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Examining the core sociological theories that have emerged in the first two decades of the current century,
A Critical Introduction to Contemporary Social Theory outlines their attempts to answer the most fundamental questions of the discipline, from the nature of social order to the mechanisms of social change.
List of contents
PrefacePart I: The legacy: On the shoulders of giants
1. Sociological theory: The concepts, varieties, and uses
2. Pseudo-theories and pseudo-epistemology
3. The Long 19th century on the shoulders of giants
4. The Golden Era of Theory: The 20th century
5. New theoretical trends in the 21st century
Part II: Continuities and emerging new trends
Theories With a Moral Message; In Search for a Good Society
6. Jeffrey C. Alexander's cultural sociology: From civil sphere to performative actions and societalization
7. Gary Allan Fine on tiny publics: Civil sphere at the micro-level of everyday life
8. Axel Honneth on new critical theory: Focus on recognition
9. Ulrich Beck on cosmopolitanism: World society after globalization
10. Allain Caille on gift paradigm: Focus on reciprocity
Theories Of Microcomponents of Social Life: Dissecting the Social Fabric
11. Jonathan Turner on radical microsociology: Interactions and their emotional syntax
12. Randall Collins' processual and emotional perspective: interactive ritual chains, violence, and charisma
13. Hans Joas on new pragmatism: Focus on practices and creative actions
Theories Analyzing Mechanisms of Social Events: Unravelling the Modus Operandi Of Society
14. Jon Elster on rational choice and emotions: Continuities and revisions
15. Peter Hedstrom on analytical sociology: Social mechanisms and the theory of imitation
16. Margaret Archer on morphogenesis: Unravelling themechanism of social change
17. Theodor Schatski and the idea of social sites: On the ontology of society
18. Robert K. Merton revisited: On theoretical pluralism and disciplined eclecticism
Bibliography
About the author
Piotr Sztompka is an honorary professor of sociology at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, He was a visiting professor at Columbia University (N.Y), and University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), as well as universities in Europe, Australia and Latin America. He was elected the President of International Sociological Association (ISA)Among his books published in English there are: Sociological Dilemmas: Toward a Dialectic Paradigm (1979), The Sociology of Social Change (1993 Society in Action: The Theory of Social Becoming (1991), and Trust: a Sociological Theory (1999).
Summary
Examining the core sociological theories that have emerged in the first two decades of the current century, A Critical Introduction to Contemporary Social Theory outlines their attempts to answer the most fundamental questions of the discipline, from the nature of social order to the mechanisms of social change.
