Pioneers of Sociological Science

Goldthorpe reveals the genealogy of present-day sociological science through studies of the key contributions made by seventeen pioneers in the field, ranging from John Graunt and Edmond Halley in the mid-seventeenth century to Otis Dudley Duncan, James Coleman and Raymond Boudon in the late twentieth. Goldthorpe's biographies of these figures and analyses of their work reveal clear lines of intellectual descent, building towards the author's model of sociology as the study of human populations across time and place, previously outlined in his book Sociology as a Population Science (Cambridge, 2015). The extent to which recent developments such as computational sociology and analytical sociology are in continuation with the efforts of these influential thinkers is also critically examined. Pioneers of Sociological Science will appeal to students and scholars of sociology and to anyone engaged in social science research, from statisticians to social historians.
Gives a detailed account of the genealogy of sociological science in terms of the contributions of seventeen pioneers, from the mid-17th century onwards
Shows the historical roots of many present-day standard research practices and of how they were developed to deal with particular problems
Concludes with a critical analysis of how contemporary developments in sociological science are aligned with the efforts and objectives of the pioneers