Sociologists have long been taken by certain pithy expressions from the founders of the discipline. We propose here both a new explanation for the endurance of these statements as well as an analysis of the power, limitations, and possibilities of aphorisms. By drawing from the critical scholarship concerned with aphorisms, we demonstrate that some of the allure of the classical sociological texts derives from their form, and particularly their reliance on the relative autonomy of the aphorism. Through examining Marx’s “opiate of the people,” Weber’s “iron cage,” and, briefly, two more contemporary sociological aphorisms, we suggest that aphorisms have an ambivalent role in sociological theory: they make claims memorable even as they potentially oversimplify complex arguments. Yet that very simplification can provide a point of focus for productive misreading and reinterpretation.

中文翻译：

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社会学理论中格言的矛盾性

长期以来，社会学家一直被该学科创始人的某些愚蠢的表达所吸引。我们在这里既提出了对这些陈述的持久性的新解释，又提出了对格言的力量，局限性和可能性的分析。通过从有关格言的批判学者中汲取经验，我们证明了古典社会学文本的某些魅力源于其形式，尤其是它们对格言的相对自治的依赖。通过考察马克思的“人民的鸦片”，韦伯的“铁笼”，以及简要地考察另外两种当代社会学格言，我们建议格言在社会学理论中起着矛盾的作用：即使它们可能过分简化了复杂的论点，它们也使人们难以忘怀。