List of Figures and Tables
Preface
About the Authors
Chapter 1 Introduction
Key Concepts
What Is Sociological Theory?
Why Read Original Works?
Navigating Sociological Theory: The Questions of “Order” and “Action”
The Questions of Order and Action and the Opioid Epidemic
The European Enlightenment
The Industrial Revolution
▶ Significant Others—Auguste Comte (1798–1857): The Father of “Social Physics”
Political and Religious Transformations
The French Revolution
Enlightenment Thinkers and the Questions of Order and Action
The Limits of Enlightenment
The Ins and Outs of the Sociological Theory “Canon”
Contemporary Sociological Theory
Discussion Questions
Part I Foundations of Classical Sociological Theory
Chapter 2 Karl Marx (1818–1883)
Key Concepts
A Biographical Sketch
Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas
▶ Significant Others—Thorstein Veblen (1857–1929): The Leisure Class and Conspicuous Consumption
Marx’s Theoretical Orientation
▶ Significant Others—Antonio Gramsci (1891–1937): Hegemony and the Ruling Ideas
▶ Readings
Introduction to The German Ideology
From The German Ideology (1845–1846)
Introduction to Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844
From Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844
Introduction to The Communist Manifesto
From The Communist Manifesto (1848)
Introduction to Capital
From Capital (1867)
Discussion Questions
Chapter 3 Émile Durkheim (1858–1917)
Key Concepts
A Biographical Sketch
Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas
▶ Significant Others—Herbert Spencer (1820–1903): Survival of the Fittest
Durkheim’s Theoretical Orientation
▶ Readings
Introduction to The Division of Labor in Society
From The Division of Labor in Society (1893)
Introduction to The Rules of Sociological Method
From The Rules of Sociological Method (1895)
Introduction to Suicide: A Study in Sociology
From Suicide: A Study in Sociology (1897)
Introduction to The Elementary Forms of Religious Life
From The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912)
Discussion Questions
Chapter 4 Max Weber (1864–1920)
Key Concepts
A Biographical Sketch
Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas
Sociology
Of Nietzsche and Marx
▶ Significant Others—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900): Is God Dead?
▶ Significant Others—Robert Michels (1876–1936): The Iron Law of Oligarchy
Weber’s Theoretical Orientation
▶ Readings
Introduction to The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
From The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904)
Introduction to “The Distribution of Power within the Political Community: Class, Status, Party”
From “The Distribution of Power within the Political Community: Class, Status, Party” (1925)
Introduction to “The Types of Legitimate Domination”
From “The Types of Legitimate Domination” (1925)
Introduction to “Bureaucracy”
From “Bureaucracy” (1925)
Discussion Questions
Part II Classical Sociological Theory: Expanding the Foundation
Chapter 5 Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935)
Key Concepts
A Biographical Sketch
▶ Significant Others—Harriet Martineau (1802–1876): The First Woman Sociologist
Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas
Gilman’s Theoretical Orientation
▶ Reading
Introduction to Women and Economics
From Women and Economics (1898)
Discussion Questions
Chapter 6 Georg Simmel (1858–1918)
Key Concepts
A Biographical Sketch
Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas
Society
Sociology
The Individual in Modern Society
The Individual and Money
▶ Significant Others—Ferdinand Tönnies (1855–1936): Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft
Simmel’s Theoretical Orientation
▶ Readings
Introduction to “Exchange”
From “Exchange” (1907)
Introduction to “The Stranger”
“The Stranger” (1908)
Introduction to “The Metropolis and Mental Life”
“The Metropolis and Mental Life” (1903)
Discussion Questions
Chapter 7 W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963)
Key Concepts
▶ Significant Others—Anna Julia Cooper (1858–1964): A Voice from the South
A Biographical Sketch
Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas
Du Bois’s Theoretical Orientation
▶ Readings
Introduction to The Souls of Black Folk
From The Souls of Black Folk (1903)
Introduction to “The Souls of White Folk”
From “The Souls of White Folk” (1920)
Discussion Questions
