One of the major aims of the ISA World Congress of Sociology held in Montreal 1998, was to make a critical assessment of sociological heritage of the twentieth century. In this framework the ISA Congress Programme Committee carried on in 1997 an opinion survey in order to identify ten most influential books for sociologists. ISA members were asked to list five books published in the twentieth century which were most influential in their work as sociologists. 16% of ISA members (455 out of 2785) participated in the survey.
1. Weber, Max / Economy and Society (20.9)
2. Mills, Charles Wright / The Sociological Imagination (13.0)
3. Merton, Robert K. / Social Theory and Social Structure (11.4)
4. Weber, Max / The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (10.3)
5. Berger, P. L. and Luckmann, T. / The Social Construction of Reality (9.9)
6. Bourdieu, Pierre / Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste (9.5)
7. Elias, Norbert / The Civilizing Process (6.6)
8. Habermas, Jürgen / The Theory of Communicative Action (6.4)
9. Parsons, Talcott / The Structure of Social Action (6.2)
10. Goffman, Erving / The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (5.5)
