The Founding Fathers of Social Science - Timothy Raison

This wide-ranging anthology introduces the major thinkers who laid the foundations of modern social science, bringing together accessible essays on the lives, ideas and enduring influence of the discipline's most important pioneers. Edited by Timothy Raison, the volume traces the development of social thought through figures including Adam Ferguson, Saint-Simon, Auguste Comte, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Herbert Spencer, Émile Durkheim, Max Weber, Georg Simmel, Vilfredo Pareto, Bronisław Malinowski, Talcott Parsons and many others.

Rather than presenting a single school of thought, the book explores the diverse intellectual traditions that shaped sociology, economics, anthropology and political theory. Each chapter places its subject within their historical context while examining the ideas that continue to influence debates about class, culture, religion, industrialisation, bureaucracy, capitalism and social change. A valuable introduction for students and general readers alike, this Pelican Original offers an engaging overview of the thinkers whose work helped define the modern social sciences.

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