Finally, the construction of a tradition within the discipline of sociology must be somewhat artificial given the fact that most of the principal contributions came from people who would not have self-consciously regarded themselves as sociologists. Despite these difficulties, a hasty and ill-considered rejection of classical sociology is to be avoided for reasons which I try to establish in this study of early sociological theory. In part, I support existing defences of the classics which suggest that the nature of dispute and development in sociological theory is very different from the pattern of intellectual development in the natural sciences. Analytical difficulties and debates in sociology are not easily resolved, because the issues themselves remain essentially contested. Because there is no obvious theory cumulation or resolution of disputes, one can still learn from and value the classical accounts of sociological theory. ![]() ![]() ![]() The epistemological, theoretical and methodological difficulties which were identified and debated by Max Weber and Emile Durkheim have not been and cannot be easily resolved.
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