Book Reviews : Nicos Mouzelis: Sociological Theory: What Went Wrong? Diagnosis and Remedies. London and New York: Routledge, 1995
Abstract
Book ReviewsNicos Mouzelis: Sociological Theory: What Went Wrong? Diagnosis and Remedies. London and New York: Routledge, 1995 SAGE Publications, Inc.1996DOI: 10.1177/000169939603900110 Richard Swedberg Stockholm University Most sociologists would agree with Nicos Mouzelis, well-known sociologist at the London School of Economics, that something has gone wrong with sociological theory. As things stand today, sociological theory represents one of the least exciting fields in the discipline, and there are no signs that the situation is likely to change within the next few years. So, what exactly did go wrong and what needs to be done? Let us first listen to Nicos Mouzelis in Sociological Theory: What Went Wrong? According to Mouzelis, the natural point of departure for a discussion of this type is the work of Talcott Parsons; indeed, what has happened in sociological theory during the past few decades is referred to as 'post-Parsonian sociological theory' (p. 149). It was Parsons who really established sociological theory as a legitimate subdiscipline in sociology, we are told, and it is his attempt at grand theory - functionalism in the form of the AGIL-system - that needs to be reconstructed. Functionalism should be non-teleological, Mouzelis says, and the famous 'functional prerequisites' can