Sociological Theory / Edition 1

by Bert N. Adams, R. A. Sydie

Overview

This concise text, covers both classical and contemporary social thought. It traces the major schools of thought over the past 150 years as they appear and reappear in different chapters and looks at important new voices in social theory. The treatment of individual theories and theorists is balanced with the development of key themes and ideas about social life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761985570
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	01/30/2001
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	672
Product dimensions:	6.38(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Bert N. Adams (Ph.D., University of North Carolina) is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He is a former President and currently a Fellow of the National Council on Family Relations. He has taught sociological theory extensively, both in East Africa and at the University of Wisconsin, and also teaches and writes on the sociology of the family. He is the author of several books, including the introductory textbook THE FAMILY: A SOCIOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION, 5^TH EDITION (Harcourt Brace 1995) and SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY (Pine Forge Press 2001). With David M. Klein, he served as co-editor of the Understanding Families Series with Sage, which produced 20 books between 1995 and 2002. He is well connected with family sociologists throughout the world.

R. A. Sydie has been professor of sociology at the University of Alberta in Edmonton for the past 30 years and is the current chair of the department of sociology. Her research interests include sociological theory, art and culture, and gender studies. Professor Sydie is the author of Natural Women, Cultured Men. Her latest research project involves a historical examination of sociological work on love and eroticism.

Table of Contents

Introduction
PART ONE: THE EUROPEAN ROOTS OF SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY
The Origins of Sociological Theory
Theorizing after the French Revolution - Saint-Simon, Comte and Martineau
PART TWO: CONSERVATIVE THEORIES
Evolutionism and Functionalism - Spencer and Sumner
Social Realism and Functionalism Extended - Durkheim
PART THREE: RADICAL THEORY
Radical Anti-Capitalism - Marx and Engels
Marxism Extended - Lenin and Luxemburg
PART FOUR: SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES OF COMPLEXITY AND FORM
Social Action and Societal Complexity - Max Weber and Marianne Weber
The Sociology of Form and Content - Simmel
PART FIVE: SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES OF POLITICS AND ECONOMICS
Political Sociological Theories - Pareto and Michels
Economic Sociological Theories - Veblen and Schumpeter
PART SIX: OTHER VOICES IN SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIZING
Society and Gender - Gilman and Webb
Sociological Theory and Race - Du Bois
Society, Self and Mind - Cooley, Mead and Freud
PART SEVEN: TWENTIETH-CENTURY FUNCTIONALISM AND BEYOND
Twentieth-Century Functionalism - Parsons and Merton
Systems, Structuration and Modernity - Luhmann and Giddens
PART EIGHT: CRITICISM, MARXISM AND CHANGE
Critical Theory
The Frankfurt School and Habermas
Marxism since 1930
Socio-Cultural Change
Evolution, World Systems and Revolution
PART NINE: TRANSITIONS AND CHALLENGES
Mid-Twentieth-Century Sociology
Symbolic Interactionism - Blumer, Goffman and Hochschild
Rational Choice and Exchange - Coleman
Feminist Sociological Theory - Smith and Collins
Knowledge, Truth and Power
Foucault's Discourse and the Feminist Response
Final Thoughts on Sociological Theorizing

Editorial Reviews

Put simply, although the theory instructor has the paramount responsibility of acquainting her students with major perspectives/concepts, the academic figures responsible for constructing them and the intellectual and social conditions under which they theorized, she needs a good deal of help. Adams and Sydie’s Sociological Theory is one of those books that provide such prop—a good one for that.

Teaching Sociology - Alem Kebede

"I like the idea of a more inclusive sociological theory text. It’s good to see the work of women and people of color integrated into this book….As we move beyond telling the story of a fairly homogeneous academic elite, we also begin to make social theory and theorizing more accessible to our increasingly diverse students. "

Robert E. L. Roberts

Put simply, although the theory instructor has the paramount responsibility of acquainting her students with major perspectives/concepts, the academic figures responsible for constructing them and the intellectual and social conditions under which they theorized, she needs a good deal of help. Adams and Sydie’s Sociological Theory is one of those books that provide such prop-a good one for that.— Alem Kebede

Teaching Sociology