First published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Written and compiled by friends and former students, The Idea of Social Structure honors Robert K. Merton, considered one of the premier sociologists of the twentieth century. Along with Talcott Parsons and Marion J. Levy, Merton was emphatic in his use of the term "social structure" however different they were in defining and refining the term. The chapters in this volume address many of Merton's diverse sociological theories and, in turn, his theories' impact upon a very large sociological territory. The volume includes major statements on the context of working with Merton by Lewis A. Coser, Paul F. Lazarsfeld, Robert A. Nisbet, and Seymour Martin Lipset, as well as memorable statements covering Merton's interests in the sociology of knowledge and science, planning communities, medical education, relative deprivation, everyday life, political roles, and communication media. This is a powerful sourcebook for understanding the work of Merton and of his intellectual successors. Nisbet called the decade of the 1930s among the most vital and creative periods in American history. It was certainly a period of intense struggle political, military, and ideological. But the formation of modern sociology was without question one of the crowning achievements in the scientific evolution of the century. The volume is sharply focused on Merton's work and deeply appreciative of the nature of his contribution. It is a landmark effort in the study of sociology as history.

Written and compiled by friends and former students, "The Idea of Social Structure" honors Robert K. Merton, considered one of the premier sociologists of the twentieth century. Along with Talcott Parsons and Marion J. Levy, Merton was emphatic in his use of the term "social structure"--however different they were in defining and refining the term. The chapters in this volume address many of Merton's diverse sociological theories and, in turn, his theories' impact upon a very large sociological territory. The volume includes major statements on the context of working with Merton by Lewis A. Coser, Paul F. Lazarsfeld, Robert A. Nisbet, and Seymour Martin Lipset, as well as memorable statements covering Merton's interests in the sociology of knowledge and science, planning communities, medical education, relative deprivation, everyday life, political roles, and communication media. This is a powerful sourcebook for understanding the work of Merton and of his intellectual successors. Nisbet called the decade of the 1930s among the most vital and creative periods in American history. It was certainly a period of intense struggle--political, military, and ideological. But the formation of modern sociology was without question one of the crowning achievements in the scientific evolution of the century. The volume is sharply focused on Merton's work and deeply appreciative of the nature of his contribution. It is a landmark effort in the study of sociology as history.

First published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Lewis A. Coser takes readers from the coffeehouses of 18th-century London to the mass-culture industries of today in search of a definition for "the intellectual". Describing the settings where intellectuals thrive and exploring the nature and contributions of various well-known groups, he discusses the various roles intellectuals play in society and why they matter.

Lewis Coser presents an examination of the concept of social conflict and its use in empirical sociological research in this "lucid, comprehensive essay in social theory" (American Journal of Sociology). The positive values of conflict for all societies come to light in this study that reveals how conflicts fulfill social functions such as the maintenance of group boundaries and the prevention of the withdrawal of members of a group. Lewis Coser is critical of the view that conflict is dysfunctional and works to demonstrate its inadequacies. In a series of basic propositions distilled primarily from the theories of Georg Simmel, Coser clarifies the function of social conflict. Beyond this, Functions of Social Conflicts extends these propositions and relates them to psychoanalysis and empirical research theories.

Emile Durkheim, one of the founding fathers of sociology, has been the subject of many studies. But this book is the first to introduce the individual and collective work of his colleagues and disciples who formed with him the 'French school of sociology'. Such an association of talented scholars was a unique event in the history of sociology and a decisive landmark in the development of the discipline. In this book, examination of the texts of the Durkheimians is combined with analysis of the social and intellectual group attempted to create a new social science. In this respect, the present book is also instructive about the birth and institutionalisation of academic disciplines in general. But studying the work of the Durkheimians goes beyond historical research; the Durkeimians can still offer lessons in the exploration of the territory of sociology, an area in which so much virgin land remains unmapped.

What were the contributions to American scholarship and culture made by European refugees from Nazi persecution? How did these emigres react to the experience of being strangers in the land of their refuge? In this engrossing book, Lewis Coser examines the impact of refugee intellectuals on the social sciences and the humanities in America, painting a collective portrait that sheds light not only on the accomplishments of the Europeans but also on the development of the several disciplines in America that either welcomed or rejected them. Coser explains, for example, why the emigres had more influence in the field of psychoanalysis than in psychology; why Austrian economists were more successful in America than were German economists; why only a few European sociologists made significant contributions in America. Discussing such luminaries as Bruno Bettelheim, Jacob Marshak, Hannah Arendt, Thomas Mann, Vladimir Nabokov, Roman Jacobson, Erwin Panofsky, and Paul Tillich, Coser describes their backgrounds, personalities, and careers in America, providing revealing anecdotes that help to bring these figures to life. His accounts of those who were famous in the country of their birth but never achieved eminence or a feeling of adjustment in America provide a poignant contrast. Coser concludes that the refugee intellectuals were most influential in areas of study where they filled a perceived need not previously met or in fields where they could build on already established traditions. His perceptive analysis of the European-born men and women who altered American intellectual history is an absorbing and memorable story.

How do we use our mental images of the present to reconstruct
our past? Maurice Halbwachs (1877-1945) addressed this
question for the first time in his work on collective memory,
which established him as a major figure in the history of
sociology. This volume, the first comprehensive English-
language translation of Halbwach's writings on the social
construction of memory, fills a major gap in the literature
on the sociology of knowledge.
Halbwachs' primary thesis is that human memory can only
function within a collective context. Collective memory,
Halbwachs asserts, is always selective; various groups of
people have different collective memories, which in turn give
rise to different modes of behavior. Halbwachs shows, for
example, how pilgrims to the Holy Land over the centuries
evoked very different images of the events of Jesus' life;
how wealthy old families in France have a memory of the past
that diverges sharply from that of the nouveaux riches; and
how working class constructions of reality differ from those
of their middle-class counterparts.
With a detailed introduction by Lewis A. Coser, this
translation will be an indispensable source for new research
in historical sociology and cultural memory.
Lewis A. Coser is Distinguished Professor of Sociology
Emeritus at the State University of New York and Adjunct
Professor of Sociology at Boston College.
The Heritage of Sociology series