Paul F. Lazarsfeld, An Empirical Theory of Action

This book provides a critical introduction to the key writings of Paul Lazarsfeld (1901-1976), translated into English by two prominent sociologists. It includes Lazarsfeld's pioneering early work on youth and occupation, which demonstrates the intellectual influences of Austro-Marxism, academic psychology, and the philosophy of the Vienna Circle, and their application to concrete issues of social concern. They also show how Lazarsfeld's intellectual and methodological concerns, which anticipated some of the major concerns of current sociological methods, played an important role in shaping the direction of sociology as a discipline in the United States. The essays show how Lazarsfeld laid many of the foundations for reliable social survey techniques and qualitative methods for understanding key aspects of contemporary society, such as voting studies, opinion polling, occupational research, and mass media research. Lazarsfeld's pioneering work in what he called "administrative research" provided the intellectual foundation for much of market and business research. The essays in this book are accompanied by a detailed and illuminating biographical introduction by the editors. This collection is an invaluable contribution to the history of twentieth-century sociology and is the only English-language source of his early writings.