Society, History, and the Global Human Condition

This Festschrift for Irving M. Zeitlin honors a scholar whose work has influenced and continues to influence sociology, particularly classical sociological theory, sociology of religion, and historical sociology. Irving M. Zeitlin's scholarship and mentoring has also influenced and inspired a new generation of sociologists. The essays presented here address a wide range of topics that include classical sociological theory, globalization, bureaucracy, genocide, resistance, ethnic diversity, the intifada, anti-Semitism, democracy, geopolitical theory, war literature, science, and national culture. The contributions span a wide range of geographical areas that include Korea, China, India, Poland, Spain, Germany, the ex-Soviet Union, Canada, and the United States. These essays by eminent scholars located in many parts of the world affirm the incredibly broad range of expertise and learning that Irving M. Zeitlin's work has engaged with. The contributions to this volume also serve to highlight the contemporary relevance of the classical sociological tradition in making sense of the global human condition.

A stellar cast of authors, writing on central domestic and international topics of our time, oriented to the work of one of sociology's truly great authors: what more could one ask for? Read this book and get your students to read it. Sociology comes alive in its pagessss, This fine collection of essays in honor of Irving Zeitlin’s many contributions to Sociology—theoretical, empirical, historical—is a fitting tribute. It is a cornucopia of insights and perspectives that will appeal to a broad range of sociological readers., If significance is measured in terms of the number of interesting and influential students, Irving Zeitlin easily ranks number one among Canadian sociologists. This book is the first to take the full measure of Zeitlin’s academic career, the daring and diversity of which has never been properly appreciated. Zeitlin came of age in the late 1960s when sociologists were trying to reach a theoretical rapprochement between Marx and Weber. Two of Zeitlin’s most distinguished contemporaries in this project, Anthony Giddens and Randall Collins, are among those who pay tribute to Zeitlin’s efforts in these pages. The other chapters are penned by former students, colleagues, and relatives. In reading these arresting reassessments of, say, democracy’s exportability, Islamic extremism, Chinese nationalism, Anti-Semitism, the American street ethic, and the economic preconditions of imperialist and revolutionary politics — all bearing the mark of Zeitlin’s influence — it becomes clear that his has been a truly cosmopolitan vision of sociology that is rarely found in today’s practitioners., A stellar cast of authors, writing on central domestic and international topics of our time, oriented to the work of one of sociology's truly great authors: what more could one ask for? Read this book and get your students to read it. Sociology comes alive in its pages

Zaheer Baber is professor of sociology at the University of Toronto. Joseph M. Bryant is professor of sociology and religion at the University of Toronto.