"Exploring the philosophy of social science, where claims about the nature, intellectual value and utility of social theorizing are routinely disputed, this book argues that social theorizing comprises a wide diversity of situation-bound attempts to make practical sense of shifting circumstances. Placing theorists within the social world this study shows how theorizing is both bounded and creative, how imagination and creativity builds upon the resources of tradition and how such an awareness is the basis of dialogue with other traditions, cultures and ways of making sense of the world."--Jacket.