For reasons I can't quite remember I was recently trying to explain the overall traits of some social theorists to a student. It wasn't going well. Previously, I'd talked to this student about music, which had gone well.
Which is why I eventually started likening various social theorists to rock bands.
So with that in mind, and in honour of High Fidelity, here's my top 5 social theorists as bands.
1. Max Weber = The Beatles. Reason? Both were obsessed with the stories of individuals and religion in modern society. However, Weber was a better drummer than Ringo.
2. Michel Foucault = Radiohead. Reason? Both have a reputation for being difficult, dense and slippery. Furthermore, both make more sense when taken as a whole body of work.
3. Karl Marx = Oasis. Reason? Many liked the early stuff but eventually it all sounded chuggingly similar and hasn't aged well.
4. Emile Durkheim = The Velvet Underground. Reason? Both did something totally new, both wrote about suicide and both inspired a hundred copyists.
5. Anthony Giddens = The Rolling Stones. Reason? Both have been remarkably consistent and both began their careers by taking earlier classics and reinterpreting them.
Anthony Giddens didn't play at Madison Square Garden though despite what Wikipedia may say.
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