The Structure of Social Theory (Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought) Review

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The Structure of Social Theory (Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought) ReviewI've been studying sociology for four years now, and before I read this book I always felt there was something about the concepts of structure and agency that didn't seem quite right, but that I couldn't quite put my finger on... This book was like a bolt of lightning to my brain!
The book is divided into three sections:
1/ "Contemporary Social Theory" provides the most concise and insightful summary of the major theoretical positions on structure and agency that's I've read so far. But beyond that it highlights both the commonalities and the common problems of these positions.
2/ "Classical Sociology" quite frankly rocked my world! This section re-examines the foundational thinkers of Sociology and finds in them insights that are not immediately obvious to someone reading the same texts wearing the blinkers of ontological dualism. The chapters on Weber and especially Durkheim are worth the price of the book in their own right...
3/ "Towards a Hermeneutic Sociology" was the most challenging section of the book for me, where King attempts to put forward an alternative framework for sociological thought that bypasses the barren wasteland of endless debates on structure and agency. Not being very familiar with hermeneutics myself I feel I need more information to make a valid judgement on King's ideas here, and possibly a more thoroughly fleshed out example of what he means. But at the very least it's inspiring to read!
To conclude - I can't recommend this book highly enough! It's changed my outlook on sociology completely...
PS: The following quote wasn't in the book, but might as well have been - I believe it summarises the gist of King's argument beautifully:
"Thus the antagonism that has too often been admitted between society and individual corresponds to nothing in the facts. Indeed, far from these two terms being in opposition and being able to develop only each at the expense of the other, they imply each other. The individual, in willing society, wills himself. The influence that it exerts on him, notably through education, does not at all have as its object and its effect to repress him, to diminish him, to denature him, but, on the contrary, to make him grow and to make of him a truly human being. No doubt, he can grow thus only by making an effort. But this is precisely because this power to put forth voluntary effort is one of the most essential characteristics of man."
Emile Durkheim, Education and Sociology, 1956, p.78.
PPS: Can someone please re-print this very important text of Durkheim's? Ok so it's a bit out of date - but so are all the true classics!The Structure of Social Theory (Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought) Overview

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