Although sociology, as a narrow discipline, has not reached the prominence it promised 30 years ago, the broad spectrum of the social sciences permeates the whole of modern academic life. This academic predominance is reflected in the extraordinary range of encyclopedias and other reference tools that have become available ever since Seligman and Johnson (1930‐1935) started the ball rolling with an outstanding, and still useful, piece of scholarship. Pride of place for the social sciences in general currently goes to Smelser and Baltes (2001). Borgatta and Montgomery (2000) is the largest recent encyclopedia of sociology I know of, but there are several more modest collections – my library uses Magill et al. (1995). Much of the importance of the social sciences lies in the production of statistical information from research projects. There is a recent encyclopedia of social science research methods that can be recommended (Lewis‐Beck et al., 2004) (RR 2005/131), and there are numerous general encyclopedias of statistics and research methodology. The philosophical basis of the social sciences has, perhaps, been overshadowed by their immediate research applicability. My library committee turned down the purchase of the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Craig, 1998) (RR 2004/304 (electronic version)) that I have heard recommended for this purpose, but there are numerous other reference tools available, both in print and online. I note with interest that there is a new edition of the Concise Encyclopedia of Western Philosophy (Ree and Urmson, 2005) due out soon.
The question that obviously arose in the Sage marketing department was, given a buoyant demand for social science information, how could another encyclopedia be squeezed into the overcrowded market. The conclusion that they came up with was that there is a coherent corpus of theory which is unique to the social sciences, rather than forming part of the more general field of philosophy or being unique to the individual disciplines of sociology, anthropology, political science, economics, etc., and, therefore, that an encyclopedia of social theory would be a valid project. I am not fully convinced that they were correct, and I am not fully convinced that the editor has succeeded. There is, it is true, much more to philosophy than just moral and political thinking, but some at least of what is presented here could fit quite properly into an encyclopedia of modern western philosophy. On the other hand the claim to have uncovered a coherent body of modern theory for the social sciences is undermined by the fact that the editor seems to have virtually ignored economics. Economic theory is a quite extraordinarily arid topic. I would personally avoid it like the plague if I was editing an encyclopedia, but then I would not claim that the result covered the whole of the social sciences. Even within its narrower field this book is curiously lacking in a historical perspective. It could be claimed that the first person to attempt to implement changes based on social theories was Solon, who does not get a mention at all. Certainly Plato needs more than a few minor cross‐references in the index. Even if we assume that the social sciences really took off in the nineteenth century, it is astonishing to find no entries for J.S. Mill (the book jumps straight from Robert Merton to C. Wright Mills) or even for Jeremy Bentham. Similarly there is a jump straight from four pages plus a column of bibliographical notes on Neil Smelser over to two whole pages on Dorothy Smith, with no entry at all for Adam Smith – as influential a social theorist as anyone could imagine.
To be fair, this book does provide a very useful coverage of a wide range of recent theoretical studies in sociology and some of its closely‐related disciplines. Minor twentieth century sociologists who are not likely to be covered in more general encyclopedias get detailed entries with useful bibliographies. Modern concepts in feminist studies, gay and lesbian studies, etc. are clearly outlined, and the loose area between francophone psychoanalysis, anthropology and philosophy is thoroughly explored. All the “posts” are properly covered, including a whole page article on post‐positivism, which is a concept that had somehow escaped me up till now. Academic libraries catering for courses in sociology and related disciplines may very well find this to be a useful addition to their reference stock, though, even there, I am afraid that it would not be my first choice, among so many competitors.
