Society, State, and Urbanism: Ibn Khaldun's Sociological Thought

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State University of New York Press, Jul 8, 1988 - Social Science - 188 pages
This book probes the nature, scope, and methods of 'ilm al- 'umran, the new science of human social organization, as it is developed in Ibn Khaldun's 14th-century masterpiece, the Mugaddimah. It explores his ideas and observations on society, culture, socialization, social control, the state, asabiyah (social solidarity), history as a cyclical movement, urbanization, and the typology of badawa (primitive life) and hadara (civilized life or urbanism).

Through a comparative perspective, this study illustrates that Khaldun's ideas about society have conceptually preceded those of Machiavelli, Vico, and Turgot, as well as those of Montesqueau, Comte, Durkheim, Gumplowicz, Spengler, Tonnies, and even Marx. Society, State, and Urbanism demonstrates that Ibn Khaldun's thought is relevant to contemporary sociological theory, and that his very language differs little from that of classical and modern sociologists.
 

Contents

Ilm alUmran
11
Culture
27
Asabiyah Social Solidarity
43
The Rise and Decline of the State
53
History as a Cycle
69
Urbanization and Urbanism as
83
55
93
The Khaldunian Typology
95
Summary and Conclusion
107
Notes
115
63
117
75
126
Bibliography
157
Index
169
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About the author (1988)

Dr. Fuad Baali is Professor of Sociology at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green.

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