Introduction to Sociological Theory - Theorists,Concepts, and their Applicability in theTwenty-First Century
Buy Rights Online Buy Rights

Rights Contact Login For More Details

More About This Title Introduction to Sociological Theory - Theorists,Concepts, and their Applicability in theTwenty-First Century

English

Michele Dillon is professor of sociology at the University of New Hampshire and has many years of experience teaching sociological theory to undergraduate and graduate students. Her previous publications include Catholic Identity: Balancing Reason, Faith, and Power (1999), Debating Divorce:Moral Conflict in Ireland (1993), Handbook of the Sociology of Religion (ed.) (2003), and In the Course of a Lifetime: Tracing Religious Belief, Practice, and Change (with Paul Wink)( 2007).

English

List of Timelines, Boxes, and Topics.

Acknowledgments.

How to Use This Book.

Introduction: Welcome to Sociological Theory.

Analyzing Social Life.

Societal Transformation and the Origins of Sociology.

The Establishment of Sociology.

The Sociological Craft in the Nineteenth Century.

Summary.

Glossary.

1. Karl Marx.

Expansion of Capitalism.

Marx’s Theory of History.

Human Nature.

Capitalism as a Distinctive Social Form.

Wage-Labor.

The Division of Labor and Alienation.

Economic Inequality.

Ideology and Power.

Summary.

Glossary.

2. Emile Durkheim.

Durkheim’s Methodological Rules.

The Nature of Society.

Societal Transformation and Social Cohesion.

Traditional Society.

Modern Society.

Social Conditions of Suicide.

Religion and the Sacred.

Summary.

Glossary.

3. Max Weber.

Sociology: Understanding Social Action.

Culture and Economic Activity.

Ideal Types.

Social Action.

Power, Authority, and Domination.

Social Stratification.

Modernity and Competing Values.

Summary.

Glossary.

4. Structural-Functionalism: Talcott Parsons and Robert Merton.

Talcott Parsons.

The Social System.

Socialization and Societal Integration.

Social Differentiation, Culture, and the Secularization of Protestantism.

Pattern Variables.

Modernization Theory.

Stratification and Inequality.

Robert Merton’s Middle-Range Theory.

Summary.

Glossary.

5. The Frankfurt School: Technology, Culture, and Politics.

Dialectic of Enlightenment.

Mass Culture and Consumption.

Politics: One-Dimensional Rationality.

Jurgen Habermas: The State and Society.

Summary.

Glossary.

6. Conflict, Power, and Dependency in Macro-Societal Processes.

Ralf Dahrendorf’s Theory of Group Conflict.

C. Wright Mills.

Dependency Theory: Neo-Marxist Critiques of Economic Development.

Summary.

Glossary.

7. Exchange, Exchange Network, and Rational Choice Theories.

Exchange Theory.

Exchange Network Theory.

Rational Choice Theory.

Analytical Marxism.

Summary.

Glossary.

8. Symbolic Interactionism.

Development of the Self through Social Interaction.

The Premises of Symbolic Interactionism.

Erving Goffman: Social Exchange as Ritualized Social Interaction.

Symbolic Interactionism and Ethnographic Research.

Summary.

Glossary.

9. Phenomenology and Ethnomethodology.

Phenomenology.

Ethnomethodology.

Summary.

Glossary.

10. Feminist Theories.

Consciousness of Women’s Inequality.

Standpoint Theories1: Dorothy Smith and the Relations of Ruling.

Standpoint Theories 2: Patricia Hill Collins – Black Women’s Standpoint.

Sociology of Emotion.

Arlie Hochschild: Emotional Labor.

Summary.

Glossary.

11. Theorizing Sexuality and the Body.

Michel Foucault.

Sexuality and Queer Theory.

Summary.

Glossary.

12. Sociological Theories of Race and Racism.

Racial Otherness.

Social Change, Race, and Racism.

Slavery, Colonialism, and Racial Formation.

William Du Bois: Slavery and Racial Inequality in the US.

Race and Class.

Race, Community, and Democracy.

Culture and the New Racism.

Summary.

Glossary.

13. The Social Reproduction of Inequality: Pierre Bourdieu’s Theory of Class and Culture.

Social Stratification.

Family and School in the Production of Cultural Capital.

Taste and Everyday Culture.

Summary.

Glossary.

14. Postmodernity.

Critique of the Modern.

Postmodern Culture.

Summary.

Glossary.

15. Globalization.

Defining Globalization.

Economic Globalization.

Immanuel Wallerstein: The Modern World-System.

From World-Economic to Global Inequality.

Political Globalization: The Nation-State in the New Order.

Cultural Globalization.

Cities and Migration in a Globalizing Society.

Globalization of Risk.

Political Mobilization in the Globalizing Society.

Summary.

Glossary.

Glossary.

References.

Index.

English

"This textbook is a winner. It takes a sociologist accomplished at her craft and with a genuine mastery of the relevant literature to write a social theory text that does justice to the richness of the material while successfully making it accessible to undergraduate readers. This book clearly reveals that Michele Dillon is such a sociologist. Students will be drawn to the well-chosen contemporary examples that make theory come alive while instructors will certainly be pleased by the rich array of pedagogical tools on offer." 
Peter Kivisto, Augustana College

“Impressive in scope and intellectually serious, Michele Dillon’s introduction to sociological theory is also really engaging. Her judgment about what to include is excellent. She clarifies key concepts without oversimplifying and integrates without flattening important differences in perspective. This should be a leading text for all theory teachers to consider.”
Craig Calhoun, New York University

loading