focus on the problems facing Sociology in the present day. Marshall sees the discipline as being at a crossroads where several paths meet. The first leads to "universal laws and ultimate values," whereas the second "leads to a collection of a multitude of facts." Finally, the third is one that Marshall recommends as the ideal direction for Sociology. This path "'leads into a country where sociology can choose units of study of manageable size - not society, progress, morals and civilization - but specific social structures in which the basic processes and functions have determined meanings.'" After indicating this path for Sociology, Marshall goes on to define the discipline as the "analytical and explanatory study of social systems" on a larger-scale, such as nations or states and also smaller systems that function within those societies. Marshall also elaborates on concepts of "class," "social class," "status," "social status," "prestige," "position," and "role," all of which develop his analysis of social stratification. In writing about social conflict, he encourages reserving the term "conflict" for "'cases in which the common interest shared by the rivals dwindles to vanishing point' and 'little regard is paid even to the accepted rules of warfare.'" The final essays are dedicated to analyzing the concepts and problems of the Welfare State and Affluent Society in England, France, and Germany. Influence Marshall's analysis developed a deeper understanding of social phenomena and identified the "time and space limitations of concepts," namely what he refers to as the first and second paths in the crossroads of sociology. Criticisms There is some disagreement regarding Marshall's very broad definition of "social systems," as some find that it covers too many different entities and therefore blurs "the distinction between society and state, and between the whole and the part." Philosophy of social science Modern political science pioneer Seymour Martin Lipset argues that Marshall proposed a model of social science based on the middle-range theory of social structures and institutions, as opposed to grand theories of the purposes of development and modernisation, which were criticised by modern sociologists such as Robert K. Merton for being too speculative to provide valid results. By using such a middle-range approach, Marshall and his mentor L. T. Hobhouse believed that rigid class distinctions could be dissolved and middle-class citizenship generalised through a careful understanding of social mechanisms. He also believed this would allow sociology to become an international discipline,