„Klassiker im Goldrahmen“ — Ein Beitrag zur Soziologie der Klassiker

Abstract

Sociology’s attitude towards its classics is ambivalent: On the one hand these master thinkers are revered as shining examples of the trade, on the other hand the way they are presented, one after the other, is criticized as evidence for a lack of theoretical systematics. An international empirical comparison of who is counted among the classics and how these theorists are being presented shows these aspects to be treated almost identically: There exists a stable “canon of classics” underpinned by binding rules for their presentation. Seen from this perspective the task of a “sociology of classical theory” is to generate a common understanding of the discipline.