It is almost impossible now to imagine the prestigious position Charles HortonCooley 18641929 held within the founding generation of Americansociologists. His s... » 

It is almost impossible now to imagine the prestigious position Charles HortonCooley 18641929 held within the founding generation of Americansociologists. His seminal work on human communication social organization andpublic opinion stimulated and guided much of early American sociologicalthought.Cooleys work relating self and community is now more relevant than ever to theproblems of understanding and directing modern democratic societies. Cooleyapplied the ideas of pragmatism to developing a systematic way of approachingsocial action social change and social order he used these interrelatedtheories to analyze the social problems and cultural crises of the age.According to Cooley social change is a fragile interactive process that dueto constantly arising problems of action requires ongoing scrutiny by thepublic. This collection of Cooleys best work is an important contribution notonly to the history of ideasespecially to the origin of modern sociologicaltheory but also to the current public debate on civil society community anddemocracy. «