Through the Past to the Future

From Georg Simmel and Max Weber to the Twenty-First Century's Public Intellectuals
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-032-87679-5
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 224 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Reihe: Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought

Based upon a close reading of the foundational works of Georg Simmel, Max Weber, and the Frankfurt School as well as underexplored other works, Karner critically maps the conceptual approaches and theoretical insights of the German-language sociological tradition onto various 21st-century social and political issues.

Karner demonstrates that a revisiting of classical German-language sociology, combined with a critical engagement with more recent and current contributions, offers vital insights for a globally-oriented political sociology for the present and future. In doing so, this book critically interrogates definitions of “the social”, questions of power, public spheres, cultural meanings, the historical particularities of the present, and sociologists’ public roles and responsibilities.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars in the humanities and social sciences with an interest in classical social theory and political sociology.

Zielgruppe

Academic, Postgraduate, and Undergraduate Advanced

Autoren/Hrsg.

Karner, Christian

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein Gesellschaftstheorie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction. Concepts, Crises and Critique in an (Underexplored) Lineage of German-Language Sociology

1. Interactions, Interweavings, Communication: On the Nature of the Social

2. Appropriation, Monopolization, and the Power of Boundaries: From Social Closure to Genocidal Destruction, 3. States, Publics, Communication, and the Intellectual, 4. The Constitution of Meaning and Social Action: Between Ideology, Alienation and Resonance, 5. Theories of a Later Modernity: Structure, Culture, Existentialism, 6. Multiple Exclusions and “Subjugated Knowledges”: Sociologists as Public

Intellectuals, Conclusion. German-Language Sociologies in the Longue Durée and in Global Contexts

Über Autor(innen)

Christian Karner has previously been a Leverhulme Special Research Fellow, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Nottingham, and then Professor of Sociology at the University of Lincoln. Most recently, he has held Visiting Professorships at the Universities of Vienna and Athens. Christian Karner's areas of research and publication focus on political sociology (i.e. nationalism, ethnicity, globalization), urban sociology, and memory studies. He currently teaches sociological theory at the University of Innsbruck.