Professional Bio

Research Interests

Alan Sica publishes in the areas of social theory (classical and contemporary), the sociology of culture, and the history of the social sciences. His books include The Anthem Companion to Weber (2016) and Book Matters: The Changing Nature of Literacy (2016). He is currently writing about Habermas's relation to Weber, Parsons, Popper, and Giddens; the history of U.S. sociology (in part using the Luther Bernard papers); the use of mood-altering drugs in controlling young people’s behavior; and answering the question “What is a Classic?” in the history of social theory.

Research and Teaching Interests

• Classical and Contemporary Social Theory
• History of Sociology
• Sociology of Culture

Professional Awards and Achievements

• Outstanding Scholarship Award, Comparative and International Education Society, 1982
• Associate Editor, American Journal of Sociology, 1984–85
• Summer Scholar, Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, 1986
• Publisher and Editor, History of Sociology, 1984–87
• Outstanding Educator Award, University of Kansas, 1987
• Editor, Sociological Theory, (ASA journal) 1989–1994
• Elected member, Sociological Research Association, 1992
• Chair, Theory Section, American Sociological Association, 1995–96
• Distinguished Achievement Award, History of Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association, August, 2004.
• Selected as Editor of Contemporary Sociology, ASA book review journal, 2008.
• Elected Chair of the ASA History of Sociology section (October 2012)

Selected Publications

• "Dependency in the World Economy."  American Journal of Sociology, November 1978
• "Parsons, Jr."  American Journal of Sociology July, 1983
• Hermeneutics: Questions and Prospects, ed. (Massachusetts, 1984)
• Weber, Irrationality, and Social Order (California, 1988)
• "The Power of Talk."  American Journal of Sociology September, 1991
• "The Social World as a Countinghouse."  Theory and Society April 1992
• "Sociology as a Worldview."  American Journal of Sociology July 1996
• What is Social Theory? The Philosophical Debates, ed. (Blackwell, 1998)
• Max Weber and the New Century (Transaction, 2004)
• Social Thought: From the Enlightenment to the Present, ed. (Allyn and Bacon, 2004)
• "Modernity."  In G. Ritzer, Encyclopedia of Social Theory (2005)
• Max Weber: A Comprehensive Bibliography (Transaction Pubs., 2004)
• The Disobedient Generation: Social Theorists in the Sixties. ed., with Stephen Turner. (University of Chicago Press, 2005)
• Comparative Methods In The Social Sciences. ed., with the assistance of Julie Pelton, 4 volumes. (London: Sage Publications, December 2006)
• “Max Weber.” Oxford Bibliographies Online.  New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. (250+ annotated items).

• Max Weber. Edited and introduced by Alan Sica. (Surrey, UK: Ashgate Publishing, 2013.)
• "Lewis Coser and American Sociology." Society (Social Science and Modern Society) 52:1/2 (January/February, 2015), pp. 62-69
• "Journal Magic." The American Sociologist. Online First. Pp. 1-12. Published online, November 2015. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12108-015-9301-x
• Social Construction as Fantasy: Reconsidering Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann's The Social Construction of Reality after 50 Years." Cultural Sociology, Vol 10, No. 1 (2016): 37-52
• "The History of Sociology in the United States." The Cambridge Handbook of Sociology, ed. by Kathleen Odell Korgen. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2016
• The Anthem Companion to Max Weber. Edited and introduced by Alan Sica.  (London and New York:  Anthem Press, August, 2016.
• Book Matters: The Changing Nature of Literacy. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, November, 2016.