The British Journal of Sociology
Volume 51 Issue No. 1 January/March 2000
pages 25-36
Abstract
Analysis is provided of the roots of sociology and its links with historical optimism. Particular focus is placed by such a sociology upon the origins of modernity and problems of urban disorder. Sociology's golden age was in the immediate postwar period. But since the 1960s, 'globalization', the sciences of complexity and cultural studies have transformed the context for sociology (especially transforming the so-called 'two cultures'). The article concludes with some wide-ranging recommendations as to how sociology should be developed into a re-unified, historical social science on a truly global scale.
Keywords: Complexity, cultural studies, modernity, world-system, science
Immanuel Wallerstein
Fernaud Braudel Center
Binghamton University