This is one of the better, most balanced treatments of Herbert Spencer's thought in our time . . . or any other. Sociologist Jonathan Turner writes that "Spencer's sociology and his moral philosophy are written in separate places and are worlds apart. One finds far less moralizing in Spencer's sociology than that of either Durkheim or Marx; and yet, we continue to ignore Spencer." After this impressive little book, there's no excuse for social theorists of any stripe not to understand what Spencer was up to, and why.

A list of chapters gives you a very good idea of just how comprehensive and fair Turner is to Spencer's thought:

1. Herbert Spencer: The Enigma and the Stigma

2. The Earlier Rules of the Sociological Method

3. The First General Systems Theorist

4. The First Functionalist

5. The Analytical Models and Abstract Principles

6. Spencer's Human Relations Area Files

7. The Creation of Society: Spencer on Domestic Institutions

8. The Micro Basis of Society: Spencer on Ceremony

9. Power and Class: Spencer on Institutions

10. the Elementary and Complex Forms of Religious Life: Spencer on Ecclesiastical Institutions

11. Economy and Society: Spencer on Industrial Institutions

The fifth chapter, especially, is a breathtakingly well-researched and well-understood discussion of Spencer's most substantive contributions to sociology, his actual principles. The remaining chapters flesh out these principles in the particular domains that Spencer identified and studied.

The section that might surprise most readers is Spencer's micro-interactionist study of ceremony. Turner handles this quite well. In a world that worships Mauss, it's good for one sociologist to see the "elephant" in the room: Spencer was there first, and did that. And he wasn't a leftist idiot, as was Mauss.

Absolutely must reading for anyone interested in both value-free social theory and normative uses of sociology. ( )