A Man of His Time and Place: A Selective Appraisal of S. M. Lipset’s Comparative Sociology.

This article reviews S. M. Lipset’s major works of comparative sociology, specifying their problematic assumptions and appraising their contribution to the cross-national study of political and social systems. It is made clear that Lipset’s perspective has shifted over the years. The second part of the paper focuses on the changes that his views have undergone, arid explains such alterations by examining certain aspects of Lipset’s intellectual arid professional life experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]