REVIEWS 759

cannotbe strictly empirical.The book takes Unthinking Social Science: The Limits of
on numerousassertionsof Marx and Engels, Nineteenth CenturyParadigms,by Imman-
one by one (withinthegeneralframework of uel Wallerstein. Cambridge,MA: Black-
country-specific chapters),ratherthanstruc- well, 1,991. 286 pp. $47.95 cloth. ISBN:
turingthediscussionprimarily aroundbroad 0-7456-0876-0.$19.95 paper.ISBN: 0-7456-
thematic questions.In thissensetheunityof 0911-2.
theworkrestssquarelyon theassumption that DAVID A. SMITH
throughout thevoluminouswritings of Marx Universityof California,Irvine
and Engels one can find-or legitimately
expectto find-an underlying and cohesive
As an admirerof Wallerstein's pastworkand
theoretical position.Thus internalcontradic-
a sociologist immersed in world-system
tions and factualinaccuraciesare takenas analysisand debates,I expectedto enjoythis
evidenceof fundamental and pervasiveerror volume. But I was also skepticalon two
in Marx's endeavor. However, the book counts.First,collectionsof previouslypub-
neverseriouslyaddressesthequestionof how lished essays oftenfail to make a clear,
the variouscomponentsof Marx's workfit coherentargument.Second, these typesof
togethertheoretically;the simplistic(and booksoftenrehashold themes,offering little
clearlyinaccurate)claimsof The Communist to thosefamiliarwithexistingliterature.
Manifesto aretakenas thecentralstatement of My skepticismwas misplaced.The book
the underlying Marxiantheory.Largelyab- presentsa clear thesis: Wallersteinuses a
sentfromHamilton'sMarx is any reflection world-historical argumenttyingthe emer-
of the majortheoretical statements foundin gence of "modern" ideologies and social
works other than the Manifestoand any sciencesto eighteenth- andnineteenth-century
considerationof the enormous literature world-system dynamics,debunksthem,and
analyzing(and in many cases seeking to calls for theirreformulation. Rejectingthe
develop)Marx's theoretical efforts. claim thattwo greatnational"revolutions"
Moreover,Marx's intellectually rich and propelledEuropeintothemodernera,instead
frequently subtleanalysisin The Eighteenth he sees Britishsuccess in the strugglefor
Brumaire is absent from the review of world-system hegemonyunderlying bothpo-
historicalwritings. Hamiltonbaseshisdiscus- litical
upheavalin France and rapideconomic
sion of the 1848 revolution in Franceon the growthin Britain.Furthermore, whilerefut-
ing claimsthat the French Revolution led to
farweakerClass Strugglesin France. He has
fundamental economicandpoliticalprogress,
madea strongand thought-provoking empiri-
he arguesthatit did have majorideological
cal case againsta targetfew readerswould
includingthecreationof social
ramifications,
haveexpectedto withstand thetest.The most sciencesdesignedto help controlthe unruly
vulgarversionof Marxiantheoryhas been masses. Division into "disciplines"helped
found deeply flawed, and those historical obfuscatecapitalistexploitation.The key to
writingsunderreviewhave been foundin Britain'ssuccess was global advantage,not
crucialrespectsto be inaccurate and mislead- "moredevelopment" through "industrial
rev-
ing. But theabilityof Marx's moresophisti- olution."Misinterpreting thisas endogenous
cated writingsto stimulatesocial science economicdynamism andholding"theBritish
thinking is notnecessarily diminished bysuch model" up as a prototype for "moderniza-
a purelyempiricalcritiqueof specifichistori- tion" created lasting theoreticalconfusion
cal claims.Moreover,even whentheyare in abouthow poorercountriescan "catchup."
partor in largemeasuremistaken, interestingThese originsof our scholarlyheritagehelp
theoreticalargumentsmay contributeto explaintheintellectual crisisofthepresent,in
advancingintellectual life. One is leftfacing whichthereis a breakdownof consensusin
thelong-standing tensionbetweentwoessen- the social sciences over basic assumptions
tialcomponents of social scienceunderstand-(leading to such sharp clashes as those
ing: thepursuitof accurateempiricalknowl- betweenidiographic andnomo-
interpretivists
edge in all its complexityand the push for thetic generalizers).Finally, he opens a
overarchingtheoreticalargumentation and "debateabouttheparadigm"whichdebunks
generalization. many of our most cherishedassumptions

