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'Why be quantitative?' Harold D. Lasswell asked that question several decades ago. His answer was: to take advantage of the rigor and precision that comes with quantification. Since then, quantification has spread across social science disciplines, putting qualitative approaches on the defensive. This paper examines the practices of quantitative sociologists m their study of historical processes. Much ritualism is found in those practices; much rhetoric m quantification. Alas, Lasswell's good intentions seem to have gone lost m a ritual called 'hypothesis testing.' The author reflects critically upon his own practices and on the forms of quantification and the strategies of explanations that he has adopted, [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on sociologist Norbert Elias's essay on "sport and violence". An Essay on Sport and Violence is a key part of that project of discovering the civilizing process. Elias believes that sociologists should pay a great deal of attention to the study of sport since one encounters here a field which is relatively limited and accessible problems of a type which are often encountered in other larger, more complex and less accessible areas. He proposes that the forms of sporting activity in a society can be seen as a microcosm of far wider and more complex social processes. Elias attempts to justify this assertion through an analysis of the relationship between foxhunting and the inhibition of displays of aggression In England He believe that the analysis of foxhunting can constitute steps along the road towards a determination of the specific characteristics in the development of a country, of society at large. This paper examines Elias discussion of foxhunting. It asks whether his characterization of the activity is adequate and considers whether one must look elsewhere than the civilizing process If one want to understand it properly.

'Abd al‐Rahman Ibn Khaldun (1332‐1406), the founder of the science of society, became known to modern sociologists during the formative period of sociology, that is, the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. There was something of a reception of Ibn Khaldun in Europe at that time by sociologists and other scholars who were not necessarily involved with Islamic or West Asian studies. In fact, the reception of Ibn Khaldun by modern scholars in the West can be differentiated into Eurocentric or Orientalist as opposed to more disciplinary attitudes. While much has been said about the Eurocentric reception of Ibn Khaldun, less is discussed about the disciplinary approach to Ibn Khaldun among thinkers who wrote when the modern science of sociology was emerging in Europe. This special issue on Ibn Khaldun in the Formative Period of Sociology provides English translations of six articles originally written in Italian, French, German, Polish, Spanish and Turkish between 1896 and 1934. Not all of these articles were written by sociologists. Together, they provide some background as to how Ibn Khaldun was conceived of in non‐area studies circles, in the social sciences and humanities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Encountering the unprecedented social crisis of COVID‐19, an increasing number of sociologists are calling for historical sociology to engage empirically with the dynamics of the COVID‐19 crisis. I present the "path dependence method" and the "temporal connections" to interpret social life during the COVID‐19 pandemic. By using the path dependence method, I show how the personal, social, and national problems created by the COVID‐19 crisis initiate a new path and furthermore how this newly created path is justified in a society. Through the temporal connections, I will show how non‐Western countries responded more reasonably and quickly than most Western countries to the COVID‐19 crisis. The overall aim of this research is to disclose effectiveness of historical sociology, to encourage researchers to think time variable, and to argue that linking historical‐sociological knowledge to the COVID‐19 crisis would be a positive step for an in‐depth COVID‐19 sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay is a partial history of the term “Social Darwinism”. Using large electronic databases, it is shown that the use of the term in leading Anglophone academic journals was rare up to the 1940s. Citations of the term were generally disapproving of the racist or imperialist ideologies with which it was associated. Neither Herbert Spencer nor William Graham Sumner were described as Social Darwinists in this early literature. Talcott Parsons (1932, 1934, 1937) extended the meaning of the term to describe any extensive use of ideas from biology in the social sciences. Subsequently, Richard Hofstadter (1944) gave the use of the term a huge boost, in the context of a global anti-fascist war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data from the Population Censuses for 1891 and 1991 are analysed to assess long term trends in the degree and pattern of occupational segregation. Two competing theories are addressed: that occupational segregation is linked to levels of female employment, and that occupational segregation was prompted in the nineteenth century by a concern to control sexuality and fertility behaviour. Sociologists have overlooked the impact of social factors outside the labour force on developments within the workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on sociologist Norbert Elias and debates his works related to sociology. The theme which recurs In all of his works is the relation of individuals and society. In the elucidation of which he draws on his knowledge of medicine. He considers it significant that, in contrast to animals, human beings possess among other things variable facial muscles including the "Risus sardonicus" which permit them to engage In prolonged communication with their own kind relying only on facial expression. Such expression reactivates Inborn social patterns. The idea that he does not exist Independently of other people and that the wall which divides the rousing of emotions and the movement of facial muscles and body gestures has been created by patterns of civilization was beginning to emerge In Elias, although not until fifteen years later did it take concrete shape In his scientific work. Due to notions of this kind, he was to encounter difficulties with his doctoral dissertation under the Neo-Kantian scholar R. Honigswald.