The history of sociology -- outside of accounts of the thought and influence of such founding figures as Marx, Durkheim and Weber -- remains relatively little examined. With an increasing emphasis on the globalization of research and knowledge, there is a growing need for scholars to understand the context of disciplinary development in other countries.In this book an international team of authors consider the nature of sociology and its development in a range of countries. Concentrating on the period since 1945, they show how the intellectual and institutional history of sociology has varied widely. Key differences in the nature of sociology -- the stress on quantitative methods in American sociology, the growing influenc