Excerpt from Socialism (Le Socialisme) Durkheim's study of socialism is a document of exceptional intellectual interest for several reasons. Not the least of these is that it presents us with the now somewhat unusual case of a truly first-rate thinker who had the inclination to contribute to the history of sociological theory and to comment extensively on the work of a key figure in that history, Henri Saint-Simon. The core of this volume contains Durkheim's presentation of Saint-Simon's ideas, their sources and their development. Indeed, Durkheim so subordinates himself in these pages that we might well wish that he had developed his own critical reactions to Saint-Simon at greater length. This is somewhat unusual in the annals of current sociological scholarship in America, which has tended to leave mere exegesis and historical commentary to text book writers, and which sometimes unwittingly fosters the barbaric assumption that books and ideas more than twenty years old are beyond scientific salvation. In contrast to such current preoccupations with the modern, it is noteworthy that at the time Durkheim (1858-1917) wrote these lectures on socialism and Saint-Simon (1760-1825), the latter was dead some I seventy years. In some quarters a concern for the history of sociological I theory is now regarded as misguided. Of course, it is easy to understand how the usual trite chronicle of thinkers and ideas could foster such a disillusioned appraisal.

Yet this dim view of the history of sociological theory may be prematurely pessimistic about earlier theory and unduly optimistic about the state of current theory. Though current theoretical accomplishments in sociology are frequently substantial and occasionally brilliant, nothing I is to be gained by short-circuiting this disciplines sense of I historical continuity. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition.

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