Horowitz's powerful book discusses the decline of sociology as an academic discipline. He shows how sociologists have become more and more involved in ideological critiques of modern society and, in the process, have abandoned the objective approach which has always been a central quality in the social sciences.

Irving Louis Horowitz has set forth clearly, and I believe irrefutably, the nature of the decomposition of sociology. Horowitz's work is absolutely in the tradition so luminously described by Max Weber in his two great addresses on "Politics as a Vocation" and "Science as a Vocation".

"Horowitz is passionately and persuasively critical of the way sociology has become enmeshed in the politics of advocacy. His solution to The Decomposition of Sociology is in the tradition of John Dewey and Sidney Hook, to reengage the discipline whereby the individual researcher's passions are contained by continually testing propositions against the best available evidence."--The American Spectator "Those of us who entered sociology when it seemed we were at the dawn of a unified behavioral science as we then grandly named it, that would simultaneously do good and give us a scientific understanding of society, are living through its decline. Irving Louis Horowitz does not have the whole story--who has?--but in his swashbuckling charge through sociology today he gives a good number of pieces of the explanation."--The Atlantic Monthly "Testifies to the breadth of its author's interests and reading....The last section of Horowitz's book, which is the most tightly argued, presents a compelling overview of major dilemmas facing the social sciences and their varied practitioners in the United States....It may be argued that Horowitz in his newest book reminds his fellow social scientists what they should be about."--Chronicles of American Culture "Absorbing from start to finish. Literally so. A splendid achievement from its engrossing introduction to its Coda, a testament to social science as a third culture which reinstates 'Science as a Vocation' for our time."--Robert K. Merton, Columbia University "This is the first and much needed study which demonstrates how American sociology has become 'a repository of discontent,' irrationality, and preserve of special interest groups. In his penetrating critique, Irving Louis Horowitz also illuminates the larger problems of American culture and intellectual life over the last quarter century. While chronicling the decline of American sociology, this unique and lively volume addresses the major social, cutlural, and political controversies of our time. Horowitz seeks to return the discipline to the respect for reason and striving for objectivity that used to characterize its major figures and best traditions."--Paul Hollander, author of Anti-Americanism "Horowitz is passionately and persuasively critical of the way sociology has become enmeshed in the politics of advocacy. His solution to The Decomposition of Sociology is in the tradition of John Dewey and Sidney Hook, to reengage the discipline whereby the individual researcher's passions are contained by continually testing propositions against the best available evidence."--The American Spectator "Those of us who entered sociology when it seemed we were at the dawn of a unified behavioral science as we then grandly named it, that would simultaneously do good and give us a scientific understanding of society, are living through its decline. Irving Louis Horowitz does not have the whole story--who has?--but in his swashbuckling charge through sociology today he gives a good number of pieces of the explanation."--The Atlantic Monthly "Testifies to the breadth of its author's interests and reading....The last section of Horowitz's book, which is the most tightly argued, presents a compelling overview of major dilemmas facing the social sciences and their varied practitioners in the United States....It may be argued that Horowitz in his newest book reminds his fellow social scientists what they should be about."--Chronicles of American Culture "Absorbing from start to finish. Literally so. A splendid achievement from its engrossing introduction to its Coda, a testament to social science as a third culture which reinstates 'Science as a Vocation' for our time."--Robert K. Merton, Columbia University "This is the first and much needed study which demonstrates how American sociology has become 'a repository of discontent,' irrationality, and preserve of special interest groups. In his penetrating critique, Irving Louis Horowitz also illuminates the larger problems of American culture and intellectual life over the last quarter century. While chronicling the decline of American sociology, this unique and lively volume addresses the major social, cutlural, and political controversies of our time. Horowitz seeks to return the discipline to the respect for reason and striving for objectivity that used to characterize its major figures and best traditions."--Paul Hollander, author of Anti-Americanism "Irving Louis Horowitz has written a devastating critique of a sociology that foresakes analysis for messianic ideologies. Moreover he describes the fall of sociology and prescribes a reform required for its resurgence not from the perspective of neo-conservatism but rather from the perspective of the Great Tradition of sociology itself. If sociology is to save what is left of its soul it must listen to Professor Horowitz's clear and challenging voice."--Andrew M. Greeley, author of Religious Change in America "This is a courageous book. Always objective, but never coldly detached, Horowitz's analysis of sociology and its tributaries--from social movements to social policy--is the most erudite contribution to the discipline that has appeared in decades. It is his mosvt seminal work."--William A. Donohue, author of The New Freedom: Individualism and Collectivism in the Social Lives of Americans "Irving Louis Horowitz has set forth clearly, and I believe irrefutably, the nature of the decomposition of sociology. Horowitz's work is absolutely in the tradition so luminously described by Max Weber in his two great addresses on 'Politics as a Vocation' and 'Science as a Vocation.'"--Robert A. Nisbet, in The Sociological Tradition "An antidote to scientism. A critical attempt to redeem sociology to its rightful calling. Students will learn the difference between social understanding and idealogy."--Wayne Allen, Delta State University "A soundly reasoned, carefully crafted analysis of sociology and the social sciences generally....This book is suitable for use in advanced undergraduate as well as graduate courses in contemporary theory, the sociology of science, and the sociology of knowledge."--Social Forces "The book is provocative, entertaining, and informative; it should not be ignored."--American Journal of Sociology

Irving Louis Horowitz is the Hannah Arendt Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Political Science at Rutgers University. He is president of Transaction/Society, also at Rutgers. Among his previous Oxford books are Ideology and Utopia in the United States; Three Worlds of Development; and Beyond Empire and Revolution. He is the recipient of the National Jewish Book Award in Biography for his memoir of a Harlem childhood, Daydreams and Nightmares.