The Disobedient Generation: Social Theorists in the Sixties [Paperback]

Alan Sica (Editor), Stephen Turner (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 2005

The late 1960s are remembered today as the last time wholesale social upheaval shook Europe and the United States. College students during that tumultuous period—epitomized by the events of May 1968—were as permanently marked in their worldviews as their parents had been by the Depression and World War II. Sociology was at the center of these events, and it changed decisively because of them.

The Disobedient Generation collects newly written autobiographies by an international cross-section of well-known sociologists, all of them "children of the '60s." It illuminates the human experience of living through that decade as apprentice scholars and activists, encountering the issues of class, race, the Establishment, the decline of traditional religion, feminism, war, and the sexual revolution. In each case the interlinked crises of young adulthood, rapid change, and nascent professional careers shaped this generation's private and public selves. This is an intensely personal collective portrait of a generation in a time of struggle.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The Disobedient Generation is a tremendously engaging volume that collects intellectual and in some cases political autobiographies of a generation of some of the best contemporary social theorists who came of age roughly in 1968 and went on to be distinguished in the field of sociology. The text is in itself an interesting sociological work, exploring how those individuals who lived through the experiences of the ‘60s came to seek a career in sociology and how their formative ‘60s experiences influenced them during their academic lives. Many people within the field and even those outside of it will find this collection fascinating.”--Douglas Kellner, University of California, Los Angeles


 

(Douglas Kellner Douglas Kellner )

“The Disobedient Generation provides a very compelling portrait of the lives of a diverse stratum of leading sociologists who were coming of age in the late sixties. These original essays explore how the experiences of that unique era helped shaped these academics’ lives, careers, and theoretical work—work that still bears the ‘60s  imprint in one way or another. As such, it also offers a fascinating chronicle of a period of change in sociology and in the wider society as well.”--Robert J. Antonio, University of Kansas


 

(Robert J. Antonio Robert J. Antonio )

"An interesting addition . .. to the small body biographical and autobiographical material on sociologists. . . . By showing how the content of sociology writing relates to career experiences and trajectories . . . social theory is made to come alive and the tacit knowledge circulating amongst producers is made explicit."—Charles Crothers, Human Studies

(Charles Crothers Human Studies ) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From the Inside Flap

The late 1960s are remembered today as the last time wholesale social upheaval shook Europe and the United States. College students during that tumultuous period—epitomized by the events of May 1968—were as permanently marked in their worldviews as their parents had been by the Depression and World War II. Sociology was at the center of these events, and it changed decisively because of them.

The Disobedient Generation collects newly written autobiographies by an international cross-section of well-known sociologists, all of them “children of the ‘60s.” It illuminates the human experience of living through that decade as apprentice scholars and activists, encountering the issues of class, race, the Establishment, the decline of traditional religion, feminism, war, and the sexual revolution. In each case the interlinked crises of young adulthood, rapid change, and nascent professional careers shaped this generation’s private and public selves. This is an intensely personal collective portrait of a generation in a time of struggle.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (December 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226756254
• ISBN-13: 978-0226756257
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,696,518 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

If you have stumbled on to this page, you are probably wondering what all these books are doing together, and how anyone would have an "also bought" list that runs, depending on the day, from Kant to Elster and Daston to Ritzer. They all do belong here. The connecting thread is this: I have always been drawn to basic questions about what sort of knowledge of the social world and history is possible, and by the implications of these questions.

I started out asking philosophical and methodological questions about social science and social and political theory. Now I mostly ask social theory questions about philosophy. Most of this is informed by the history of these subjects. Knowing something about the history of these questions is a good thing, but it is also a curse. It is difficult to read the latest word on, for example, philosophical problems with causal modeling, without the grim recognition that the author has unknowingly recycled solutions that were available a century ago.

These basic methodological topics may seem to be a bit of a bore. Weber, on which I have spent much of my ink, may seem like a distant and dusty figure. But the topics, and Weber's writing in particular, open onto a vast variety of subjects and literatures, and provide a special, privileged access to them. And despite the forbidding titles, the books (and my other writings) are full of the human presence of great and not so great thinkers.