Durkheim and postmodern culture

"As the present century and millennium approach their close, many dramatic endgames have been conceptualized by celebrated intellectuals; for example: the "end of history" (Fukuyama); the "end of culture" (Baudrillard); the "end of communism" (Brzezinski) - the last just in time for the events of 1989. The "end of sociology" might even be proposed by those who deem the field of no practical relevance to contemporary social problems. Mestrovic here cuts against the grain of this nihilistic discourse, by arguing that postmodernism itself is an aspect of culture."--BOOK JACKET. "In setting out to find cultural roots for the many phenomena taken up by postmodernists, he connects the present turmoil with strikingly similar debates at the end of the last century, debates concerning the future of capitalism, communism, feminism, and sociology, among other matters. With ambitious sweep, he relates the work of Emile Durkheim and other earlier figures (such as Henry Adams, Veblen, Jung, Adorno) to contemporary postmodernist discourse. His new book points to an opportunity for sociology to revivify itself by taking the cultural approach of its founders seriously."--BOOK JACKET.