8. The Notion of Function

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter I
2. Contents V
3. Foreword VII
4. 1. Introduction: The Crisis in Sociology 1
5. Part One. The Sociology of Sociology
6. 2. Sociology in the Year 2000 33
7. 3. The Three Basic Paradigms of Macrosociology: Functionalism, Neo-Marxism and Interaction Analysis 39
8. 4. Tarde’s ‘Psychological Statistics’ 62
9. 5. Lazarsfeld’s Metasociology 78
10. Part Two. Sociological Epistemology
11. 6. Towards a Positive Epistemology 135
12. 7. Theories, Theory and Theory 149
13. 8. The Notion of Function 195
14. Part Three. Questions of Method
15. 9. The Functions of Formalisation in Sociology 205
16. 10. The French University Crisis: An Essay in Sociological Diagnosis 227
17. Notes 258
18. Name Index 277