Classical Sociology Beyond Methodological Nationalism defends classical sociology from the accusation of ‘methodological nationalism’. To reject such accusation, the volume presents three arguments. The first contends that classical sociology has not failed to deal with the global world (Part I). The second, that classical sociology has more frequently dealt with the transnational category of the ‘social’, rather than with the ‘national’ (Part II). The third, that where classical sociology has analysed national society, the latter has never been envisaged as a rigidly confined entity within its political boundaries (Part III). The outcome is a re-evaluation of classical sociological thought as a more functional tool for analysing the political forms of modernity in the era of globalisation.
Contributors include: Vittorio Cotesta, David Inglis, Austin Harrington, Massimo Pendenza, Michael Schillmeier, Emanuela Susca, Dario Verderame, and Federico Trocini.
Massimo Pendenza is Associate Professor of Sociology at University of Salerno. His main research interests are Social Theory, Social Relations and the Sociology of Europe. He is also the Director of the Centre of European Studies (CSE).
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
List of Contributors
INTRODUCTION
Is Classical Sociology Still in Vogue? A Controversial Legacy, Massimo Pendenza
PART I: SOCIOLOGY OF THE GLOBAL WORLD
1. Simmel on Global Society, Vittorio Cotesta
2. Tönnies Today: A Living Legacy in the Sociology of Globalization and Globality, David Inglis
3. Vilfredo Pareto’s Contribution to a Sociology of Globalization, Emanuela Susca
PART II: THE ‘SOCIAL’ BEYOND THE ‘NATIONAL’
4. Understanding the Social: Cosmopolitanism and Gabriel Tarde’s Cosmo-Politics, Michael Schillmeier
5. The ‘Social’ as Reciprocity: Marcel Mauss and the Idea of Nation, Dario Verderame
PART III: THE ‘NATIONAL’ BEYOND ‘METHODOLOGICAL NATIONALISM’
6. “Merging the National with the Human Ideal”: Émile Durkheim on Nationalism and Cosmopolitanism, Massimo Pendenza
7. Ubi Bene, Ibi Patria: Patriotism, Nationalism and Internationalism in Robert Michels’ Reflection, Federico Trocini
8. Beyond Methodological Nationalism? Concepts of Nationhood in German Liberal Social Thought of the Weimar Years, Austin Harrington
Index of Names
The volume is intended to be of interest to general readers and to university-level students and academics in the fields of sociology, history, politics, international relations, intellectual history, European studies.