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Philip Gorski's edited book engages the question of how Bourdieu's concepts can aid historical analysis, and in particular, account for change as well as reproduction. From a fascinating set of papers, this review essay takes special notice of two that theorize crisis. One, by Ivan Ermakoff, engages the question of whether disruption creates the opportunity for more conscious calculation on the part of actors; a second, by Gisele Sapiro, considers how a crisis reverberates through a specific field. This leads to further reflection on Bourdieu's work on power and the state, as well as a call for crisis hermeneutics in social theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reviews the book "Sociological Impressionism: A Reassessment of Georg Simmel's Social Theory," by D. Frisby.

The article reviews the book "Exploring Post-development: Theory and Practice, Problems and Perspectives," edited by Aram Ziai.

Reviews the book "Politics, a Work in Constructive Social Theory," by Roberto M. Unger.

Reviews the book `Transnational connections: culture, people, places,' by Ulf Hannerz.

Reviews the book "Choice, Rationality and Social Theory," by Barry Hindess.

Reviews the book "Social Theory and Modern Sociology," by Anthony Giddens.

Reviews the book "Sociological Theory: Pretence and Possibility," by Keith Dixon.

Reviews the book "Return of the Actor: Social Theory in Postindustrial Society," by Alain Touraine.

Reviews the book "Discovering Sociology: Studies in Sociological Theory and Method," by John Rex.

Reviews the book "Placing the Dead: Tombs, Ancestral Villages and Kinship Organization in Madagascar," by M. Bloch.

The article reviews the book "Constructing Social Theory," by David C. Bell.

Reviews the book "Sociological Theory and the Environment: Classical Foundations, Contemporary Insights," edited by Riley Dunlap, Frederick Buttel, Peter Dickens and August Gijswijt.

The article reviews two essays on sociological theory, "Social Mechanisms: An Analytical Approach to Social Theory," edited by Peter Hedstrom and Richard Swedberg and "Fuzzy-Set Social Science" by Charles C. Ragin. Correlation analysis is the basis for much explanation in contemporary sociology. Mainstream sociologists often infer causation through the use of quantitative techniques that depend, in a way or another, on the existence of bivariate correlations. Even sophisticated multivariate statistical methods that allow for the parceling of variables and the estimation of average net causal effects ultimately rely on such correlations. Correlation analysis so is central to explanation that many sociologists simply take it for granted, assuming that the existence of a correlation is a basic component of causality. Correlation analysis is by itself an inadequate mode of causal assessment. Problems identified are not simply familiar themes such as a correlation fails to represent causation because it might be spurious or because the time order of correlated variables may not be clear.

Reviews the book "What Is Social Theory? The Philosophical Debates," edited by Alan Sica.

Reviews the book "Expectation States Theory: A Theoretical Research Program," by Joseph Berger, Thomas L. Connor and M. Hamit Fisek.

Reviews the book "Social Theory Today," edited by A. Giddens and J. H. Turner.

Reviews the book "Kampf um Anerkennung. Zur moralischcn Grammatik sozialer Konflikte," by Axel Honneth.

Reviews two books by George Simmel. "Conflict," translated by Kurt H. Wolff; "The Web of Group Affiliations," translated by Reinhard Bendiz.

Reviews the book "The Woman Question in Classical Sociological Theory," by Terry R. Kandal.

Reviews the book "Modern Social Theory," by Percy S. Cohen.

Reviews the book "Professionalizer, Traditionalizer and Utilizer," by Robert W. Habenstein and Edwin A. Christ.

The article reviews the book "Space, the City and Social Theory," by Fran Tonkiss.

The article reviews the book "Space, the City, and Social Theory," by F. Tonkiss.

The article reviews the book "Qualitative Complexity: Ecology, Cognitive Processes and the Re-emergence of Structures in Post-Humanist Social Theory," by Chris Jenks and John Smith.

Reviews the book "Gesellschaft der Eliten. Zur Reproduktion und Problematik sozialer Distanz," by Sven Papcke.

Reviews the book "The Elements of Social Theory," by Barry Barnes.

Reviews the book "The Social Theory of Claude Lévi-Strauss," by Alan Jenkins.

Reviews the book "Understanding Peasant China. Case Studies in the Philosophy of Social Science," by Daniel Little.

Reviews the book "Society and Nature: Towards a Green Social Theory," by Peter Dickens.

Reviews the book "Modern Social Theory," by Percy S. Cohen.

Reviews the book "The Young Offender," by D.J. West.

Reviews the book "Goethe's Social Philosophy As Revealed in Campagne in Frankreich and Belagerung von Mainz," by Alfred G. Steer Jr.

Reviews the book "Using Social Theory: Thinking Through Research," edited by Michael Pryke, Gillian Rose and Sarah Whatmore.

Reviews the book "Social Mechanisms: An Analytical Approach to Social Theory," edited by Peter Hedstroem and Richard Swedberg.

Reviews the book "Meaning and Modernity: Social Theory in the Pragmatic Attitude," by Eugene Rochberg-Halton.

Reviews the book "Who is Peaceful?," Wolfgang J. Weilgart.

Reviews the book "Neo-Freudian Social Philosophy," by M. Birnbach.

Reviews the book "The Social Theories of Harry Stack Sullivan," by Dorothy R. Blitsten.