Sociological Paradigms and Organisational Analysis

Originally published in 1979. A classic in its field, Sociological Paradigms and Organisational Analysis argues that social theory can usefully be conceived in terms of four broad paradigms, based upon different sets of meta-theoretical assumptions with regard to the nature of social science and the nature of society. The four paradigms - Functionalist, Interpretive, Radical Humanist and Radical Structuralist - derive from quite distinct intellectual traditions, and present four mutually exclusive views, which stand in their own right, and generate their own distinctive approach to the analysis of social life. In this revised edition, Burrell and Morgan provide extensive reviews of the four paradigms, tracing…