The Research Handbook on the Sociology of Knowledge is a major achievement. In it, eminent sociologist Fran Collyer assembles an international group of more than two dozen sociologists, philosophers, and other scholars to address, with great success, the long unmet need for a comprehensive guide to the sociology of knowledge, which is at once deeply informed by the fields complex history and finely geared to the variegated intellectual landscape of the 21st century. The Handbook carries the reader, authoritatively, from the contributions of the fields founders and early advocates (Karl Mannheim, Robert Merton, Norbert Elias) to later-day constructivist and hermeneutic approaches, as well as approaches influenced by the sociology of the professions and Science Studies. Theoretically rich, and attuned especially to the nexus of power, inequality, and knowledge, the Handbook also charts new empirical territory with original and stimulating chapters on subjects such as regional knowledge ecosystems, climate knowledge, audit cultures, commercial publishing, and resistant knowledge (as created by social groups oppressed by systems of gender, race, and class), among many other important topics. An indispensable resource for social scientists and humanists who specialize in the study of knowledge-making and knowledge-utilization, the Handbook will also greatly reward non-specialists who are at all concerned with the multiple and mutable forms of contemporary knowledge. -- Charles Camic, Northwestern University, USA In addition to providing brilliant syntheses and significant advances on the classical tradition of sociology of knowledge, this Handbook is characterized by a strong desire to decentralize the field. By including reflections on the struggles surrounding the canon, the coloniality of knowledge and ways of negotiating its legitimacy, it helps to broaden the field with new references and new avenues. -- Stéphane Dufoix, Université Paris-Nanterre, France The sociology of knowledge started a century ago in a German speaking micro-environment. This comprehensive Handbook documents the worldwide expansion since then very well, featuring a range of excellent chapters by an international group of contributing authors. -- Christian Fleck, University of Graz, Austria
