Steven Lukes
Professor of Sociology, New York University. Formerly Fellow and Tutor in Politics and Sociology at Balliol College, Oxford (1966-87), Professor of Political and Social Theory, European University Institute, Florence (1987-1996) and Professor of Moral Philosophy, University of Siena (1996-1999). Co-editor, European Journal of Sociology.
Professor Lukes' research interests have always been located on the borders
of sociology, social anthropology, political theory and philosophy. His
current research and writing continues some of these themes: notably,
further reflections on how to conceptualize and study power; on the concept
of rationality in the various social sciences; and on the work and legacy
of Durkheim and the Durkheimians. He has also been working on the history
and continuing relevance of the division between left and right in politics
(to appear in the forthcoming Cambridge History of Twentieth Century Political
Thought) and on a new edition in English translation of Condorcet's Sketch
for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind and other writings.
His current main interest, however, is the subject-matter of a lost tradition
once at the centre of sociology and anthropology: the sociology of morals
or morality. What bearing does sociological and anthropological work in
this area have upon current debates among political theorists and moral
philosophers? How are moral practices, beliefs and judgments to be identified
empirically? What are the moral preconditions and consequences of market
relations? How much moral diversity is there within our 'multicultural'
societies and across societies, and how deep does it go? What are its
implications for debates about universalistic ethics and moral relativism?
Some major publications:
Multicultural Questions (ed. jointly, 1999)
Moral Conflict and Politics (1991)
Power (ed.1986)
Marxism and morality (1985)
Durkheim and the Law (ed. jointly, 1984)
Rationality and Relativism (ed. jointly, 1982)
Essays in Social Theory (1977)
Power: a radical view (1974)
Individualism (1972)
Emile Durkheim: his life and work (1972)
(from http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/sociology/whoswho/lukes.htm)
