The Oxford Handbook of Analytical Sociology (Oxford Handbooks) - Hardcover

The Oxford Handbook of Analytical Sociology represents an important step forward in the development of the analytical sociological research programme because its contributions move beyond earlier meta-theoretical statements to address substantive theoretical and methodological issues central to the discipline.By doing so the volume establishes analytical sociology as one of the more promising alternatives for pursuing a scientific and explanatory sociology. (Mattias Smångs, The British Journal of Sociology)

A fundamental reformulation of sociology, with profound implications across the social sciences. (Joshua M. Epstein, The Brookings Institution, author of Generative Social Science)

Social science has taken a noticeable turn, with new energy infusing the study of social mechanisms and causal processes that unite the classic micro-macro divide. The Oxford Handbook of Analytical Sociology, edited by Peter Hedström and Peter Bearman, is an impressive effort to guide the research agendas sure to follow. The volume is a comprehensive intellectual treat and an indispensible tool for sociologists seeking to master the analytic turn. (Professor Robert J. Sampson, Harvard University)

This formidable volume puts on display an impressive array of leading scholars, each grappling with key substantive and methodological topics in contemporary sociology. The chapters provide both a masterful summary of existing research and a valuable roadmap for future investigation. Professor Donald Green, Yale University

Analytical sociology is a strategy for understanding the social world. It is concerned with explaining important social facts such as network structures, patterns of residential segregation, typical beliefs, cultural tastes, and common ways of acting. It explains such facts by detailing in clear and precise ways the mechanisms through which the social facts were brought about. Making sense of the relationship between micro and macro thus is one of the central concerns of analytical sociology. The approach is a contemporary incarnation of Robert K. Merton's notion of middle-range theory and presents a vision of sociological theory as a tool-box of semi-general theories each of which is adequate for explaining certain types of phenomena. The Handbook brings together some of the most prominent sociologists in the world. Some of the chapters focus on action and interaction as the cogs and wheels of social processes, while others consider the dynamic social processes that these actions and interactions bring about.