This content downloaded from 129.96.252.188 on Mon, 19 Oct 2015 12:47:39 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
760 REVIEWS
about "disciplines," "societies," "capital- of Wallerstein's view of contemporary social
ism," and ultimately "science" itself.Along science'spernicious postulates.He concludes
the way, I learneda greatdeal about both with a research agenda for the coming
generalissues(Wallerstein's understanding of decades which includes comparingworld-
cultureand race in the world-system) and systems,developingnew data and refined
specificones (historiesof Staatswissenschaftmeasuresof global polarization,and explor-
and Annales and a deeper appreciationof ing "real historical alternatives" as theworld
FernandBraudel). entersa periodof systemic crisis.As always,
The bookconsistsof twenty essaysdivided Wallerstein'simpressivecommandof world
intosix parts.Characteristic of Wallerstein's (and, in this case, intellectual)historyis
writing, mostof theseessays are cleverand coupledwitha strongcommitment to make
readable,yet the materialitselfis complex hisscholarship servemoralandpoliticalends.
and the arguments subtle.The purposegoes
beyondexposition:theseessaysare meantto
instruct, but also to challengeand provoke. L'Ecole de Chicago,byAlain Coulon. Paris:
Whileall of themarerelevantto thethemeof PressesUniversitaires de France, 1992. 127
origins/critique of contemporary social sci- pp. NPL paper.ISBN: 2-13-044324-9.
ences,somefocuson esoterictopics(defining
"Africa"or "India") andothersrepeatpoints RAFFAELE RAUTY
made in moreconvincingfashionelsewhere University ofSalerno
(some of the chapters on the concept of
development are redundant). In a particularlyThere has been renewedinterestfor some
incisiveessay salutingthelegacyof Gunnar years in the heydayof the Chicago school
Myrdal,Wallerstein arguesthattheparallels between 1915 and 1940-not only from
betweenracialdisparities andglobalunderde- Americanbut also fromforeignresearchers.
velopmentare a resultof capitalism'sbasic Alain Coulon,professor at theUniversity of
formula of "keepingpeopleoutwhilekeeping Paris VIII, has summarized, in a shortbook
people in" (usingthemeconomically, while thatis fullof factsandobservations, themain
excludingthempolitically).Thereforeboth sociological accomplishments in Chicago.
racismand underdevelopment are accounted The topicshe coverswereall veryimportant
forthrough remarkably similarideologically in the development of the Chicago school,
self-serving "theories"about "culturaldefi- from its origins and the creationof the
ciencies"whichjustifycontinued inequality. I department (withtheessentialrole of Albion
foundtheessay "TimeSpaceRealities"inter- Small),through thedomination of Chicagoin
esting,but ratherelusive (a valuable claim American sociology, to immigrationand
that "maps are a neglectedtool of the ethnicrelations,withthecontributions above
historicalsocial sciences"is presentedearli- all of Thomas,Znaniecki,and Burgess(but
er). The section"RevisitingMarx" pointsto also theirstudentsAnderson,Thrasher,Zor-
multipleinterpretations and phasesof Marx- baugh,Cressey,etc.), to the studyof social
ism, emphasizes elementscontributing to disorganizationin Chicago, whereimmigra-
world-system interpretations, and providesa tioncreateda problemof ethnicintegration.
concise summaryof Wallerstein's"global The study of social deviance and youth
commodity chain" imageof capitalism.The criminality notonlydescribedurbanlifeand
parallelsectionon Braudelprovidesa useful people but also laid the theoreticaland
summaryof European intellectualhistory methodological foundations forlatertheories
likelyto be relativelyunfamiliarto North of deviance.
Americanacademics.Braudel's equationof All the main figuresare considered,and
capitalismwithmonopoliesratherthanmar- Coulonattempts to giveeveryonehis due. He
kets,as well as his insistencethatsuccessful underlines thatthe schoolrepresented a real
"big capitalists"have always sought out "intellectual and theoretical movement"and
"flexibility,"has interesting implications for framedmanyof the problemsand methods
late twentieth-century debatesovereconomic whichremainforAmericansociology(e.g.,
restructuring. The final part of the book, symbolicinteractionism).
especiallytheessay "Call fora Debate about Thus,Coulonunderlines theimportance of
theParadigm,"providesan elegantsummary experimentation and empiricaland qualitative

This content downloaded from 129.96.252.188 on Mon, 19 Oct 2015 12:47:39 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions