Contemporary Social and Sociological Theory : Visualizing Social Worlds

by Kenneth Allan

• ISBN13: 9781412978200
• ISBN10: 1412978203
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-05-13
• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc

Summary

Written in a conversational style that conveys the author's enthusiam for theory, this updated edition of Kenneth Allan's acclaimed text appeals to the reader to consider the 'œtheoretical you,' as an individual in 21st-century society. This book introduces students to an array of social theories, each presented from the perspectives of these well-known theorists: Peter Blau, Janet Saltzman, Chafetz George Homans, Jean Baudrillard, Michel Foucault, Talcott Parsons, Herbert Blumer, Harold Garfinkel, Dorothy E. Smith, Pierre Bourdieu, Anthony Giddens, Immanuel Wallerstein, Judith Butler, Erving Goffman, William Julius Wilson, Manuel Castells, Jürgen Habermas, Cornel West Filled with examples drawn from daily life, this edition highlights diversity in contemporary society, exploring theories of race, gender, and sexuality that address today's most important social concerns. Students will learn to 'œthink theoretically' and apply theory to their own lives.

Table of Contents

Introduction (to be read): The Real You

Acknowledgments

Introduction

In the Beginning There Was Modernity

Defining Moments in 20th-Century Theory: Talcott Parsons and The Frankfurt School

The Social Situation and Its People

Symbolic Interaction: Herbert Blumer (1900-1987)

Organizing Ordinary Life: Harold Garfinkel (1917-)

Performing the Self: Erving Goffman (1922-1982)

Social Exchanges: George Homans, Peter Blau, and Randall Collins

Elementary Forms of Social Behavior: George Homans (1910-1989),

Social Exchanges and Power: Peter Blau (1918-2002)

Ritualized Exchanges: Randall Collins (1941-)

Social Structures and Systems

Structures of Racial and Gender Inequality: William Julius Wilson and Janet Saltzman Chafetz

The Declining Significance of Race: William Julius Wilson (1935-)

The Structures of Gender Inequality: Janet Saltzman Chafetz (1942-2006)

Structuring Class: Pierre Bourdieu (1960-2002)

Global Capitalism: Immanuel Wallerstein (1930-)

The Network Society: Manuel Castells (1942-)

Modernity and Postmodernity

Modernity and Reason: Jürgen Habermas (1929-)

Runaway Modernity: Anthony Giddens (1938-)

Defining the Possible and Impossible: Michel Foucault (1926-1984)

The End of Everything: Jean Baudrillard (1929-2007)

Identity Politics

Racial Wounds and the Niggerization of America: Cornel West (1953-)

Text, Power, and Women: Dorothy E. Smith (1926-)

Embodying Sex: Judith Butler (1956-)

Glossary

References

Index

About the Author

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