Marginaal: Honderd jaar sociologie

Samenvatting

William I. Thomas and Florian Znaniecki's sociological study The Polish Peasant in Europe and America (1918), which was chosen almost unanimously as the main subject of a conference by the American Council for Social Sciences in 1937, is described as a classical example of a work that fulfilled expectations of the nature and research methods of the discipline of sociology at the time it was published and long after. At present, sociology is characterized by a lack of unanimity regarding its identity and research paradigms. Introduced here is a special "millennial" issue of this journal, in which contributors describe three 20th-century sociologists they consider important personal sources of inspiration. Again, the lack of consensus, or abundance of variety, is noted. 3 References. S. Paul