Chapter 8 George Herbert Mead (1863–1931)
Key Concepts
A Biographical Sketch
Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas
Pragmatism
Behaviorism
▶ Significant Others—Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929): The “Looking-Glass Self”
Evolutionism
▶ Significant Others—William James (1842–1910): Consciousness and the Self
Mead’s Theoretical Orientation
▶ Readings
Introduction to “Mind”
From “Mind” (1934)
Introduction to “Self”
From “Self” (1934)
Discussion Questions
Part III Twentieth-Century Sociological Traditions
Chapter 9 Structural Functionalism
Key Concepts
Talcott C. Parsons (1902–1979): A Biographical Sketch
▶ Significant Others—C. Wright Mills (1916–1962): An American Critic
Parsons’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas
Action Systems and Social Systems
The Pattern Variables
AGIL
Parsons’s Theoretical Orientation
▶ Readings
Introduction to “Categories of the Orientation and Organization of Action”
From “Categories of the Orientation and Organization of Action” (1951)
Introduction to “An Outline of the Social System”
From “An Outline of the Social System” (1961)
Robert K. Merton (1910–2003): A Biographical Sketch
Merton’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas
Merton’s Theoretical Orientation
▶ Readings
Introduction to “Manifest and Latent Functions”
From “Manifest and Latent Functions” (1949)
Introduction to “Social Structure and Anomie”
From “Social Structure and Anomie” (1968)
Discussion Questions
Chapter 10 Critical Theory
Key Concepts
Theodor Adorno and Herbert Marcuse: Biographical Sketches
Theodor Adorno (1903–1969)
Herbert Marcuse (1898–1979)
The Institute for Social Research
Adorno’s and Marcuse’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas
Marx, Weber, and the Revolution That Wasn’t
▶ Significant Others—Walter Benjamin (1892–1940): Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
Freud and the “Unhappy Consciousness”
Adorno’s and Marcuse’s Theoretical Orientations
▶ Readings
Introduction to Theodor Adorno’s “The Culture Industry Reconsidered”
From “The Culture Industry Reconsidered” (1975)
Introduction to Herbert Marcuse’s One-Dimensional Man
From One-Dimensional Man (1964)
Jürgen Habermas (1929– ): A Biographical Sketch
Habermas’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas
Lifeworld and System
Habermas and Rational Action
Faith in Reason: The Public Sphere and “New” Social Movements
Habermas’s Theoretical Orientation
▶ Readings
Introduction to “Civil Society, Public Opinion, and Communicative Power”
From “Civil Society, Public Opinion, and Communicative Power” (1996)
Introduction to “The Tasks of a Critical Theory of Society”
From “The Tasks of a Critical Theory of Society” (1987)
Patricia Hill Collins (1948– ): A Biographical Sketch
Collins’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas
Collins’s Theoretical Orientation
▶ Reading
Introduction to Black Feminist Thought
From Black Feminist Thought (1990)
Discussion Questions
Chapter 11 Exchange and Rational Choice Theories
Key Concepts
George C. Homans (1910–1989): A Biographical Sketch
Homans’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas
B. F. Skinner and Behavioral Psychology
Classical Economics
Homans’s Theoretical Orientation
▶ Reading
Introduction to “Social Behavior as Exchange”
From “Social Behavior as Exchange” (1958)
Peter M. Blau (1918–2002): A Biographical Sketch
Blau’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas
Blau’s Theoretical Orientation
▶ Reading
Introduction to Exchange and Power in Social Life
From Exchange and Power in Social Life (1964)
James S. Coleman (1926–1995): A Biographical Sketch
Coleman’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas
Trust and Norms
The Free Rider
▶ Significant Others—Michael Hechter (1943– ): Rational Choice and Group Solidarity
Coleman’s Theoretical Orientation
▶ Reading
Introduction to “Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital”
From “Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital” (1988)
Discussion Questions
Chapter 12 Symbolic Interactionism and Dramaturgy
Key Concepts
Symbolic Interactionism: An Overview
▶ Significant Others—Sheldon Stryker (1924– ) and Identity Theory
Erving Goffman (1922–1982): A Biographical Sketch
Goffman’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas
Symbolic Interactionism: George Herbert Mead and William I. Thomas
