Abstract
This chapter provides an overview of the place of morality in the history of mainstream sociological theory. Morality was central to the inception of sociological thought, waned in importance for the latter half of the twentieth century, and is currently experiencing a bit of a revival. This chapter traces these ebbs and flows, arguing that the realm of the moral is, in fact, an important area of sociological inquiry.
The backward state of the moral sciences can only be remedied by applying them to the methods of physical science, duly extended, and generalized.
Mill, John Stuart. 1988 [1872]. The logic of the moral sciences. Open Court Publishing; Lasalle, IL.
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Notes
- 1.
Morality is a ‘bring-back’ topic (in entertaining discussion by Lizardo et al. 2018).
- 2.
Perhaps this stems from a bit of what Lizardo (2014) suggests is an overly Comtean attitude. Relatedly, perhaps, Lizardo (2014) makes the case that sociologists have a bit of a Comtean streak such that, like Comte’s particularly sociologically solipsistic work, we see ourselves as the Queen of the sciences.
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Hitlin, S. (2021). Morality and Sociological Theory. In: Abrutyn, S., Lizardo, O. (eds) Handbook of Classical Sociological Theory. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78205-4_29
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