Essays in Sociological Theory (Classic Reprint)

Introduction THE FIRST EDITION of this volume of Essays appeared in 1949. In the Introduction written at that time it seemed appropriate to say that it brought together work done by the author since the pubhcation of his book. The Structure of Social Action in 1937. In preparing a new edition, the Free Press and the author thought in terms of work which hes between the aforementioned book and three new publications in the field of general theory which document a new phase in the development of the authors theoretical thinking. These are the monograph. Values, Motives andS ystems of A ction, written in collaboration withE dward A. Shils and published in the volume Toward aG eneral Theory of Action (H arvard University Press, 1951) of which the two of us were co-editors; The Social System (F ree Press, 1951); and the collection entitled Working Papers in the Theory of Action (F ree Press, 1953), written in collaboration with Robert F. Bales andE dward A. Shils. When the Free Press was considering the present new edition of theE ssays, some of the papers printed in theW orking Papers were either written or in process. The question arose as to whether any of these should be included in a new edition of theE ssays, but at the time it seemed advisable to reserve all theoretical work done since the completion ofT heS ocial System for the separate publication of Working Papers and thus to confine the new edition of these Essays to work done before the new theoretical phase was under way. The present edition therefore was planned to end with the essay on The Prospects of Sociological Theory, the authors presidential address before the American Sociological Society at its 1949 meeting, which was written in the midst of the work leading toT oward AG eneral Theory of Action and points up the transition between these phases of intellectual development. Since theW orking
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)