This revised and updated second edition of The Rules of Sociological Method and Selected Texts on Sociology and its Method represents Durkheim's manifesto for sociology. In it he sought to establish sociology's scientific credentials and to provide guiding principles for future research. With a substantial new introduction by the leading Durkheim scholar Steven Lukes, the book explains the original argument and sets it in context. In addition, the still controversial debates about The Rules of Sociological Method's six chapters are examined and their relevance to present-day sociology is discussed. Also included are Durkheim's subsequent thoughts on method in the form of articles, debates with scholars from other disciplines, and letters. This edition contains helpful learning features to help introduce a new generation of sociology students to Durkheim's rich contribution to the field.

Steven Lukes is Professor of Sociology at New York University, USA. He studied philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford, where he obtained his doctorate, writing a thesis on Durkheim under the supervision of the anthropologist E. E. Evans-Prichard. He has previously held posts in politics and sociology at Balliol College, Oxford, in political and social theory at the European University Institute in Florence, in moral philosophy at the University of Siena and in sociology at the London School of Economics. He is an emeritus Fellow of the British Academy and an editor of the European Journal of Sociology. His writing and teaching have ranged over political science, political and moral philosophy, sociology, anthropology and the philosophy of the social sciences. His published works include Emile Durkheim: His Life and Work.