Le Play: engineer and social scientist

This is the first full-length study and assessment of the career of Frederic Le Play (1806-1882), now recognized as a founder of modern sociology. It gives an account of his pioneering use of the methods of observation and experimentation. Le Play shows how his work was a particularly important contribution to the genesis and evolution of some principle doctrines of social research.

The main theme of Brooke's work consists of a detailed and impartial analysis of the most important feature of Le Play's thought: the relationship between society and technology.