As well as being a prolific contributor to the discipline of sociology, Irving Louis Horowitz has consistently attracted controversy. His earlier associations with C. Wright Mills and the New Left contrast with his present day affinities with neoconservative thought. This paper attempts to appraise Horowitz's career by focusing on his primary interest, political sociology. In this way it is intended that, despite the apparently significant changes that have marked his work, certain continuous threads might be identified. In order to understand the evolution of Horowitz's thought, reference is made to the changing political and intellectual context of the last four decades. The result is a sympathetic though ultimately critical analysis of Horowitz's work.
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