The Problem of Order: What Unites and Divides Society

By Dennis Wrong

Book Overview

At the end of the 20th century, many fear that the bonds holding civil society together have come undone. Yet, as Dennis Wrong shows us, our generation is not alone in fearing a breakdown of social ties and a descent into violent conflict. Modern masters such as Hobbes, Rousseau, Freud, Mead, Parsons, Marx, Durkheim and Weber tried to understand what in human nature provokes social co-operation and solidarity and what arouses conflict and chaos.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 067470777X
• ISBN13: 9780674707771
• Release Date: July 1995
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 364 Pages
• Weight: 2.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.0" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

Should Be Required Reading For Sociology Majors

This books is scholarly and was difficult reading for me but I'm glad I bought it. I learned a lot from it. I only got about 3/4 of the way through it, but I'll finish it eventually. It's not really for the average reader. But if you like a challenge and are an observer of and student of society, I can't think of a more important book to read. Social order is what mankind is all about. Most of us take social order for granted until it breaks down, just as we take the water flowing from our taps for granted until it's interrupted. This book is a summary of all the important views of social order throughout history, starting with the ancient Greeks and ending with Dennis Wrong's own opinions on the subject. He compares and contrasts all of the various viewpoints. Don't let the name throw you; this may well be one of the most important books ever written in the field of sociology. Now more than ever.