Dr Austin Harrington
Reader in Sociology
Since the autumn of 2001 I have been on long-term unpaid leave from Leeds as a post-doctoral scholar at various universities in Germany, Austria, Italy and the US. Since 2005 I have been teaching at the Max-Weber-Kolleg für kultur- und sozialwissenschaftliche Studien at the University of Erfurt in Germany and at the Europa-Universität Viadrina in Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany.
Research Interests
My main interests are:
- Classical and contemporary social theory
- Sociology of the arts
- German intellectual history
- Religion and social theory
I am completing a monograph on ideas of Europe and Europeanism in the thought of German liberal cosmopolitan intellectuals from the years of the Weimar Republic. I am also at work on an English translation of Georg Simmel’s complete essays on art and aesthetics.
Teaching
Normally I offer courses in general introductory sociology, classical and contemporary sociological theory, sociology of the arts, sociology of religion, and general cultural sociology, as well as text-based seminars on classic authors in the history of the discipline.
Key Publications
Harrington, A. (2008) Theological History and the Legitimacy of the Modern Social Sciences: Considerations on the Work of Hans Blumenberg, Thesis Eleven, 94, pp. 6-28.
Harrington, A. ed. (2005) Modern Social Theory: An Introduction, Oxford University Press.
Harrington, A. (2004) Art and Social Theory: Sociological Arguments in Aesthetics, Polity Press.
Harrington, A. (2001) Hermeneutic Dialogue and Social Science: A Critique of Gadamer and Habermas, Routledge.
Harrington, A.; Chalcraft, D.; Shields, M. (2001) The Protestant Ethic Debate: Max Weber’s Replies to his Critics, 1907-1910, Liverpool University Press.
Contact Details
- Room: N/A
- Email: a.harrington@leeds.ac.uk