Reading Jeffrey C. Alexander, Part I: The case for canonization

For nearly half a century Jeffrey C. Alexander has devoted himself to the sociological vocation − first as a general (‘grand’) theorist, and then as the iconic leader of a set of global research programmes − a life lived for sociology. In ‘Part 1’ of this two-part article, we make the case for Alexander's canonization as a classical theorist. We do so by reconstructing and periodizing his life and intellectual development, narrating his transformation from Jeff to ‘Jeffrey C. Alexander.’ We do this at the level of what Parsons's termed personality : that is, we situate Alexander's oeuvre in the quality of his person, his wants and needs, his frustrations and anxieties, and the development of the self.