Book description
Sociological Theory is an attempt to trace the development of sociological theory from the classical to the modern period. A comprehensive and balanced introduction, it studies all the important thinkers chronologically so that the students can locate the continuity as well as the discontinuity of thoughts and themes. A concise formative background of every thinker is outlined in the text to entice the reader to take a deeper plunge into the theories. The introductory chapter tries to sketch the broad outlines of the classical sociological theories whereas the concluding chapter examines the thematic shifts and the inter-linkage between all the theories from the classical to contemporary period. All chapters are pedagogically rich with glossary, keywords and discussion points. The language is lucid and comprehensible and the treatment of the text is such that it develops an appreciation for the subject.Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Contents
- About the Author
- Preface
- 1. Introduction: Origins of Sociological Theory
-
2. Karl Heinrich Marx (1818–83)
- A Biographical Sketch
- Materialist Conception of History
- Against Crude Materialism
- Dialectics
- Laws of Dialectics
- Metaphors of Base and Superstructure
- Stages of History
- Theory of Capitalism
- Commodity
- Labour Theory of Value
- Commodity Fetishism
- Surplus Value
- Accumulation Process
- Crisis of Capitalism
- Summary
- Key Words
- Glossary
- Discussion Points
-
3. Emile Durkheim (1858–1917)
- A Biographical Sketch
- Social and Intellectual Influences
- Method of Study
- Rules for Sociological Study
- Explanation, Causality and Comparative Method
- Mechanical and Organic Solidarity
- Conscience Collective: Crime and Punishment
- Abnormal Forms of Division of Labour
- Sociology of Suicide
- Typology of Suicide
- Egoistic Suicide
- Altruistic Suicide
- Anomic Suicide
- Summary
- Key Words
- Glossary
- Discussion Points
- 4. Max Weber (1864–1920)
- 5. Vilfredo Pareto (1848–1923)
-
6. Functional School of Thought
- Intellectual Influences on Functionalism
- Herbert Spencer
- Emile Durkheim
- The Anthropological Tradition
- Talcott Parsons
- Social Action Theory
- System Analysis
- Functional Requisites
- Pattern Variables
- Functional Imperatives
- Robert King Merton (1910–2003)
- Critique of Orthodox Functionalism
- Theories of the Middle Range
- An Alternative Paradigm for Functional Analysis
- Summary
- Key Words
- Glossary
- Discussion Points
-
7. Conflict Theory
- Karl Marx
- Max Weber
- George Simmel
- Lewis Coser (1913–2003)
- Social and Intellectual Influences
- Functional-conflict Theory
- Beyond Organismic Analogy
- C. Wright Mills (1916–62)
- Social and Intellectual Influence
- Power
- Intellectual Craftsmanship
- Ralph Dahrendorf
- Against the Equilibrium Model
- Imperatively Coordinated Associations and Conflict
- Summary
- Key Words
- Glossary
- Discussion Points
-
8. Symbolic Interactionism
- Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929)
- Looking-glass Self
- George Herbert Mead: A Brief Biography and Influences
- The Social
- The Mind
- The Self
- Development of the Self: ‘I’; and ‘Me’;
- Social Experience and the Act
- Herbert Blumer (1900–87)
- Symbolic Interactionism as a Perspective
- Erving Goffman (1922–82)
- Summary
- Key Words
- Glossary
- Discussion Points
- 9. Social Exchange Theory
- 10. Phenomenology and Ethnomethodology
- 11. Critical Theory
-
12. Post-modern Theory and Post-structural Sociology
- Daniel Bell';s Post-industrial Society
- Post-modern Theory
- Basic Themes in Post-modern Thought
- Michel Foucault (1926–84)
- Jacques Derrida (1930–2004)
- Jean-Francois Lyotard (1924–98)
- Knowledge and Post-modern Condition
- Zygmunt Bauman (1925– )
- Jean Baudrillard (1929– 2007)
- Pierre Bourdieu (1930–2002)
- Summary
- Key Words
- Glossary
- Discussion Points
- 13. Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Copyright
Product information
- Title: Sociological Theory
- Author(s):
- Release date: January 2011
- Publisher(s): Pearson India
- ISBN: 9788131799857
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