Explorations in Classical Sociological Theory: Seeing the Social World

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Pine Forge Press, 2005 M01 12 - 431 pages

Rather than a work of theory itself, Explorations in Classical Sociological Theory: Seeing the Social World is an insightful work that invites students to think creatively, reflexively, and critically about their social worlds. Written in a conversational tone that lifts the veil of theoretical jargon, Explorations in Classical Sociological Theory introduces students to the major classical theorists, including Marx, Spencer, Durkheim, Weber, Simmel, Mead, Schutz, Gilman, and Du Bois. This text focuses on the individual perspective of each theorist rather than schools of thought, and uses the provocative ideas of modernity and postmodernity to help students understand how the theoretical, historical perspectives apply to their own time period.

 

Contents

Imagining Society
1
Organic EvolutionHerbert Spencer British 18201903
27
Engines of ChangeKarl Marx German 18181883
63
Cultural ConsensusÉmile Durkheim French 18851917
101
Authority and RationalityMax Weber
143
Society and the IndividualGeorg Simmel
185
SelfConsciousnessGeorge Herbert Mead
229
A Society of DifferenceHarriet Martineau
259
The Problem of Meaning
311
The Social SystemTalcott Parsons
341
Theorizing Society
377
References
387
Index
419
About the Author 431
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About the author (2005)

Kenneth Allan is Associate Professor (Ph.D., University of California at Riverside, 1995). Most recent teaching is in the areas of: Sociological Theory, Social Psychology, and Sociology of Culture. He has published numerous articles in theory, and a book in 1998, The Meaning of Culture, explicating cultural theory. He also contributed to Turner's last two editions of The Structure of Sociological Theory. Over the past eight years he has taught well over 30 courses in social theory.

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