Prologue: The .Rise of the
Social Sciences*
Social science derives from a social base. In this statement there
':lre two paradoxes. S~ience means knowledge about the obj.ec-
tive world that is true because that is the way things are, not
just because we have imagined it. Yet this science is nowas-
serted to be socially based, determined by the society in which
social scientists live. That is paradox one.
. Paradox two is that the social base is nevertheless held to
exist. It is an autonomous, objective world that exists indepen-
dently of individuals and that determines' what they think. If
,social science is successful, one might even someday write the
objective laws pi this social determination of ideas.
Paradoxical or not, the statement is nevertheless true-at
least true enough so "that one can write a whole book in this vein.
In a sense that is what this book is about. The four sociological
traditions have each played a part in uncovering the laws by
which social ideas are determined.
.From the conflict tradition, we discern the dynamics of
ideology, legitimacy, the conditions of mobilization of self-
interested groups, and the economics of culture. For the con-
flict tradition, ideas are weapons, and their dominance is de-
termined by the distribution of social and economic resources.
*The prologue gives a sociological look backwards' at the conditions in society
that underlie the rise of the social sciences generally and of sociology in particu-
lar. It may be skipped if one wishes to proceed directly to the ideas of the four
traditions.
3
Social Sciences*
Social science derives from a social base. In this statement there
':lre two paradoxes. S~ience means knowledge about the obj.ec-
tive world that is true because that is the way things are, not
just because we have imagined it. Yet this science is nowas-
serted to be socially based, determined by the society in which
social scientists live. That is paradox one.
. Paradox two is that the social base is nevertheless held to
exist. It is an autonomous, objective world that exists indepen-
dently of individuals and that determines' what they think. If
,social science is successful, one might even someday write the
objective laws pi this social determination of ideas.
Paradoxical or not, the statement is nevertheless true-at
least true enough so "that one can write a whole book in this vein.
In a sense that is what this book is about. The four sociological
traditions have each played a part in uncovering the laws by
which social ideas are determined.
.From the conflict tradition, we discern the dynamics of
ideology, legitimacy, the conditions of mobilization of self-
interested groups, and the economics of culture. For the con-
flict tradition, ideas are weapons, and their dominance is de-
termined by the distribution of social and economic resources.
*The prologue gives a sociological look backwards' at the conditions in society
that underlie the rise of the social sciences generally and of sociology in particu-
lar. It may be skipped if one wishes to proceed directly to the ideas of the four
traditions.
3
