The Social Lens; An Invitation to Social and Sociological Theory

by Kenneth Allan

• ISBN13: 9781412978347
• ISBN10: 1412978343
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-05-13
• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc

Summary

The Social Lens: An Invitation to Social and Sociological Theory, Second Edition is an upper division undergraduate social theory textbook that introduces the student to the major classical and contemporary theorists. The theorists were chosen for the diversity of their perspectives as well as their ability to introduce the student to contemporary theory. Dr. Allan uses a lively informative writing style to engage the students in the eras of social change that spawned the major sociological theories and then applies them to the current era, which also is experiencing major social change.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Modernity and the Sociological Response

Sociology, Theory, and the Modern Agenda

The Evolution of Society

Contradictions in Capitalism

The Irrationality of Rationality

The Problem With Diversity

The Modern Person

George Herbert Mead (1863-1931)

Georg Simmel (1858-1918)

The Challenges of Gender and Race

Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935)

W. E. B. Du Bois (1868-1963)

Mid-Twentieth Century Sociological Theory

Structural Functionalism

Analytical Functionalism

Empirical Functionalism

Conflict Theory

The Functional Consequences of Conflict

Power and Dialectical Change

Emotion and the World in Conflict

Structures of Racial and Gender Inequality

The Declining Significance of Race

Structures of Gender Inequality

Exchange Theory

Elementary Forms of Social Behavior

Social Exchanges and Power

Ritualized Exchanges

The Late Modern Person and the Situation

Performing the Self

Organizing Ordinary Life

The Language and Reality of the Self

Critical Theory

Contemporary New Visions and Critiques

Toward a New Vision of Society

Structuration and Modernity

Constructivist Structuralism and Class

Globalizing Systems

Global Capitalism

The Network Society

Upsetting Reality

Defining the Possible and Impossible

The End of Everything

Politics of Identity

Gendered Consciousness

Race and Matrices of Domination

Race and Democracy

Glossary

References

Index

About the Author

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