"Selection of papers from the 1997 Cologne conference of the International Institute of Sociology"--Book jacket.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Societies, Corporations, and the Nation State, Erwin K. Scheuch -- 2. Values in a Polytheistic World, Raymond Boudon -- 3. Freedom vs. Control in Post-Modern Society: A Relational Approach, Pierpaolo Donati -- 4. The Universality of Freedom and Control, Margaret Archer -- 5. The Contemporary Scene - Multiple Modernities, S.N. Eisenstadt -- 6. Communitarianism and the Privatization of Belief: The Case of U.S. Catholics, William V. D'Antonio -- 7. Beyond Sovereignty: De-Facto Transnationalism in Immigration Policy, Saskia Sassen -- 8. Transition to Democracy and Nation-State in Eastern Europe, Nikolai Genov -- 9. National Identity, Social Order and Political System in Western Europe: Primordial Autochthony, Eugeen Roosens -- 10. Nationalism in Europe: Decline in the West, Revival in the East, Mattei Dogan -- 11. A Speculation on Some Features of the Japanese Production Practices: 8 Points of Discussion, Masayuki Munakata -- 12. Law and Liberty, Capitalism and Democracy in China and the West, Erich Weede -- 13. Psychological Aspects of Limits of Institutional Rehabilitation: The Role of Individual Participation, Gisela Trommsdorff, -- 14. Social Regression and the Decline of Competence, Friedrich Fürstenberg -- 15. Cultural Diversity or Cultural Confusion? - From the Viewpoint of Decentralization and Network, Takashi Usui.

'Reconsidering the classics' is the theme of this selection of papers, from the 1997 Cologne conference of the International Institute of Sociology. This does not imply going back to their answers, but to their topics. Some of the issues covered in this volume are: freedom of societies; the privatisation of belief, ethnicity, and globalisation; East-West relations; and institutional rehabilitation. The book includes articles by major contemporary sociologists, including Raymond Boudon, Samuel Eisenstadt, William D'Antonio, Saskia Sassen, Pierpaolo Donati, Eugeen Roosens, Nikolai Genov, Mattei Dogan, Gisela Trommsdorff, Margaret Archer, Erwin Scheuch, Friedrich Fürstenberg, Takashi Usui, Erich Weede and M. Munakata. The International Institute of Sociology, the oldest sociological association in the world, was founded in 1893, and has had distinguished members like Ferdinand Tönnies, Thorstein Veblen, Georg Simmel, Pjotr Sorokin and J.M. Schumpeter.

Description based on print version record.