Complexity and simplicity in ‘The Global and the Local’

Arndt Sorge’s new book is a synthesis of elements from different theories of social organization and change. These include Grand Theories, notably a neo-Marxist view of dialectics and sociological insights from the Chicago interactionist school; middle-range theories of work, organization, business systems and varieties of capitalism, among others; and the historiographic view that the explanatory power of such theories is often limited to specific times and places. Suffice to say, this book is theoretically and conceptually complex. And it makes several basic and important arguments that are worth reviewing.