Modernism and the Sociological Classics

Open Session

Between 1890 and 1920 Durkheim, Weber and Simmel set down major statements in the philosophy of social science, during which time most of the major statements of European modernism were also set down, in music, literature, art, and for that matter, physics. While several general 'ideas in context' style overviews have portrayed this period of cultural innovation and/or ferment, internal histories of sociology have been reluctant to make more specific connections, such as that between Weber's use of the ideal type and analytical cubism in painting. This session will consist of papers which make or try to make connections like this, between the devices used by classical sociologists and developments in intellectual sensibility that were contemporaneous with them.