The age of the social: the discovery of society and the ascendance of a new episteme

The concept of society sui generis - society as a level of reality which could be studied scientifically - crystallised in the middle of the 19th century in Europe, with the work of Durkheim, Marx and Weber and today, more than at any other period in history, the idea of the social has gained a foothold in philosophy, biology and neuroscience.

However, this idea has emerged into prominence not through the historical or contemporary efforts of sociologists, but mainly through the efforts of biologists and neuroscientists.

This book seeks to re-establish the credentials of sociology as the science of society.