On Understanding a Sociological Classic

This paper is concerned with the conditions requisite to an understanding of "classic" works in sociological theory, using Durkheim's Elementary Forms of the Religious Life as the example. Included are (1) a discussion of "presentist" and "historicist" approaches to the history of sociological thought; (2) a criticism of presentist "statements of contribution" in the secondary literature on the Elementary Forms; (3) an assessment of Merton's distinction between the "history" and the "systematics" of sociological theory; (4) a reconsideration of "contextual" approaches to classical social theory; (5) the proposal of a new approach to the history of sociological theory, illustrated by a very tentative reinterpretation of Durkheim's theory of sacrifice; and (6) a concluding section on the value for sociology itself of an authentic history of sociological thought.