On the Everyday Life of a Significant Sociologist

Abstract

This article provides a brief overview of Stephen Crook’s scholarly and professional work as a prelude to the articles by Malcolm Waters and Jan Pakulski and Bruce Tranter. His scholarly work particularly focused on the theorization of social differentiation and social order in studies of everyday life. Through the critical appraisal of postmodernist approaches, he developed his own post-foundational radicalist approach that transcended the determinism of unitary meta-narratives, but also avoided relativistic and atheoretical descriptions of the plurality of ‘the everyday’. Yet the everyday relevance of sociological practice was a defining feature of Steve’sweltanschauung, epitomized in his professional service and role as a public intellectual.