Abstract
Calhoun argues that big changes in history (WWI, WWII, the Great Depression) influence sociological writing by posing new questions. The Cold War changed American sociologist's way to look at other societies. USA were concerned to compete with USSR, and thus believed that they needed experts on foreign societies. They thus funded such research, which enormously orientated the sociological research of the time.
Calhoun draws a line in the 1960's between classical and contemporary social theory, as he argues that it was the period where the historical context of sociology had changed the most. The events of the 1960's 1970's (Vietnam, Third world, Cold War, gay rights, environment) reshaped what the social scientists saw as being most important in the world. They thus started to work on themes such as social change, power, social inequality, processes of marginalization and exploitation, etc.
The individual and the society
Calhoun sees the relation between the individual and the society as the most important of these new sociological themes. Many sociologists worked on this theme, such as Erwin Goffman and his sociology of dating, or Herbert Marcuse which argued that capitalism did not have to discipline workers anymore but rather to motivate consumers. There was a widespread sense that people had more choices in their life and about their social role. The identity of a person and its social role are both socially constructed.
