Solidarity and Schism

`The Problem of Disorder' in Durkheimian and Marxist Sociology

David Lockwood author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Oxford University Press

Published:19th Mar '92

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Solidarity and Schism cover

The long-awaited ^Imagnum opus^R of a major sociologist

Noted sociologist David Lockwood puts forward the challenging argument that although the social theories of Marx and Durkheim rest on fundamentally opposed ideas, they draw on auxiliary theories which are highly complementary.This book presents a critical comparison and evaluation of the assumptions underlying explanations of social order and conflict which are to be found in the work of Durkheim and Marx, and of their most important followers. Its major theme is that, although the two bodies of theory rest on fundamentally opposed ideas of social structure and social action, both have to draw on auxiliary hypotheses which are to a high degree complementary - the residual categories of the one theory proving to be those that are analytically central to the other. This is most evident when Durkheimian theory seeks to account for social disorder, and Marxist theory for its absence. This challenging argument is developed in detail, by reference to a wide range of empirical research, and points the way to new ways of thinking about how societies alternate between the poles of solidarity and schism.

`long awaited and deeply interesting,' Steven Lukes, Times Higher Education Supplement
'Solidarity and Schism is not an easy read ... But this is a reflection of the long gestation of Lockwood's ideas, the scrupulous fairness of his treatment of other authors, and the inherent complexity of much of his argument ... this is one of those infrequent books which will have a lasting influence on the way in which its author's discipline is practised. Once its lessons have been absorbed (as in due course they surely will be), sociologists will no longer be able to write about these topics (as they will surely continue to do) in quite the same way again.' London Review of Books'
`he writes with great clarity ... elegantly and beautifully produced.' Sociology
`My advice to readers is that they should ask their libraries to buy this elegantly and beautifully produced but expensive hard cover edition. They certainly need it for serious students now and for all in the future.' Sociology
`It is very difficult to convey, even in a review article, the variety of insights, rigour and elegance of Lockwood's analysis. Solidarity and Schism has given me a better sense of the basic architecture of Durkheim's and Marx's writings ... Solidarity and Schism clarifies and illuminates in often unexpected ways these texts, while at the same time, showing their continuing relevance for ongoing sociological concerns ... Lockwood's work shows a kind of intellectual craftsmanship and rigour that is sadly lacking in most of the recent works in social theory. The Sociological Review
`Lockwood's analysis is persuasive and often illuminating.' Political Studies

ISBN: 9780198277170

Dimensions: 224mm x 145mm x 31mm

Weight: 691g

450 pages