Modern Social Theory: An Introduction / Edition 1

by Austin Harrington

Overview

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the core topics, theories and debates in modern social theory.

Fourteen chapters have been written by leading specialists in the field, providing up-to-date guidance on the full sweep of the modern sociological imagination, from the legacies of the classical figures of Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Simmel and Parsons to the work of cutting-edge contemporary theorists. Separate chapters discuss functionalism and its critics, interpretive and interactionist theory, historical social theory, western Marxism, psychoanalytic social theory, structuralism and post-structuralism, structure and agency theory, feminist social theory, postmodernism and its critics, and theories about globalization.

All chapters are supplied with questions for discussion, study boxes, guidance on further reading and useful website addresses. It is ideal for students of sociology and cultural studies pursuing foundational courses in the history and theory of social analysis, and is also accessible for the general reader.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199255702
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	02/24/2005
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	9.74(w) x 7.46(h) x 0.85(d)

About the Author

Austin Harrington is Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Leeds. He has published three books: Art and Social Theory: Sociological Arguments in Aesthetics, Polity Press, 2004; Hermeneutic Dialogue and Social Science: A Critique of Gadamer and Habermas, Routledge, 2001 and The Protestant Ethic Debate: Max Weber's Replies to his Critics, 1907-1910, Liverpool University Press, 2001, edited with D. Chalcraft.

Table of Contents

Introduction: What is Social Theory?, Austin Harrington1. Modernity and Social Theory: Contexts and Beginnings, Austin Harrington2. Legacies of the Classical Thinkers, I: Karl Marx and Émile Durkheim, Antonino Palumbo and Alan Scott3. Legacies of the Classical Thinkers, II: Max Weber and Georg Simmel, Gianfranco Poggi4. Functionalism and its Critics, John Holmwood5. Interpretive and Interactionist Theory, William Outhwaite6. Historical Social Theory, Dennis Smith7. Western Marxism, Douglas Kellner8. Structuralism and Post-Structuralism, Samantha Ashenden9. Psychoanalytic Social Theory, Anthony Elliott10. Structure and Agency Theory, Anthony King11. Feminist Social Theory, Lisa Adkins12. Postmodernism and Postmodernity, Barry Smart13. Modernity after Postmodernism, Gerard Delanty14. Globalization, Robert HoltonConclusion, Austin Harrington