The Blackwell Companion to Major Social Theorists

by Ritzer, George

• ISBN13: 9780631207108
• ISBN10: 0631207104
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1991-01-16
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

The Companion to Major Social Theorists offers a broad-ranging survey of classical and contemporary social theory. In original essays especially commissioned for this volume, leading experts and practitioners examine the life and work of 25 major theorists, discussing the social and intellectual context of their writings and offering an analysis of the impact of their work over time. Includes 25 original essays on major classical and contemporary social theorists Contributions are especially commissioned for this volume, and are by leading experts and practitioners in the field Covers the key figures who shaped classical social theory, such as Marx, Weber and Durkheim, as well as figures such as Martineau, DuBois, and Simmel Dedicates coverage is given to contemporary social theorists, including Goffman, Elias, Foucault, Giddens, Bourdieu and Butler Essays include biographical sketches, the social and intellectual context, and the impact of the theorist's work on social theory Includes bibliographies of the theorist's most important works as well as key secondary works Edited by a leading figure in social theory, this volume provides an outstanding one-volume reference source in social theory.

Author Biography

George Ritzer is Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland. He has chaired both the Theoretical and the Organizations and Occupations sections of the American Sociological Association, and authored more than 25 books, including Expressing America: A Critique of the Global Credit Card Society (1995), The McDonaldization of Society: An Investigation into the Changing Character of Contemporary Social Life (1995), Classical Sociological Theory (second edition, 1995), and The McDonalization Thesis: Explorations and Extensions (1998).

Table of Contents

Preface	viii
List of Contributors	x
Introduction: Toward a More Open Canon	1	(22)
George Ritzer
Douglas Goodman
Part I: Classical Social Theorists	23	(410)
Auguste Comte	25	(28)
Mary Pickering
Harriet Martineau	53	(28)
Susan Hoecker-Drysdale
Herbert Spencer	81	(24)
Jonathan H. Turner
Karl Marx	105	(39)
Robert J. Antonio
Max Weber	144	(61)
Stephen Kalberg
Emile Durkheim	205	(46)
Robert Alun Jones
Georg Simmel	251	(28)
Lawrence A. Scaff
Charlotte Perkins Gilman	279	(23)
Charles Lemert
George Herbert Mead	302	(43)
Dmitri N. Shalin
W. E. B. Du Bois	345	(22)
Charles Lemert
Alfred Schutz	367	(21)
Mary Rogers
Talcott Parsons	388	(45)
Victor Lidz
Part II: Contemporary Social Theorists	433	(341)
Robert K. Merton	435	(22)
Piotr Sztompka
Erving Goffman	457	(29)
Gary Alan Fine
Philip Manning
Richard M. Emerson	486	(27)
Karen S. Cook
Joseph Whitmeyer
James Coleman	513	(32)
Siegwart Lindenberg
Harold Garfinkel	545	(32)
Anne Rawls
Daniel Bell	577	(24)
Malcolm Waters
Norbert Elias	601	(29)
Richard Kilminster
Stephen Mennell
Michel Foucault	630	(21)
Barry Smart
Jurgen Habermas	651	(19)
William Outhwaite
Anthony Giddens	670	(26)
Christopher G. A. Bryant
David Jary
Pierre Bourdieu	696	(35)
Craig Calhoun
Jean Baudrillard	731	(23)
Douglas Kellner
Judith Butler	754	(20)
Patricia T. Clough
Index	774