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The Greatest Books in Sociology
By an Amazon.com customer
SuicideSuicide by Emile Durkheim
Buy new: $16.30 / Used from: $7.73
Written a century ago. Still one of the few worth-reading sociologies of suicide.
The Division of Labor in SocietyThe Division of Labor in Society by Emile Durkheim
Buy new: $17.05 / Used from: $7.44
Durkheim's explanation of the organic role of division of labor. Still a classic on Social Stratification theory.
Rules of Sociological MethodRules of Sociological Method by Emile Durkheim
Buy new: $16.30 / Used from: $3.39
The earliest statement of the method of sociology. A continuing classic and reference point for all departures.
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (Routledge Classics)The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (Routledge Classics) by Max Weber
Buy new: $15.61 / Used from: $3.96
The best of Weber. Sociology is sometimes termed a dialogue between Marx, Weber and Durkheim - the three greats.
The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State (Classics)The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State (Classics) by Friedrich Engels
Buy used from: $2.20
An extension of Lewis Morgan's anthropoligical theories into a historical materialist theory of society. Best statement of Marxist sociology.
The Imaginary Institution of SocietyThe Imaginary Institution of Society by Cornelius Castoriadis
Buy used from: $60.05
A book that breaks the myth of society as a given entity.
Toward a General Theory of Action: Theoretical Foundations for the Social Sciences (Social Science Classics Series)Toward a General Theory of Action: Theoretical Foundations for the Social Sciences (Social Science Classics Series) by Edward Shils
Buy new: $29.95 / Used from: $22.50
The book that outlined the functionalist theory of social action. The 20s and 30s largely belonged to Parsons.
The Social System (Major Languages)The Social System (Major Languages) by Talcott Parsons
Buy used from: $174.99
The book that consolidated functionalist sociology as a systematic theory.
The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of StructurationThe Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration by Anthony Giddens
Buy new: $24.04 / Used from: $12.44
Gidden's exposition of his theory of structuration that dominated the 1980s/90s.
Social Systems (Writing Science)Social Systems (Writing Science) by Niklas Luhmann
Buy new: $31.61 / Used from: $26.29
The master-statement of systems approach to sociology.
Social Organization: A Study of the Larger MindSocial Organization: A Study of the Larger Mind by Charles Horton Cooley
Buy used from: $13.54
The fore-runner to symbolic interactionism, a major sociological approach.
Mind, Self, and Society: From the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist (Works of George Herbert Mead, Vol. 1)Mind, Self, and Society: From the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist (Works of George Herbert Mead, Vol. 1) by George Herbert Mead
Buy new: $19.32 / Used from: $8.91
The bible of symbolic interactionist approach to sociology.
Active SocietyActive Society by Amitai Etzioni
Buy used from: $6.03
A towering work by a social scientist concerned with social action.
The Coming Of Post-industrial Society (Harper Colophon Books)The Coming Of Post-industrial Society (Harper Colophon Books) by Daniel Bell
Buy new: $12.07 / Used from: $2.13
The earliest statement of post-industrialism.
The Self Production of SocietyThe Self Production of Society by Alain Touraine
Buy used from: $1.98
A post-modern approach to society. The 70s in French sociology belonged to Tourain and Bourdieu.
The Logic of PracticeThe Logic of Practice by Pierre Bourdieu et al.
Buy new: $16.96 / Used from: $12.99
An eclectic approach that helped promote reflexivity in sociology.
The logic of sociological explanation (Penguin education)The logic of sociological explanation (Penguin education) by Raymond Boudon
Buy used from: $11.95
A structuralist inquiry into sociological explanations.
Logic of Social Action: An Introduction to Sociological AnalysisLogic of Social Action: An Introduction to Sociological Analysis by Raymond Boudon
Buy used from: $131.12
A structuralist inquiry into social action.
Culture and Agency: The Place of Culture in Social TheoryCulture and Agency: The Place of Culture in Social Theory by Margaret S. Archer
Buy new: $46.71 / Used from: $62.85
An important work along lines of structuration theory.
Social Theory: Its Situation and Its Task (Politics, Volume 2)Social Theory: Its Situation and Its Task (Politics, Volume 2) by Roberto Mangabeira Unger
Buy new: $17.00 / Used from: $1.00
This book by Unger challenges many assumptions and brings forth the changeable chracteristic of society.
The Presentation of Self in Everyday LifeThe Presentation of Self in Everyday Life by Erving Goffman
Buy new: $10.17 / Used from: $2.24
The 50s and 60s belonged to Goffman. Sociology as everyday life reported and interpreted. An offshoot of symbolic interactionism.
Class and Class Conflict in Industrial SocietyClass and Class Conflict in Industrial Society by Ralf Dahrendorf
Buy used from: $1.00
An extension of Parsonian functionalist sociology to understand class struggle.
History and Class Consciousness: Studies in Marxist DialecticsHistory and Class Consciousness: Studies in Marxist Dialectics by Georg Lukács
Buy new: $21.94 / Used from: $13.00
A towering work on class consciousness that is a classic in Marxist sociology.
Social and Cultural Dynamics: A Study of Change in Major Systems of Art, Truth, Ethics, Law, and Social Relationships (Social Science Classics Series)Social and Cultural Dynamics: A Study of Change in Major Systems of Art, Truth, Ethics, Law, and Social Relationships (Social Science Classics Series) by P. Sorokin
Buy new: $29.95 / Used from: $29.51
The magnum opus of a now forgotten great systematizer who was involved with Mensheviks.
Studies in Ethnomethodology (Social & political theory)Studies in Ethnomethodology (Social & political theory) by Harold Garfinkel
Buy new: $29.87 / Used from: $17.50
The founding work of ethnomethodology, an offshoot of symbolic interactionism.