Power, Trust, and Meaning: Essays in Sociological Theory and AnalysisUniversity of Chicago Press, 1995 M06 15 - 403 pages S. N. Eisenstadt is well known for his wide-ranging investigations of modernization, social stratification, revolution, comparative civilization, and political development. This collection of twelve major theoretical essays spans more than forty years of research, to explore systematically the bases of human action and society. Framed by a new introduction and an extensive epilogue, which are themselves important statements about processes of institutional formations and cultural creativity, the essays trace the major developments of contemporary sociological theory and analysis. Examining themes of trust and solidarity among immigrants, youth groups, and generations, and in friendships, kinships, and patron-client relationships, Eisenstadt explores larger questions of social structure and agency, conflict and change, and the reconstitution of the social order. He looks also at political and religious systems, paying particular attention to great historical empires and the major civilizations. United by what they reveal about three major dimensions of social life—power, trust, and meaning—these essays offer a vision of culture as both a preserving and a transforming aspect of social life, thus providing a new perspective on the relations between culture and social structure. |
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Power, Trust, and Meaning: Essays in Sociological Theory and Analysis S. N. Eisenstadt Limited preview - 1995 |
Power, Trust, and Meaning: Essays in Sociological Theory and Analysis S. N. Eisenstadt No preview available - 1995 |
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activities analysis analyzed arenas ascriptive aspects attempts autonomous Axial Age basic behavior Boissevain broader Buddhism Byzantine Empire centers central characteristics charismatic closely related collective conceptions concrete Confucian constitute construction creativity crystallization cultural and social cultural order degree develop different types differentiation dimensions division of labor economic elites emphasis empires especially evaluation exchange existence frameworks Free Press goals heterodoxies human idem identity important individuals inherent institutional spheres institutionalization interac kinship liminal macrosocietal major Max Weber models modern N. J. Smelser norms organization organizational orientations participation patron-client relations patterns of social positions potential premises prestige problems processes reference groups regulation relatively religious ritual roles rulers S. N. Eisenstadt settings situations social and cultural social division social interaction social order social structure social system Sociology specific status strata formation stratification structural differentiation structuralists studies symbolic Talcott Parsons tend tendencies tion tional traditional tural University Press various Weber York youth
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Page 1 - Men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly encountered, given, and transmitted from the past.