7.8 /10 1 Votes
Country United States Publication date 1963 Originally published 1963 Page count 191 ISBN 9780385065290 | 3.9/5 Goodreads Language English Pages 191 Publisher Doubleday Subject Sociology | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Media type Print (Hardcover and Paperback) Similar Peter L Berger books, Sociology books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Invitation to Sociology: A Humanistic Perspective is a 1963 book about sociology by sociologist Peter L. Berger, in which Berger sets out the intellectual parameters and calling of the scientific discipline of sociology. Many of the themes presented in this book were later developed in his 1966 book The Social Construction of Reality, coauthored with Thomas Luckmann.
Contents
Background
Berger was a student of social scientist Alfred Schütz, and was influenced by Schutz's approach to sociology.
Summary
Berger addresses which types of questions sociologists may seek to answer (such as the consequences of religious belief) and those which they cannot address (for example, the existence of God). Berger argues that the various uses of sociology do not reflect the actual nature of the science, and that those who use the information provided by sociologists "[have] nothing to do with the character of the information itself." Berger argues that sociology should emphasize its humanistic aspects. Berger discusses Black pride, stating that it is "building up a counter-formation of a black racism that is but a shadow of its white prototype."
Influence and reception
Many of the themes presented in Invitation to Sociology: A Humanistic Perspective were later developed in Berger's 1966 book The Social Construction of Reality, coauthored with Thomas Luckmann. Philosopher Helmut R. Wagner called Invitation to Sociology a "very readable discussion of the field of sociology".