Several readers of the recent post on Raymond Aron asked about other surveys of the history of sociology that are sometimes considered helpful. So I’ve pulled a couple of books off the shelves to mention as sources. I’m sure that readers will have additional suggestions.
(Here is a post that attempts to map the field of sociology as it currently exists; link. And here is another post that considers some of the ways we might try to treat the history of sociology; link.)
Surveys including classical social theory (Marx, Durkheim, Weber)
History of Sociological Analysis
Specialized treatments of individual sociologists
Contemporary essays on the history of sociology
Titles
Julia Adams, Elisabeth Clemens, Ann Shola Orloff, Remaking Modernity
Tom Bottomore and Robert Nisbet, editors, A History of Sociological Analysis
Craig Calhoun, Sociology in America
Alex Callinicos, Social Theory
Lewis Coser, Masters of Sociological Thought
Anthony Giddens, Politics, Sociology, and Social Theory
Anthony Giddens, Capitalism and Modern Social Theory
Hans Joas and Wolfgang Knobl, Social Theory: Twenty Introductory Lectures
Steven Lukes, Durkheim
John McMurtry, The Structure of Marx’s World-view
Robert Nisbet, The Sociological Tradition
Fritz Ringer, Max Weber: An Intellectual Biography
Fritz Ringer, The Decline of the German Mandarins
Lawrence Scaff, Fleeing the Iron Cage
George Steinmetz, The Politics of Method in the Human Sciences
Allen Wood, Karl Marx
Readers, what are your preferred books on this subject?
Understanding Society 