On Sociology: Numbers, Narratives, and the Integration of Research and Theory

On Sociology brings together a collection of essays all written in the last ten years by one of the best-known and influential British sociologist, John H. Goldthorpe. The essays are concerned with the intellectual discovery of contemporary sociology. The collection begins with essays critical of various current tendencies in sociology and moves on to essays that outline a programme for a new sociological mainstream. This would combine the established strengths of quantitative sociology with recent developments in the theory of social action, especially rational action theory. Essays illustrative of this style of sociology then follow dealing with substantive topics in the field of social stratification. The final essay takes up some of the relevant issues in the history of sociology.