Contemporary Sociological Theory
The new edition of the definitive undergraduate guide to contemporary sociological theory, with updated reading selections throughout

The fourth edition of Contemporary Sociological Theory offers a thorough introduction to current perspectives and approaches in sociology and social science. Covering a broad range of essential topics, this comprehensive volume provides students with the foundation necessary for understanding the theoretical underpinnings of present-day debates in the diverse field. In-depth yet accessible readings address micro-sociological analysis, symbolic interactionism, network theory, phenomenology, critical theory, structuralism, feminist theory, and more.

This classic text is fully revised to incorporate the most representative and up-to-date material, including new readings addressing debates on gender, power, and inequality. New editorial introductions clarify and contextualize the selected readings, while up-to-date examples highlight connections to today’s theoretical discussions. This authoritative survey of contemporary sociological theory:

  • Presents substantial primary source texts with detailed introductions, rather than brief excerpts and basic overviews
  • Examines the sociological theories of Foucault, Giddens, Bourdieu, and Habermas
  • Discusses debates over modernity and postmodernity, crisis and change, and race and difference
  • Provides historical and intellectual perspective to each selected reading in the book
  • Includes extensive references to further readings and resources

Contemporary Sociological Theory, Fourth Edition provides the depth of coverage students require for undergraduate courses in social and sociological theory as well as courses in wider social science programs such as human geography, anthropology, criminology, and urban studies. In combination with its complement Classical Sociological Theory, Fourth Edition, Contemporary Sociological Theory remains the most complete overview of sociological theory available.

1117314493
Contemporary Sociological Theory
The new edition of the definitive undergraduate guide to contemporary sociological theory, with updated reading selections throughout

The fourth edition of Contemporary Sociological Theory offers a thorough introduction to current perspectives and approaches in sociology and social science. Covering a broad range of essential topics, this comprehensive volume provides students with the foundation necessary for understanding the theoretical underpinnings of present-day debates in the diverse field. In-depth yet accessible readings address micro-sociological analysis, symbolic interactionism, network theory, phenomenology, critical theory, structuralism, feminist theory, and more.

This classic text is fully revised to incorporate the most representative and up-to-date material, including new readings addressing debates on gender, power, and inequality. New editorial introductions clarify and contextualize the selected readings, while up-to-date examples highlight connections to today’s theoretical discussions. This authoritative survey of contemporary sociological theory:

  • Presents substantial primary source texts with detailed introductions, rather than brief excerpts and basic overviews
  • Examines the sociological theories of Foucault, Giddens, Bourdieu, and Habermas
  • Discusses debates over modernity and postmodernity, crisis and change, and race and difference
  • Provides historical and intellectual perspective to each selected reading in the book
  • Includes extensive references to further readings and resources

Contemporary Sociological Theory, Fourth Edition provides the depth of coverage students require for undergraduate courses in social and sociological theory as well as courses in wider social science programs such as human geography, anthropology, criminology, and urban studies. In combination with its complement Classical Sociological Theory, Fourth Edition, Contemporary Sociological Theory remains the most complete overview of sociological theory available.

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Contemporary Sociological Theory

Contemporary Sociological Theory

Overview

The new edition of the definitive undergraduate guide to contemporary sociological theory, with updated reading selections throughout

The fourth edition of Contemporary Sociological Theory offers a thorough introduction to current perspectives and approaches in sociology and social science. Covering a broad range of essential topics, this comprehensive volume provides students with the foundation necessary for understanding the theoretical underpinnings of present-day debates in the diverse field. In-depth yet accessible readings address micro-sociological analysis, symbolic interactionism, network theory, phenomenology, critical theory, structuralism, feminist theory, and more.

This classic text is fully revised to incorporate the most representative and up-to-date material, including new readings addressing debates on gender, power, and inequality. New editorial introductions clarify and contextualize the selected readings, while up-to-date examples highlight connections to today’s theoretical discussions. This authoritative survey of contemporary sociological theory:

  • Presents substantial primary source texts with detailed introductions, rather than brief excerpts and basic overviews
  • Examines the sociological theories of Foucault, Giddens, Bourdieu, and Habermas
  • Discusses debates over modernity and postmodernity, crisis and change, and race and difference
  • Provides historical and intellectual perspective to each selected reading in the book
  • Includes extensive references to further readings and resources

Contemporary Sociological Theory, Fourth Edition provides the depth of coverage students require for undergraduate courses in social and sociological theory as well as courses in wider social science programs such as human geography, anthropology, criminology, and urban studies. In combination with its complement Classical Sociological Theory, Fourth Edition, Contemporary Sociological Theory remains the most complete overview of sociological theory available.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781119527244
Publisher: Wiley
Publication date: 04/25/2022
Edition description: 4th ed.
Pages: 576
Product dimensions: 6.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Craig Calhoun is University Professor of Social Sciences at Arizona State University, USA and former Director of the London School of Economics and President of the Social Science Research Council.

Joseph Gerteis is Professor of Sociology and co-Director of the American Mosaic Project at the University of Minnesota, USA. His research focuses on race, ethnicity, and political culture.

James Moody is Professor of Sociology at Duke University, USA, and Director of the Duke Network Analysis Center. His work focuses on the network foundations of social cohesion and diffusion.

