ABSTRACT

Originally published in 1981 Practice and Progress is a collection examining the changes that have occurred in the theories, methodologies and practices of sociology, in the institutional and educational setting of the subject, and in British society. The themes pursued include the professionalization of sociology its development and standing in the universities; the impact on it of Marxism and feminism and the major debates over positivism and empiricism, quantitative methods, linguistic analysis; and numerous other crucial methodological and theoretical concerns.

part One|60 pages

Intellectual Debates and Institutional Contexts

chapter 1|12 pages

Professionalism in British Sociology

ByJ. A. Barnes

chapter 2|14 pages

Sociology as a Parasite: Some Vices and Virtues

ByJohn Urry

chapter 3|14 pages

Oxbridge Sociology: the Development of Centres of Excellence?

ByAnthony Heath, Ricca Edmondson

chapter 4|18 pages

The Collapse of British Sociology?

ByPhilip Abrams

part Two|77 pages

Sociological Knowledge: Creation and Practice

chapter 6|17 pages

The Anti-Quantitative Bias in Postwar British Sociology

ByChristopher T. Husbands

chapter 7|15 pages

Towards a Rehabilitation of Data

ByMaureen Cain, Janet Finch

chapter 9|15 pages

Sociological Practice and Language

ByMichael Phlllipson

part Three|42 pages

Marxism and Feminism: Radical Interventions in Sociology

chapter 10|21 pages

Sociologies and Marxisms: the Odd Couples

ByLeslie Sklair

chapter 11|19 pages

The Division of Labour Revisited or Overcoming the Two Adams

ByMargaret Stacey