The Palgrave Handbook of Sociology in Britain

British sociology has been central to the evolution of the field, playing a key role in the establishment of the discipline internationally and in the professionalization of the subject within the academy.  This Handbook, drawing together leading specialists from across the subject, provides a comprehensive history of the discipline within Britain and demonstrates the continuing influence of British sociological thinking globally.   
 
Addressing key moments in the development of sociology, this Handbook examines its 18th century origins in Scottish thought, 19th century evolutionism, the impact of the end of empire in the 20th century, the role of exiles, the rise of feminism and the implications of the most recent Government policies toward universities. The volume examines the institutionalization of sociology through the creation of departments, the development of research methods, the writing of textbooks and the creation and influence of the book series, the International Library of Sociology. Further, individual chapters discuss key topics of sociological study in Britain such as class, race and ethnicity, religion, the sociology of the body, cultural studies, and criminology, and its relation to other fields of research such as poverty, social work and the humanities.  Challenging received ideas about the discipline and recovering lost histories this one-stop overview is an essential reference guide to the growth of sociology and the sociological imagination. 
 

John Holmwood is Professor of Sociology at the University of Nottingham, UK. He is President of the British Sociological Association and co-editor (with Stephen Turner) of Sociology Transformed, a series of case studies in national histories of sociology, published by Palgrave Macmillan.

John Scott is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Plymouth University, UK. He is a former President of the British Sociological Association and Honorary Professor in Sociology at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He is author of Envisioning Sociology: Victor Branford, Patrick Geddes, and the Quest for Social Reconstruction.

1.Introduction; John Holmwood and John Scott
2.The Scottish Enlightenment and Scottish Social Thought c.1725-1915; John Brewer
3.Poverty Studies and Social Research; Lucinda Platt
4.Absent or Forgotten? Recovering British Social Theory; John Scott
5.Evolutionism and British Sociology; Chris Renwick
6.Religion and British Sociology: the Power and Necessity of the Spiritual; Stephen Turner
7.Sociology and Social Work. In Praise of Limestone and Social Settlements; Ian Shaw
8.The First Sociology 'Departments'; Chris Husbands
9.British Sociology in the Inter-War Years; Baudry Rocquin
10. Building a Textbook Tradition: Sociology in Britain, 1900-1968; John Scott
11. The International Library of Sociology and Social Reconstruction and British Sociology; Jennifer Platt
12. Feminism in Sociology, Feminism as Sociology; Mary Evans
13. Exiles in British Sociology; Charles Turner
14. British Sociology in the Metropole and the Colonies, 1940s-1960s; George Steinmetz
15. Between Humanities and Science: Sociology as a Third Culture; John Eldridge
16. The History of British Sociology from the Perspective of its Archived Qualitative Sources: Ruminations and Reflections; Mike Savage
17. The Sociology of Community; Graham Crow
18. Sociology of Race, Racism, and Ethnicity: Trends, Debates, and Research Agendas; John Solomos
19. Research Methodology in Sociology; Geoff Payne
20. The Sociological Study of Religion: Arrival, Survival, Revival; Grace Davie
21. Criminology, Deviance and Sociology; Eamonn Carrabine
22. The Sociology of Work: From Industrial Sociology to Work, Employment, and the Economy; Paul Edwards
23. Sociology, Cultural Studies, and the Cultural Turn; Gregor McLennan
24. 'Class' in Britain; Wendy Bottero
25. Sociology of the Body and the Relation between Sociology and Biology; Stevi Jackson and Sue Scott
26. Sociology's Past and Futures: The Impact of External Structure, Policy and Financing; John Holmwood