Two societies, one sociology, and no theory

Abstract

This article shows the declining effectiveness of sociological classics to make sense of dramatically changing economy and society. However, the various ‘postsomething’ analyses of such transformation, especially the postmodern emphases on language and discourse, are also shown to be inadequate. In their place the author advocates the use of various leitmotifs to establish certain constants, in order then to be able to describe and determine various patterns of variance. The article makes various recommendations for future sociology to be empirical and both diachronically and crosssectionally compar ative in order to comprehend those dramatic changes that currently surround us as so ciologist. Sociology should establish such ‘constants’ and worry less about being ‘theoryless’.