central purpose of this text is to be as concise and simple as far as possible. No student of sociology and its related fields can ignore this book. The organization of the book too has kept the range of students in mind. There is a consistent organizational scheme within the chapters. The book is written in a lucid, easy-to-read manner, and essentially sums up the development of sociological thought for hundred fifty years, i.e. from mid-nineteenth century to the end of twentieth century. From this period on to the present day I have done another book titled as Western Social Thought: The Contemporary Masters.

**Contents and Sample Pages**