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The Oxford Handbook of Sociology and Organization Studies
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The Oxford Handbook of Sociology and Organization Studies : Classical Foundations

Edited by Paul S. Adler

Abstract

The Oxford Handbook of Sociology and Organization Studies aims to re-assert the importance of classical sociology to the future of organization studies. Organizations are a defining feature of the modern world, and the study of organizations (organization studies) has become well established in both sociology departments and professional schools, most notably business and management schools. Organization studies has long drawn inspiration from foundational work in sociology. The sociological lens affords depth of insight into the technological, economic, cultural, and political forces that shape organizations from both within and without. In particular, “classical” works in sociology have long energized organizational research, primarily by suggesting ways of making sense of the ever-accelerating pace of social change. In recent decades, however, the field has lost interest in these sociology classics. This trend reflects and reinforces an increasingly inward-looking and academic focus of contemporary organization studies. Not only does this trend weaken organization studies' engagement with the big social issues of our time, but it isolates the field from the broader field of the social sciences. Alongside several thematic chapters, the book includes chapters on each of nearly two dozen major European and American theorists. Each of these chapters addresses: the ideas and their context, the impact of these ideas on the field of organization studies, and the potential future research these ideas might inspire. The goal is not reverential exegesis, but rather to examine how the classics can energize organizational research.

Keywords: modern world, professional schools, business schools, management schools, technological forces, economic forces, cultural forces, political forces, social change, social issues, social sciences

Bibliographic Information

Editor

Paul S. Adler, editor
Paul S. Adler is a Professor in the Department of Management and Organization, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California. He has published four edited volumes, Technology and the Future of Work (1992), Usability: Turning Technologies into Tools (1992), Remade in America: Transplanting and Transforming Japanese Management Systems (1999), and The Firm as a Collaborative Community: Reconstructing Trust in the Knowledge Economy (2006), all with Oxford University Press.


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