title: Robert Owen in the history of the social sciences: three presentist views.
abstract: This paper argues that the present-day disagreements over the right course for sociology and its public role are reflected and paralleled in contemporary historiography of Robert Owen, British social reformer and a self-described social scientist. Historical accounts, written from the perspectives of public sociology, "pure science" sociology, and anti-Marxism, interpret Owen's historical role in mutually antithetical and self-serving ways. Contrasting the three presentist accounts, I engage in an analysis of "techniques of presentism"-history-structuring concepts, such as "disciplinary founder" and "disciplinary prehistory," that allow presentist authors to get their effects. Along the way, I elaborate Peter Baehr's classification of sociology's founders.
authors.forename: Adomas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pūras
mesh_terms: D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans; D012942:Social Sciences / Q000266:history*