Historical SociologyThis book argues that history and sociology share the same vital preoccupation: the desire to unravel the puzzle of human agency. How do large scale social transformations occur, and what is the role of the individual in them? Phil Abrams devotes three chapters to the development of industrialism and scrutinizes, in that connection, the theories of Marx, Weber, and Durkheim. Subsequent chapters consider Talcott Parsons and the debate on "convergence";