Sociological Theory

Written by an author team that includes one of sociology's leading contemporary theorists, Sociological Theory gives readers a comprehensive overview of the major theorists and schools of sociological thought, from sociology's origins through the early 21st Century. Key theories are integrated with biographical sketches of theorists, and are placed in their historical and intellectual context.

Table of Contents:
Biographical and Autobiographical Sketches Preface PART I Classical Sociological Theory CHAPTER 1 A Historical Sketch of Sociological Theory: The Early Years Introduction Social Forces in the Development of Sociological Theory Intellectual Forces and the Rise of Sociological Theory The Development of French Sociology The Development of German Sociology The Origins of British Sociology The Key Figure in Early Italian Sociology Turn-of-the-Century Developments in European Marxism CHAPTER 2 Karl Marx Introduction The Dialectic Dialectical Method Human Potential Alienation The Structures of Capitalist Society Materialist Conception of History Cultural Aspects of Capitalist Society Marx’s Economics: A Case Study Communism Criticisms Contemporary Applications CHAPTER 3 Emile Durkheim Introduction Social Facts The Division of Labor in Society Suicide The Elementary Forms of Religious Life Moral Education and Social Reform Criticisms Contemporary Applications CHAPTER 4 Max Weber Methodology Substantive Sociology Criticisms Contemporary Applications CHAPTER 5 Georg Simmel Primary Concerns Individual Consciousness and Individuality Social Interaction (“Association”) Social Structures and Worlds Objective Culture Secrecy: A Case Study in Simmel’s Sociology Criticisms Contemporary Applications PART II Modern Sociological Theory: The Major Schools CHAPTER 6 A Historical Sketch of Sociological Theory: The Later Years Early American Sociological Theory Sociological Theory to Midcentury Sociological Theory from Midcentury Late-Twentieth-Century Developments in Sociological Theory Theories of Modernity and Postmodernity Social Theory in the Twenty-First Century CHAPTER 7 Structural Functionalism, Systems Theory, and Conflict Theory Structural Functionalism Systems Theory Conflict Theory CHAPTER 8 Varieties of Neo-Marxian Theory Economic Determinism Hegelian Marxism Critical Theory Neo-Marxian Economic Sociology Historically Oriented Marxism Neo-Marxian Spatial Analysis Post-Marxist Theory CHAPTER 9 Symbolic Interactionism The Major Historical Roots The Ideas of George Herbert Mead Symbolic Interactionism: The Basic Principles The Self and the Work of Erving Goffman The Sociology of Emotions Criticisms The Future of Symbolic Interactionism CHAPTER 10 Ethnomethodology Defining Ethnomethodology The Diversification of Ethnomethodology Some Early Examples Conversation Analysis Studies of Institutions Criticisms of Traditional Sociology Stresses and Strains in Ethnomethodology Synthesis and Integration CHAPTER 11 Exchange, Network, and Rational Choice Theories Exchange Theory Network Theory Network Exchange Theory Rational Choice Theory CHAPTER 12 Contemporary Feminist Theory Feminism’s Basic Questions Historical Framing: Feminism, Sociology, and Gender Varieties of Contemporary Feminist Theory Feminist Sociological Theorizing CHAPTER 13 Micro-Macro and Agency-Structure Integration Micro-Macro Integration Agency-Structure Integration Agency-Structure and Micro-Macro Linkages: Fundamental Differences PART III From Modern to Postmodern Social Theory (and Beyond) CHAPTER 14 Contemporary Theories of Modernity Classical Theorists on Modernity The Juggernaut of Modernity The Risk Society The Holocaust and Liquid Modernity Modernity’s Unfinished Project Self, Society, and Religion Informationalism and the Network Society CHAPTER 15 Theories of Race and Colonialism Fanon and the Colonial Subject Postcolonial Theory Critical Theories of Race and Racism Racial Formation A Systematic Theory of Race Southern Theory and Indigenous Resurgence CHAPTER 16 Globalization Theory Major Contemporary Theorists on Globalization Cultural Theory Cultural Differentialism Cultural Convergence Cultural Hybridization Economic Theory Political Theory Neoliberalism Other Theories CHAPTER 17 Structuralism, Poststructuralism, and Postmodern Social Theory Structuralism Poststructuralism Postmodern Social Theory Criticisms and Post-Postmodern Social Theory CHAPTER 18 Social Theory in the Twenty-First Century Queer Theory Actor-Network Theory, Posthumanism, and Postsociality Affect Theory Prosumption Theory References

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. Jeffrey Stepnisky is an Associate Professor of Sociology at MacEwan University in Alberta, Canada, where he teaches classical and contemporary social theory. He has published in the area of social theory, especially as it relates to questions of subjectivity, in journals such as The Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior and Social Theory & Health. Along with this book he is co-author of Sociological Theory, Classical Sociological Theory, and Modern Sociological Theory, and has co-edited the Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Major Social Theorists, all with George Ritzer.