A Critical Introduction to Contemporary Social Theory: Key Theories and Theorists of the 21st Century

Examining the core sociological theories that have emerged in the first two decades of the current century, A Critical Introduction to Contemporary Social Theory outlines their attempts to answer the most fundamental questions of the discipline, from the nature of social order to the mechanisms of social change. Through a careful exploration of the history of modern social theory, Piotr Sztompka lays the critical groundwork for investigating the development of contemporary social theory from its founding fathers in the 19th century, through the rich contributions of the 20th century, known as "the golden age of theory," up to the most recent developments and illuminates how it is both anchored in and a critique of previous attempts to theorize foundational questions to social being and action. Contemporary theory, the book argues, is now moving toward analysis of action, interpersonal relations, social and epistemological realism, and multivalent mechanisms at the root of social phenomenon. Major social theoretical thinkers like Anthony Giddens, Pierre Bourdieu, Jeffrey Alexander, Randall Collins, Jonathan Turner, Hans Joas, Ulrich Beck, Erving Goffman, and others are presented and evaluated as significant contributors to contemporary social theory, while pointing toward future possibilities for social theory in the current century. This will be a key resource for undergraduate and graduate students in sociology, social theory, and contemporary cultural studies.

Table of Contents:
Preface Part I: The legacy: On the shoulders of giants 1. Sociological theory: The concepts, varieties, and uses 2. Pseudo-theories and pseudo-epistemology 3. The Long 19th century on the shoulders of giants 4. The Golden Era of Theory: The 20th century 5. New theoretical trends in the 21st century Part II: Continuities and emerging new trends Theories With a Moral Message; In Search for a Good Society 6. Jeffrey C. Alexander’s cultural sociology: From civil sphere to performative actions and societalization 7. Gary Allan Fine on tiny publics: Civil sphere at the micro-level of everyday life 8. Axel Honneth on new critical theory: Focus on recognition 9. Ulrich Beck on cosmopolitanism: World society after globalization 10. Allain Caille on gift paradigm: Focus on reciprocity Theories Of Microcomponents of Social Life: Dissecting the Social Fabric 11. Jonathan Turner on radical microsociology: Interactions and their emotional syntax 12. Randall Collins’ processual and emotional perspective: interactive ritual chains, violence, and charisma 13. Hans Joas on new pragmatism: Focus on practices and creative actions Theories Analyzing Mechanisms of Social Events: Unravelling the Modus Operandi Of Society 14. Jon Elster on rational choice and emotions: Continuities and revisions 15. Peter Hedstrom on analytical sociology: Social mechanisms and the theory of imitation 16. Margaret Archer on morphogenesis: Unravelling themechanism of social change 17. Theodor Schatski and the idea of social sites: On the ontology of society 18. Robert K. Merton revisited: On theoretical pluralism and disciplined eclecticism Bibliography

About the Author :
Piotr Sztompka is an honorary professor of sociology at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, He was a visiting professor at Columbia University (NY) and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), as well as universities in Europe, Australia, and Latin America. He was elected the President of International Sociological Association (ISA). Among his books published in English are Sociological Dilemmas: Toward a Dialectic Paradigm (1979), The Sociology of Social Change (1993), Society in Action: The Theory of Social Becoming (1991), and Trust: a Sociological Theory (1999).

Review :
In A Critical Introduction to Contemporary Social Theory, eminent scholar Piotr Sztompka takes us on an illuminating guided tour of key contemporary sociological theories. A compelling volume for established scholars and an ideal text for graduate instruction. Viviana A. Zelizer, Lloyd Cotsen ’50 Professor of Sociology at Princeton University, and author of Economic Lives: How Culture Shapes the Economy This is a majestic overview of sociological theorizing that covers its many threads as it weaves them into a coherent totality. Piotr Sztompka has an excellent grasp of these threads and is unique in being as able to explain the nuances of discipline oriented formal analytic theorizing (of Hedstrom) as the more loosely coherent social theorizing of critical theorists like Butler and Burawoy. This is an outstanding and very timely book with the promise of a long shelf-life. Ron Eyerman, Professor of Sociology at Yale University, and author of Cultural Trauma: Slavery and the Formation of African-American Identity Piotr Sztompka’s new book is a learned, thought provoking and critical review of contemporary sociology and its theories, with a focus on the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. It is a deeply informative, highly readable and, occasionally, polemical book. No one interested in social science, social theory and in achieving an understanding of the contemporary world can afford not to engage with this volume. It will find a wide readership among senior scholars, university students and the interested public alike. Björn Wittrock, Chair of Social Sciences and Vice-President ex officio of Academia Europaea.