Long out of print and difficult to come by, Bensman and Lilienfeld's treatise has achieved the status of an underground masterwork of sociological thought. An extended and carefully nuanced essay on the sociology of knowledge, its central argument was well defined by the authors in the first edition of 1973: .." .major 'habits of mind, ' approaches to the world, or.. .attitudes towards everyday life.. .are extensions of habits of thought that emerge and are developed in the practice of an occupation, profession, or craft."