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Lewis A. Coser: a stranger within more than one gate
[journal article]
Abstract This article presents a short portrait of Lewis A. Coser (1913–2003), the American sociologist who became renowned as one of the founders of
‘conflict sociology’. Born in Berlin, Coser had to leave his homeland for political reasons and he spent the years before Nazi Germany’s invasion of France in... view more
This article presents a short portrait of Lewis A. Coser (1913–2003), the American sociologist who became renowned as one of the founders of
‘conflict sociology’. Born in Berlin, Coser had to leave his homeland for political reasons and he spent the years before Nazi Germany’s invasion of France in Paris. Coser then fled to the United States and started his academic career
there at the College of the University of Chicago. An abridged version of the PhD thesis he wrote at Columbia University was published as The Functions of Social Conflict, which earned him recognition, a promotion, and made him a figure of authority for sociologists in the 1960s. In this article the author draws on archival materials to examine Coser’s life, major publications and achievements.
His intellectual trajectory from Marxism to Mertonian Functionalism, his strong commitment to a Weberian view of the separation of politics from
scholarship, the breadth of his erudition in literature and classical sociological
theory, and his lifelong place in New York intellectual circles and intellectual
magazines made him an extraordinary figure even amongst his contemporaries.... view less
Keywords
scientist; emigration; sociologist; Merton, R.; social conflict; Marxism; Weber, M.; sociological theory; social change; United States of America; functionalism
Classification
General Sociology, Basic Research, General Concepts and History of Sociology, Sociological Theories
Free Keywords
Lewis A. Coser; conflict sociology; refugee scholars; functionalism; American sociology; intellectuals
Document language
English
Publication Year
2013
Page/Pages
p. 951-968
Journal
Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review, 49 (2013) 6
ISSN
2336-128X
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed
Licence
Deposit Licence - No Redistribution, No Modifications