Handbook of Social Theory

This book is an indispensable resource for anyone interested in the roots, current debates and future development of social theory. It draws together a team of outstanding international scholars and presents an authoritative and panoramic critical survey of the field. The volume is divided into three parts. The first part examines the classical tradition. Included here are critical discussions of Comte, Spencer, Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Simmel, Mead, Freud, Mannheim and classical feminist thought. This part conveys the classical tradition as a living resource in social theory, it demonstrates not only the critical significance of classical writings, but their continuing relevance. The second part moves on to examine the terrain of contemporary social theory. The contributions discuss the significance and strengths and weaknesses of structural functionalism, recent Marxian theory, critical theory, symbolic interactionism, phenomenology, ethnomethodology, exchange theory, rational choice, contemporary feminism, multiculturalism, postmodernism, the thought of Foucault and Habermas, and figurational sociology. The reader gains a comprehensive and informed picture of the key issues and central figures of the day. The final part ranges over the key debates in current social theory. Questions relating to positivism, metatheorizing, cultural studies, consumption, sexualities, the body, globalism, nationalism, socialism, knowledge societies, ethics and morality, as well as post-social relations are fully discussed. The dilemmas and promise of contemporary social theory are revealed with pinpoint accuracy.

Table of Contents:
Introduction - George Ritzer and Barry Smart Theorists, Theories and Theorizing PART ONE: CLASSICAL SOCIAL THEORY Modernity, Enlightenment, Revolution and Romanticism - John Rundell Creating Social Theory The Origins of Positivism - Jonathan H Turner The Contributions of Auguste Comte and Herbert Spencer Maintaining Marx - Gregor McLennan Max Weber - Sam Whimster Work and Interpretation The Continuing Relevance of Georg Simmel - Birgitta Nedelmann Staking Out Anew the Field of Sociology Durkheim′s Project for a Sociological Science - Mike Gane The Emergence of the New - Hans Joas Mead′s Theory and Its Contemporary Potential Karl Mannheim and the Sociology of Knowledge - David Kettler and Volker Meja Psychoanalysis and Sociology - John O′Neill From Freudo-Marxism to Freudo-Feminism Classical Feminist Social Theory - Patricia Madoo Lengermann and Jill Niebrugge-Brantley PART TWO: CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL THEORY Functional, Conflict and Neofunctional Theories - Mark Abrahamson Talcott Parsons - Robert J Holton Conservative Apologist or Irreplaceable Icon? Nietzsche - Robert J Antonio Social Theory in the Twilight of the Millennium Critical Theory - Craig Calhoun and Joseph Karaganis J[um]urgen Habermas′ Theory of Communicative Action - Richard Harvey Brown and Douglas Goodman An Incomplete Project Symbolic Interactionism at the End of the Century - Kent L Sandstrom, Daniel D Martin and Gary Alan Fine Phenomenology and Social Theory - Harvie Ferguson Fundamentals of Ethnomethodology - Wes Sharrock Theories of Social Exchange and Exchange Networks - Linda D Molm Sociological Rational Choice - Douglas D Heckathorn Contemporary Feminist Theory - Mary F Rogers Multiculturalism - Charles Lemert Social Theory and the Postmodern - Stephen Crook Michel Foucault - Mitchell Dean `A Man in Danger′ The Macro/Micro Problem and the Problem of Structure and Agency - Barry Barnes Norbert Elias and Process Sociology - Robert van Krieken PART THREE: ISSUES IN SOCIAL THEORY Positivism in the Twentieth Century - Peter Halfpenny Metatheorizing in Sociology - Shanyang Zhao Cultural Studies and Social Theory - Douglas Kellner A Critical Intervention Theories of Consumption - George Ritzer, Douglas Goodman and Wendy Wiedenhoft Sexualities - Anthony Elliott Social Theory and the Crisis of Identity The Embodied Foundations of Social Theory - Chris Shilling Globalization Theory 2000+ - Roland Robertson Major Problematics Nationalism - Gerard Delanty Between Nation and State Socialism - Peter Beilharz Modern Hopes, Postmodern Shadows Modern Societies as Knowledge Societies - Nico Stehr Sociology, Morality and Ethics - Barry Smart On Being with Others Postsocial Relations - Karin Knorr Cetina Theorizing Sociality in a Post-social Environment

About the Author :
George Ritzer is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, where he has also been a Distinguished Scholar-Teacher and won a Teaching Excellence Award. He was awarded the Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award by the American Sociological Association, an honorary doctorate from LaTrobe University in Australia, and the Robin Williams Lectureship from the Eastern Sociological Society. His best-known work, The McDonaldization of Society (8th ed.), has been read by hundreds of thousands of students over two decades and translated into over a dozen languages. Ritzer is also the editor of McDonaldization: The Reader; and author of other works of critical sociology related to the McDonaldization thesis, including Enchanting a Disenchanted World, The Globalization of Nothing, Expressing America: A Critique of the Global Credit Card Society, as well as a series best-selling social theory textbooks and Globalization: A Basic Text. He is the Editor of the Encyclopedia of Social Theory (2 vols.), the Encyclopedia of Sociology (11 vols.; 2nd edition forthcoming), the Encyclopedia of Globalization (5 vols.), and is Founding Editor of the Journal of Consumer Culture. In 2016 he will publish the second edition of Essentials of Sociology with SAGE. Barry Smart is Professor of Sociology at the University of Portsmouth and has longstanding research interests in the fields of social theory, political economy, and philosophy. His research interests include critical social research ethics; higher education; and collaborative work on veganism, ethics, lifestyle and environment. 

Review :
`This book is an indispensable resource for anyone interested in the roots, current debates and future development of social theory. It will be required reading for scholars and students in sociology, social philosophy and cultural studies... A genuine comprehensive treatment that provides a bridge between European and American perspectives, serving the needs of students and teachers in social sciences′ - The Hindu `Ritzer and Smart provide a judicious editorial guide to the complexities of social theory from the classics to contemporary approaches. A genuinely comprehensive treatment that provides a bridge between European and American perspectives, the Handbook will serve the needs of students and teachers in the social sciences - a laudable work of theoretical integration′ - Bryan S Turner, University of Cambridge `We are in the midst of a great change: social theory is replacing sociological theory. Ritzer and Smart make use of the time-honored device of the "Handbook" to bring order to this new, often conflicting, and often confusing, intellectual field. They bring together a sparkling array of articles by some of the best minds in contemporary sociological theory. The result is a significant clarification of the transition from sociological to social theory that we are undergoing today′ - Jeffrey Alexander, University of California