Steven Pfaff is Professor of Sociology at the University of Washington, USA. His research focuses on religion, politics and social change.

Indermohan Virk is Executive Director of the Patten Foundation and the Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions at Indiana University Bloomington, USA.

Table of Contents

Notes on the Editors ix

Acknowledgements x

General Introduction 1

Part I Symbolic Action 27

Introduction to Part I 29

1 The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (from The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life) Erving Goffman 36

2 Symbolic Interactionism (from Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method) Herbert Blumer 51

3 Interaction Ritual Chains (from Interaction Ritual Chains) Randall Collins 62

Part II Structure and Agency 77

Introduction to Part II 79

4 A Theory of Group Solidarity (from Principles of Group Solidarity) Michael Hechter 88

5 Metatheory: Explanation in Social Science (from Foundations of Social Theory) James S. Coleman 100

6 Catnets (from Notes on the Constituents of Social Structure) Harrison White 112

7 Some New Rules of Sociological Method (from New Rules For Sociological Method) Anthony Giddens 123

Part III Institutions 129

Introduction to Part III 131

8 Economic Embeddedness Mark Granovetter 136

9 The Iron Cage Revisited Paul J. DiMaggio Walter W. Powell 145

Part IV Power and Inequality 161

Introduction to Part IV 163

10 The Power Elite (from The Power Elite) C. Wright Mills 172

11 Durable Inequality (from Durable Inequality) Charles Tilly 179

12 Power: A Radical View (from Power: A Radical View) Steven Lukes 186

13 Societies as Organized Power Networks (from The Sources of Social Power, Vol I. A History of Power from the Beginning to A.D. 1760) Michael Mann 196

Part V The Sociological Theory of Michel Foucault 213

Introduction to Part V 215

14 The History of Sexuality (from The History of Sexuality, Vol I: An Introduction) Michel Foucault 220

15 Discipline and Punish (from Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison) Michel Foucault 229

Part VI The Sociological theory of Pierre Bourdieu 237

Introduction to Part VI 239

16 Social Space and Symbolic Space (from "Social Space and Symbolic Space: Introduction to a Japanese Reading of Distinction") Pierre Bourdieu 248

17 Structures, Habitus, Practices (from The Logic of Practice) Pierre Bourdieu 257

18 The Field of Cultural Production, or: The Economic World Reversed Pierre Bourdieu 270

19 Rethinking the State: Genesis and Structure of the Bureaucratic Field (from Rethinking the State: Genesis and Structure of the Bureaucratic Field) Pierre Bourdieu 286

Part VII Race, Gender, and Intersectionality 297

Introduction to Part VII 299

20 The Theory of Racial Formation (from Racial Formation in the United States) Michael Omi Howard Winant 308

21 Intellectual Schools and the Atlanta School (from The Scholar Denied: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Birth of Modern Sociology) Aldon D. Morris 318

22 The Paradoxes of Integration (from The Ordeal of Integration: Progress and Resentment in Americas "Racial" Crisis) Orlando Patterson 329

23 The Conceptual Practices of Power (from The Conceptual Practices of Power: A Feminist Sociology of Knowledge) Dorothy E. Smith 337

24 Black Feminist Epistemology (from Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment) Patricia Hill Collins 345

25 Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex Kimberle Crenshaw 354

26 Practicing Intersectionality in Sociological Research Hae Yeon Choo Myra Marx Ferree 363

27 The Politics of Erased Migrations Rocio R. Garcia 373

Part VIII The Sociological Theory of Jürgen Habermas 385

Introduction to Part VIII 387

28 Modernity: An Unfinished Project (from Habermas and the Unfinished Project of Modernity) Jürgen Habermas 395

29 The Rationalization of the Lifeworld (from The Theory of Communicative Action Volume 2: Lifeworld and System: A Critique of Functionalist Reason) Jürgen Habermas 401

30 Civil Society and the Political Public Sphere (from Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy) Jürgen Habermas 417

Part IX Modernity 431

Introduction to Part IX 433

31 The Social Constraint towards Self-Constraint (from The Civilizing Process: The History of Manners and State Formation and Civilization) Norbert Elias 439

32 We Have Never Been Modern (from We Have Never Been Modern) Bruno Latour 449

33 The Civil Sphere (from The Civil Sphere) Jeffrey C. Alexander 462

34 Addressing Recognition Gaps: Destigmatization and the Reduction of Inequality (from American Sociological Review) Michele Lamont 472

Part X Crisis and Change 487

Introduction to Part X 489

35 The Modern World-System in Crisis (from World-Systems Analysis: An Introduction) Immanuel Wallerstein 498

36 Conceptualizing Simultaneity Peggy Levitt Nina Click Schiller 510

37 Nationalism (from Nationalism) Craig Calhoun 519

38 The End May Be Nigh, But For Whom? (from Does Capitalism Have a Future?) Michael Mann 529

Index 544

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From the Publisher

"The third edition of Contemporary Sociological Theory is generous and judicious, providing an authoritative guide to an ever-expanding and diverse field."
—Bryan S. Turner, Presidential Professor of Sociology, CUNY

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