Sociology before History

From the beginning, sociology’s approach to history was based on coining concepts of process such as »differentiation« or »individualisation«, which play a central role in analyses of certain eras to this day. However, the historical-philosophical burden of these concepts has rarely been addressed, which is why some of them have been strongly criticised in recent times.

Internationally renowned sociologist Wolfgang Knöbl analyses the attempts that have been made – most of them unsuccessful – to theorise historical processes during various developmental stages of the discipline and details the narratological insights that sociology must incorporate if its diagnoses are to be taken seriously.

»Knöbl’s book, which despite the sometimes sharp criticism of his colleagues approaches them with great sympathy, is an attempt to complicate, in the best sense of the word.« Oliver Weber, Süddeutsche Zeitung

»We need, as Ashis Nandy once observed, not only alternative histories, we need an alternative to ›history‹. Wolfgang Knöbl leads the way.« Achim Landwehr, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung