Lessons in Sociology, Claude Javeau

Claude Javeau, professor at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and secretary-general of the Association internationale des sociologues de langue française, offers a sociology textbook for undergraduate students and all enlightened enthusiasts who wish to familiarize themselves with a scientific discipline that plays a leading role in the contemporary "worldview." Unlike most books of its kind, a significant part of the text is devoted to fundamental epistemological and methodological problems: what are we talking about, and what tools do we use to talk about it? The author also emphasizes the sphere of social relations in everyday life more than is customary, thereby illustrating the "actor paradigm" of which he is one of the proponents in French sociology.