ISBN : 9780199255702
This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the core topics, theories and debates in modern social theory.
Fourteen chapters have been written by leading specialists in the field, providing up-to-date guidance on the full sweep of the modern sociological imagination, from the legacies of the classical figures of Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Simmel and Parsons to the work of cutting-edge contemporary theorists. Separate chapters discuss functionalism and its critics, interpretive and interactionist theory, historical social theory, western Marxism, psychoanalytic social theory, structuralism and post-structuralism, structure and agency theory, feminist social theory, postmodernism and its critics, and theories about globalization.
All chapters are supplied with questions for discussion, study boxes, guidance on further reading and useful website addresses. It is ideal for students of sociology and cultural studies pursuing foundational courses in the history and theory of social analysis, and is also accessible for the general reader.
Introduction: What is Social Theory?, Austin Harrington
1: Classical Social Theory, I: Contexts and Beginnings, Austin Harrington
2: Classical Social Theory, II: Karl Marx and Émile Durkheim, Antonino Palumbo and Alan Scott
3: Classical Social Theory, III: Max Weber and Georg Simmel, Gianfranco Poggi
4: Functionalism and its Critics, John Holmwood
5: Interpretivism and Interactionism, William Outhwaite
6: Historical Social Theory, Dennis Smith
7: Western Marxism, Douglas Kellner
8: Psychoanalytic Social Theory, Anthony Elliott
9: Structuralism and Post-Structuralism, Samantha Ashenden
10: Structure and Agency, Anthony King
11: Feminist Social Theory, Lisa Adkins
12: Modernity and Postmodernity: Part I, Barry Smart
13: Modernity and Postmodernity: Part II, Gerard Delanty
14: Globalization, Robert Holton
Conclusion: Social Theory for the Twenty-First Century, Austin Harrington