“Part transatlantic dialogue, part paean to intellectual friendship, this volume is essential reading for anyone looking to understand the work of one of America’s greatest sociological craftsmen and, more broadly, sociology as a flexible science. Like the best of Becker’s work, this volume is a collective accomplishment, with Pessin aptly developing the standards provided by ‘Howie,’ and a dazzling overture solo by Kornblum. This book shows what it looks like to do theory without a capital t.”

Claudio Benzecry, Northwestern University

“Anyone interested in society will learn a great deal from French sociologist Pessin’s lucid and compelling synthesis of how Becker studies social worlds. All sociologists owe it to their discipline to read this deft little gem of a book. Our collective enterprise will be the better for it.”

John R. Hall, University of California, Davis

“The Sociology of Howard S. Becker is a gift, and everyone who reads it—as every sociologist should—will be thankful.  A lucid translation of Un sociologue en liberte: Lecture de Howard S. Becker by the late Alain Pessin, the book presents the panorama of ‘Beckerian Sociology’— a ‘theory with a wide horizon’ (the book’s subtitle). For more than half a century, Becker’s writings have been opening our eyes to social phenomena most of us overlook (social conventions, careers, cooperative activities, among others), and Pessin’s study opens our eyes to aspects of Becker’s work nearly everyone has overlooked, especially Becker’s sensitivity to fluid practices, contingent choices, and chance events. Pessin lauds Becker for teaching much while keeping his lessons light, quoting Becker’s quip: ‘If it’s interesting, it’s sociology.’  Following Becker’s example, Pessin gives us an absorbing book that will draw students into the adventure of sociology and inspire its practitioners to fundamentally rethink how they go about their work.”

Charles Camic, Northwestern University