1st Edition
Updating Charles H. Cooley Contemporary Perspectives on a Sociological Classic
This book explores the contemporary relevance of Charles H. Cooley’s thought, bringing together scholars from the US, Europe and Australia to reflect on Cooley’s theory and legacy. Offering an up-to-date analysis of Cooley’s reception in the history of the social sciences, an examination of epistemological and methodological advances on his work, critical assessments and novel articulations of his major ideas, and a consideration of new directions in scholarship that draws on Cooley’s thought, Updating Charles H. Cooley will appeal to sociologists with interests in social theory, interactionism, the history of sociology, social psychology, and the sociology of emotions.
Notes on the Contributors
Introduction (Natalia Ruiz-Junco and Baptiste Brossard)
1. Cooley and the Sociological Canon: An Enigmatic Case (Natalia Ruiz-Junco and Baptiste Brossard)
2. Lost in Vicissitudes of Greatness and Decline: Charles Horton Cooley’s Unique Contribution to Sociology (Vessela Misheva)
3. Cooley in Philip Rieff’s Theory of Culture (Jonathan B. Imber)
4. Cooley’s Social Theory of Reading and Writing (Daniel R. Huebner)
5. Looking Glass Selves: the Cooley/Goffman Conjecture (Thomas J. Scheff)
6. Bringing Self-Values Back In: From Reflected Appraisal to Appraised Appraisal (Shanyang Zhao)
7. Cooley and the Human Consciousness: A Contemporary Understanding (Klaus G. Witz)
8. The Dilemmas of Social Representation Theory: How Cooley’s Sociology Provides a Game Plan for Their Resolution (Glenn Jacobs)
9. Conclusion: Contemporary Perspectives on a Sociological Classic (Natalia Ruiz-Junco and Baptiste Brossard)
Postface: Charles Horton Cooley and the Choice of Predecessor Selection (Gary Alan Fine)
Index
Biography
Natalia Ruiz-Junco is Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work at Auburn University, USA. Her research interests are in social theory, social psychology, sociology of emotions, and qualitative methods. She has published work in Sociology Compass, Symbolic Interaction and The Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, among other outlets.
Baptiste Brossard is Lecturer in the School of Sociology at The Australian National University, Australia. His research interests are in mental health, sociological theory and qualitative methods. He is the first translator of Cooley into French, and author of Why Do We Hurt Ourselves? Understanding Self-Harm in Social Life (2018).
A reimagination of Cooley was overdue, and the editors have not only collected a diverse variety of contributors for that reimagination, they also presented the reader with texts that form a cohesive whole. This book thus offers a necessary and timely reframing of Cooley. It inspires thought on digital culture, the inequality of imagined communities, the role of emotion and writing. It is genuinely surprising and insightful, and it has the potential to spark entire scholarly ventures on these issues. The volume thus not only retraces Cooley and does not stop at expanding our understanding of his work; it is a genuine conversation starter on a host of issues that are central to symbolic interactionist and wider sociological debate.
Michael Dellwing, Leuphana University Lüneburg (GER), review in Symbolic Interaction (2020)
