Leonard Hobhouse as a social theorist

Abstract

Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse is a neglected figure in social theory, perceived as a social evolutionist with little else to offer to sociological analysis. His realist philosophy of science and his social theory are recovered in order to show him as a key figure in classical sociology as well as a writer of contemporary relevance. He set out a conceptualisation of social action and social structure, of the conditions for social coherence and stability and of the discursive flow of communication that is the basis of mind, self and society.