Part II: Visions of modernity.

This part focuses on the content of the works of the six major thinkers who can be considered as main protagonists of reflexive historical sociology. The discussion will emphasize that throughout the works of the thinkers covered are by no means identical but form a coherent field of investigation. Claims of coherence are central for the establishment of any new field of study. They are especially important in this case, given the programmatic intent. It is argued that, in spite of the epochal significance of his work, Parsons got many points fundamentally wrong in his synthesis of Weber and Durkheim. As a result, much of the critical effort in social theory after Parsons went into the attempt to set Marx and Nietzsche outside mainstream sociology or reintegrate them inside, failing to realize that most of what is useful in this regard had already been accomplished by Weber. Thus, the most promising directions in social theory are still contained in the works of those thinkers who read Weber before Parsons, placing a strong emphasis on his sociology of religions and being interested not in rationalization in general but in the shaping of the individual conduct of life. At the same time, similar developments were happening with respect to Durkheim. It is possible not only to individuate reflexive historical sociology and reflexive anthropological sociology as two particularly promising threads of social theory, but also to pose the proper synthesis of the two as the agenda. Thus, in this way, one can argue that Parsons correctly defined the agenda as the linking of Weber and Durkheim but he failed to make the connection in the most fruitful way. The reconstruction of the coherent thread of reflexive historical sociology will be a step in this suggested direction.