Peter Abell and Diane Reyniers REVIEW ARTICLE On the failure of social theory Social theory has failed intellectually, yet by most academic and popular standards it continues to attract all the trappings of success. Why should this be so? To furnish an answer one must examine the nature of social theory itself, explore the character of its failure and seek an understanding of how, nevertheless, it continues to attract approval. In the latter respect a sociological account of the functions which social theory plays in both intellectual and practical life is required. Rather than targeting social theory in the round we shall critically review aspects of Castells’ volume The Rise of the Network Society (Volume 1 only). Castells’ writings would be endorsed by most social scientists as an exem- plar of what is usually termed social theory. That The Rise of the Network Society is successful is beyond all doubt; rst published in 1996 it has already been reprinted four times and attracted rave reviews from other social theorists. Cardoso (a political scientist) describes it as ‘A masterpiece . . . (which) will have an enormous impact on (the) social sciences.’ Giddens (a sociologist) opines that ‘. . . it is a very major work of social and economic theory’ and nally, Touraine (another sociologist) writes: ‘Castells’ master book rediscovers the highest ambition of modern social science.’ Furthermore, Castells appears to have attracted much attention outside academic circles. He was appointed to the Euro- pean Commission’s High level Expert Group on the Information Society and, was sought by the Russian political authorities to advise on similar matters. The applause of other social theorists is not perhaps unexpected, it being one of the appurtenances of the calling that much mutual appreci- ation (and citation) takes place. There is after all a shared interest in the promotion of the genre. If, however, the whole enterprise is shaky, the extra- academic appreciation is more difcult to comprehend. Perhaps the European Commission and the Russian authorities were spellbound by the possibilities inherent to the following: British Journal of Sociology Vol. No. 51 Issue No. 4 (December 2000) pp. 739–750 © 2000 London School of Economics and Political Science ISSN 0007 1315 print/1468- 4446 online Published by Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd on behalf of the LSE DOI: 10.1080/00071310020015352