Description: Written by one of the foremost authorities in the world on sociological theory and a junior colleague (and former student) who specializes, and has already published widely, in theory, this market-leading text gives readers a comprehensive overview of the major contemporary schools of sociological thought. This text begins with a synopsis of the formative years and concludes with the emergence of postmodern (and even post-post modern) social theory. Key theories are integrated with biographical sketches of the lives of theorists to place readings in their personal and historical context for students. This book provides students with the context to understand the diversity of contemporary theory as well as the framework to compare and contrast the newest substantive theories that they have been exposed to in other sociology courses. The sixth edition has been thoroughly updated and revised to reflect current debates in sociology and includes completely new sections on Actor-Network theory, neo-Marxian theories of space, chaos in social theory and theories of globalization.

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