DOUGLAS V. PORPORA is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Drexel University.

• Acknowledgments Introduction Structural Sociology and the Durkheimian Conception of Social Structure On the Prospects for a Nomothetic Theory of Social Structure The Concept of Purposive Action Purposive versus Mechanistic Explanations of Action Narrative and the Realist Philosophy of Science: Toward a New Model of Explanation The Durkheimian and Marxian Conceptions of Social Structure Carrying the Marxian Concept of Social Structure Beyond Marx Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

DOUGLAS V. PORPORA is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Drexel University.

• Acknowledgments Introduction Structural Sociology and the Durkheimian Conception of Social Structure On the Prospects for a Nomothetic Theory of Social Structure The Concept of Purposive Action Purposive versus Mechanistic Explanations of Action Narrative and the Realist Philosophy of Science: Toward a New Model of Explanation The Durkheimian and Marxian Conceptions of Social Structure Carrying the Marxian Concept of Social Structure Beyond Marx Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

DOUGLAS V. PORPORA is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Drexel University.

• Acknowledgments Introduction Structural Sociology and the Durkheimian Conception of Social Structure On the Prospects for a Nomothetic Theory of Social Structure The Concept of Purposive Action Purposive versus Mechanistic Explanations of Action Narrative and the Realist Philosophy of Science: Toward a New Model of Explanation The Durkheimian and Marxian Conceptions of Social Structure Carrying the Marxian Concept of Social Structure Beyond Marx Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index