Understanding Social Theory

by Derek Layder

• ISBN13: 9780761944492
• ISBN10: 0761944494
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-01-10
• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd

Summary

'This is a robust text - challenging and provocative and one which students will benefit from reading. Layder guides the reader through a large body of relevant literature. He draws attention to the strengths and weaknesses of particular approaches as he sees them and he is not afraid to offer his own judgements on the issues and problems he addresses' - Professor John Eldridge, University of Glasgow 'Derek Layder's Understanding Social Theory, provides one of the most comprehensive, incisive and readable treatments of the macro-micro problem now available' - Professor Paul Colomy, University of Denver This is a revised, updated and enlarged version of the accessible, authoritative first edition - a jargon-free textbook that provides an introduction to the core issues in social theory. It includes: } chapter previews, summaries and a glossary of key terms; } a 'problem focus' that encourages students to acquire skills of argument and discussion; } new material on recent developments in social theory; } an entirely new concluding chapter which relates theory to social domains; } relevant examples from everyday life to illustrate key theoretical issues. The book will be essential reading for students in Sociology, Social Psychology, Social Theory, Political Theory and Organization Studies.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Preface to the First Edition	ix
A Map of the Terrain: The Organisation of the Book	1	(12)
PART 1 THE VIEW FROM ON HIGH	13	(54)
The Legacy of Talcott Parsons	15	(24)
Varieties of Marxism	39	(28)
PART 2 WHERE THE ACTION IS	67	(44)
Meanings, Situations and Experience	69	(22)
Perceiving and Accomplishing	91	(20)
PART 3 BREAKING FREE AND BURNING BRIDGES	111	(78)
Introduction	112	(3)
Foucault and the Postmodern Turn	115	(24)
Beyond Macro and Micro: Abandoning False Problems	139	(16)
Giddens's Structuration Theory	155	(34)
PART 4 ONLY CONNECT: FORGING LINKS	189	(113)
Introduction	190	(3)
Linking Agency and Structure and Macro and Micro	193	(20)
Habermas's Lifeworld and System	213	(26)
Varieties of Dualism	239	(32)
New Directions: The Theory of Social Domains	271	(31)
Glossary	302	(9)
References	311	(8)
Index	319