Description: In this book Mazlish examines the historical origins of sociology, especially in terms of its relationship to the humanities and economics. He looks closely at how what he terms the "cash nexus"--the omnipresent substitution of money for personal relations--was perceived as changing the nature of human relations in the 19th century and led to the development of sociology as a means of dealing with this condition.
Review Quotes: "Although numerous able interpreters have attempted syntheses of the sociological tradition, Mazlish is the first to search so boldly for its ultimate intentions....Stimulating, wittily written introduction to the history of sociology."--American Historical Review
"The book is an accessible, fascinating, erudite, and provocative tour de force with a memorable, even gripping, conclusion. It is a must for both college and general libraries."--CHOICE"Well written, well argued, drawing on a wealth of information and insights, that is at nce superbly informative and a challenge to conventional sociological perceptions."--The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science"This is a stimulating attempt to view the multiple predicaments of modernity through the double lens of major literary figures and the founding fathers of sociology. It documents the fallacy of believing that there are no bridges between the world of the humanities and that of the social sciences."--Lewis A. Cosner, SUNY, Stony Brook"Progress in scholarship is a continuum that lies in breaking down the barriers separating disciplines....This book studies that development and bristles with insight and erudition."--G. S. Rousseau, University of PennsylvaniaThrough sketches of individual thinkers--Marx, Tönnies, Simmel, Durkheim, and Weber--Mazlish argues that the familiar 19th-century theme of 'breakdown of connections' was the impetus for the emergence of sociology. He gives us a fresh perspective on the intellectual history of this new science by recreating the literary context within which this powerful lament was first voiced: writers like George Eliot set the classical sociologists their task--to understand and recover 'the multistranded web.' Mazlish's work will be of special interest to social and political theorists who must study the resurgence of the longing for community today: it helps us to see both what is recurrent and what is new in the methods and moral outlook of recent studies such as Habits of the Heart."--Nancy L. Rosenblum, Brown University"[There is] no better way to think through our and the next century's need to reconcile the contradictory urgings of individual freedom and the search for community than this subtle exploration of how some of the best minds of the nineteenth century were seized by the problem. The Mazlish combination of intelligence, wit and erudition with large human sympathies is a beguiling one."--Ronald Dorr, Imperial College, London and Harvard University