Brief Introduction to Jeffrey Alexander

Resumo

It is more than simply making a conventional statement to say that Jeffrey Alexander needs no introduction. His articles about “The centrality of the classics” (1999) and “The new theoretical movement” (1988), as well as the four volumes of Theoretical Logic in Sociology (1982-3), provide an indispensable reference-point for the Brazilian reader, in courses on social theory and more general discussions on the history of sociology and its built-in dilemmas. Although recognized as one of the leading figures in contemporary sociology, for a number of reasons, our attention remains on the works he produced in the 1980s. As a result, we are losing sight of his most recent works which have not only redefined his own theoretical agenda and empirical investigations but have also raised a series of challenging questions about the current scene, both in analytical and normative terms.