RANDALL COLLINS University of Pennsylvania By refusing to march into a morass of postmodernist relativism, and yet simultaneously refusing to retreat to nineteenth-century positivism, sociology seems well poised for the twenty-first century. Perhaps one lesson we can take from these writers is that as parsimony loses its polish, complexity will move sociology closer to the center stage of postmodern science. These essays are intended to prompt conversations, not end them. We are actively soliciting your reactions. We invite you to write your own essay on what the core of sociology is or should be. Or explain why this exercise is misguided. If your take on sociology has not been well represented in these essays, tell us what you think and why. We plan to summarize these essays and reactions in a future issue of Foot710tes, the American Sociological Association's professional newsletter. You can contact us at:
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Randall Collins (1998) studied this question.
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