The AMERICAN JOURNAL of ECONOMICS and SOCIOLOGY

摘要

In 1987, JEFFREY ALEXANDER pointed to an important pedagogic aspect of modern sociology that sets this discipline apart from the other social sciences such as economics. In sociology, the history of sociology matters. It gives shape to the field and drives its discourse. When surveying the field of sociology and trying to map the line of demarcation separating economic sociology and economics proper, Neil Smelser and Richard Swedberg (1994: 7, 8) emphasized that a positive attitude toward prior intellectual tradition was one of the most significant differentiating characteristics of sociology. In economics, theory and the past history of theories are separate matters. The prevailing attitude among economists is that "the classics belong to the past" or to a specialized area in economics called the history of economic thought, but in sociology, and especially among the "new" economic sociologists, the history of sociology lies at the core of many of the ongoing debates. Indeed, "the classics are constantly reinterpreted and taught" (Swedberg and Smelser 1994: 4). Not only theoretical sociology but also the analytical and methodological frameworks of the field continue to evolve in constant interaction with past debates. The classical writers in sociology remain part of the canon taught today.