Review symposium on Donald Levine : Extending Levine's Models of Sociological Research Traditions
Abstract
Review symposium on Donald LevineExtending Levine's Models of Sociological Research Traditions SAGE Publications, Inc.1997DOI: 10.1177/095269519701000210 Charles Crothers University of Natal In this essay for the review symposium I will assume that the foundations of a descriptive framework of the contents of Levine's book have been laid by other contributions, and I will attempt to build on the materials laid out in his book. However, at least in the present context, I am more concerned with setting off hares than with running them to earth. AN OVERVIEW OF SUCCESSES AND OPPORTUNITIES As other reviewers will have pointed out, Levine's book unfolds, successively, in three stages: - it provides a review of historio-graphical models of the development of sociology; - it then provides an astoundingly innovative presentation of major themes in the development of sociology; and - finally, it attempts to pull many threads together to formulate a foundation from which a sociological resurgence might be launched. At each stage the concept of 'vision' (or 'narrative') is deployed. In the first stage a vision (or a template of visions) is examined; this is then used to guide the development of a more concrete vision of the development of sociology, and