Johan Heilbron

French Sociology Johan Heilbron

Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index. Review Quotes:"In "French Sociology," Johan Heilbron presents all the material one needs to understand post-Comtean and post-Durkheimian sociology. As in his previous work, this new treatment is balanced and reasonable, as well as trustworthy and comprehensive. It clears up long-standing confusions about the complex tradition Heilbron so skillfully unpacks." Alan Sica, Penn State, author of "Max Weber and the New Century""Review Quotes:"In French Sociology, Johan Heilbron presents all the material one needs to understand post-Comtean and post-Durkheimian sociology. As in his previous work, this new treatment is balanced and reasonable, as well as trustworthy and comprehensive. It clears up long-standing confusions about the complex tradition Heilbron so skillfully unpacks." Alan Sica, The Pennsylvania State University, author of Max Weber and the New Century"Table of Contents: IntroductionCHAPTER 1. The Establishment of Organized Social ScienceThe Politics of Social ScienceMoral Science in Government ServiceThe Invasion of the Positive SciencesRepublicanism, Science, and the Research UniversityDisciplinary FrontiersThe Tripartite Division of French Social ScienceThe Literary OppositionCHAPTER 2. An Improbable ScienceReconceptualizing Social ScienceComte and the Second Scientific RevolutionThe British Evolution of SociologyThe Return of Sociology in FrancePositivist PoliticsSocial Reform and Social ResearchCHAPTER 3. Sociology and Other Disciplines in the MakingThe Two-Front Struggle of the ProfessoriateUniversity PioneersAn Emerging SubfieldFrom Psychology to SociologyOrganizing a Science of SynthesisThe Durkheimian ProgramAntagonistic CompetitionThe Annee sociologiqueDefining a Specialty of GeneralistsCHAPTER 4. The Metamorphoses of Durkheimian ScholarshipThe Contours of SociologyThe End of a Collective EnterpriseConflicting InterpretationsTo Profess or to Inquire?Recruitment PatternsSocial Images of SociologyThe Centre de documentation socialeThe Durkheimian LegacyCHAPTER 5. Pioneers by Default?Between Political Commitment and Policy ExpertiseSociology at the SorbonneFieldwork as Vocation?Research GroupsNo Man's LandReconfiguring the Social SciencesCHAPTER 6. Cycles of Expansion and Field TransformationsThe Structuralist Boom and AfterResearch Policy and the Research SectorTeaching SociologyPublishing SociologyRhetoric and Reality of ProfessionalizationConclusionCHAPTER 7. Intellectual Styles and the Dynamics of Research GroupsBeyond the Sociology of WorkSocial Action and Public SociologyOrganizational Analysis and Policy SociologyThe Methodological ImperativeReflexive SociologyConclusionEpilogue: What Is French about Sociology in France?NotesIndex"Publisher Marketing: French Sociology offers a uniquely comprehensive view of the oldest and still one of the most vibrant national traditions in sociology. Johan Heilbron covers the development of sociology in France from its beginnings in the early nineteenth century through the discipline's expansion in the late twentieth century, tracing the careers of figures from Auguste Comte to Pierre Bourdieu. Presenting fresh interpretations of how renowned thinkers such as Emile Durkheim and his collaborators defined the contours and content of the discipline and contributed to intellectual renewals in a wide range of other human sciences, Heilbron's sophisticated book is both an innovative sociological study and a major reference work in the history of the social sciences. Heilbron recounts the halting process by which sociology evolved from a new and improbable science into a legitimate academic discipline. Having entered the academic field at the end of the nineteenth century, sociology developed along two separate tracks: one in the Faculty of Letters, engendering an enduring dependence on philosophy and the humanities, the other in research institutes outside of the university, in which sociology evolved within and across more specialized research areas. Distinguishing different dynamics and various cycles of change, Heilbron portrays the ways in which individuals and groups maneuvered within this changing structure, seizing opportunities as they arose. French Sociology vividly depicts the promises and pitfalls of a discipline that up to this day remains one of the most interdisciplinary endeavors among the human sciences in France."

Contributor Bio:  Heilbron, Johan Johan Heilbron is Director of Research at the Centre Europeen de sociologie et de science politique de la Sorbonne (CNRS-EHESS) Paris and is affiliated with Erasmus University Rotterdam. He is the author of The Rise of Social Theory and coeditor of The Rise of the Social Sciences and the Formation of Modernity: Conceptual Change in Context, 1750 1850.