Introduction to Sociology

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Stanford University Press, May 1, 2002 - Social Science - 208 pages
Introduction to Sociology distills decades of distinguished work in sociology by one of this century s most influential thinkers in the areas of social theory, philosophy, aesthetics, and music.

It consists of a course of seventeen lectures given by Theodor W. Adorno in May-July 1968, the last lecture series before his death in 1969. Captured by tape recorder (which Adorno called the fingerprint of the living mind ), these lectures present a somewhat different, and more accessible, Adorno from the one who composed the faultlessly articulated and almost forbiddingly perfect prose of the works published in his lifetime. Here we can follow Adorno s thought in the process of formation (he spoke from brief notes), endowed with the spontaneity and energy of the spoken word. The lectures form an ideal introduction to Adorno s work, acclimatizing the reader to the greater density of thought and language of his classic texts.

Delivered at the time of the positivist dispute in sociology, Adorno defends the position of the Frankfurt School against criticism from mainstream positivist sociologists. He sets out a conception of sociology as a discipline going beyond the compilation and interpretation of empirical facts, its truth being inseparable from the essential structure of society itself. Adorno sees sociology not as one academic discipline among others, but as an over-arching discipline that impinges on all aspects of social life.

Tracing the history of the discipline and insisting that the historical context is constitutive of sociology itself, Adorno addresses a wide range of topics, including: the purpose of studying sociology; the relation of sociology and politics; the influence of Saint-Simon, Comte, Durkheim, Weber, Marx, and Freud; the contributions of ethnology and anthropology; the relationship of method to subject matter; the problems of quantitative analysis; the fetishization of science; and the separation of sociology and social philosophy.

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Contents

LECTURE ONE
1
LECTURE TWO
10
LECTURE THREE
19
LECTURE FOUR
27
LECTURE FIVE
35
LECTURE SIX
44
LECTURE SEVEN
53
LECTURE NINE
71
LECTURE ELEVEN
89
Demarcation of sociology from other disciplines necessity
107
LECTURE FIFTEEN
127
Subject and object in sociology Administrative research
144
EDITORS AFTERWORD
190
Copyright

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About the author (2002)

Theodor W. Adorno was one of the founders of the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory.

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