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(1972) Models of man, Dordrecht, Springer.
Sociological science in America is indeed an imposing affair, and even if one has certain misgivings about it one cannot overlook sociology when dealing with "Models of Man." There is no doubt that this science has won a place of esteem and power on these shores in the past hundred years. Since 1928, when Sorokin's early overview of sociology appeared, listing more than a thousand "notable" figures and twelve "schools,"1 the field has expanded without surcease. The latest overview no longer even attempts to keep track of the thousands of books, articles and monographs which have contributed to the field;2 a much-quoted and highly esteemed introduction to sociology abandons the attempt at systematization entirely, and presents for consideration mainly the thoughts of the "founding fathers" of sociology, Comte, Weber, Durkheim and Spencer.3 It is not that sociologists have not tried and are not still trying to bring some intelligible order into their disorderly house;4 it is that they have been unable to find a unifying key. From the most imposing milestone monograph to the humblest introductory text, sociological authors are unanimous in their appraisal that the complexities and ramifications of sociology as a science cannot be in any way systematized. One well-known French expert (Lucien Karpik) has concluded that if the criterion of a real science lies in the accumulation of wisdom, sociology is not even a science, merely an accumulation of discrete data and theory.5
Publication details
DOI: 10.1007/978-94-010-2792-2_4
Full citation:
Dagenais, J. (1972). The sociological model from doing good to being done, in Models of man, Dordrecht, Springer, pp. 76-101.
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