Social Anthropology: Émile Durkheim, A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, and W. Lloyd Warner
Dramaturgy: A Synthesis
Goffman’s Theoretical Orientation
▶ Readings
Introduction to The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
From The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1959)
Introduction to Asylums
From Asylums (1961)
Arlie Russell Hochschild (1940– ): A Biographical Sketch
Hochschild’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas
The Organismic Model
The Interactional Model
Goffman and Impression Management
Hochschild’s Emotion-Management Model
Hochschild’s Theoretical Orientation
▶ Reading
Introduction to The Managed Heart
From The Managed Heart (1983)
Discussion Questions
Chapter 13 Phenomenology
Key Concepts
Alfred Schutz (1899–1959): A Biographical Sketch
Schutz’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas
Schutz’s Theoretical Orientation
▶ Reading
Introduction to The Phenomenology of the Social World
From The Phenomenology of the Social World (1967)
Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann: Biographical Sketches
Peter L. Berger (1929–2017)
Thomas Luckmann (1927–2016)
Berger and Luckmann’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas
Berger and Luckmann’s Theoretical Orientation
▶ Reading
Introduction to The Social Construction of Reality
From The Social Construction of Reality (1966)
Ethnomethodology: An Overview
▶ Significant Others—Harold Garfinkel (1917–2011): The Father of Ethnomethodology
Dorothy E. Smith (1926– ): A Biographical Sketch
Smith’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas
Smith’s Theoretical Orientation
▶ Readings
Introduction to Institutional Ethnography
From Institutional Ethnography (2005)
Introduction to The Everyday World as Problematic
From The Everyday World as Problematic (1987)
Discussion Questions
Chapter 14 Poststructuralism
Key Concepts
Defining Poststructuralism
Michel Foucault (1926–1984): A Biographical Sketch
Foucault’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas
Foucault’s Theoretical Orientation
▶ Reading
Introduction to Discipline and Punish
From Discipline and Punish (1977)
Pierre Bourdieu (1930–2002): A Biographical Sketch
Bourdieu’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas
Habitus
Social Reproduction
Symbolic Struggles
Bourdieu’s Theoretical Orientation
▶ Readings
Introduction to “Social Space and the Genesis of Groups”
From “Social Space and the Genesis of Groups” (1982)
Introduction to “Outline of a Sociological Theory of Art Perception”
From “Outline of a Sociological Theory of Art Perception” (1968)
Edward Said (1935–2003): A Biographical Sketch
Said’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas
▶ Significant Others—Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (1942– ): Can the Subaltern Speak?
▶ Significant Others—Frantz Fanon (1925–1961): The Father of Postcolonial Studies
Said’s Theoretical Orientation
▶ Reading
Introduction to Orientalism
From Orientalism (1978)
Discussion Questions
Chapter 15 Postmodernism
Key Concepts
Defining Postmodernism
▶ Significant Others—Jean-François Lyotard (1924–1998): The Postmodern Condition
Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007): A Biographical Sketch
Baudrillard’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas
Baudrillard’s Theoretical Orientation
▶ Reading
Introduction to Simulacra and Simulations
From Simulacra and Simulations (1981)
Judith Butler (1956– ): A Biographical Sketch
Butler’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas
Butler’s Theoretical Orientation
▶ Reading
Introduction to Gender Trouble
From Gender Trouble (1990)
Discussion Questions
Chapter 16 The Global Society
Key Concepts
Defining Globalization
When, What, and Where?
Immanuel Wallerstein (1930–2019): A Biographical Sketch
Wallerstein’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas
Wallerstein’s Theoretical Orientation
▶ Reading
Introduction to “The Modern World-System as a Capitalist World-Economy: Production, Surplus Value, and Polarization”
From “The Modern World-System as a Capitalist World-Economy: Production, Surplus Value, and Polarization” (2004)
Anthony Giddens (1938– ): A Biographical Sketch
Giddens’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas
Structuration
Modernity and Globalization
Giddens’s Theoretical Orientation
▶ Reading
Introduction to The Consequences of Modernity
From The Consequences of Modernity (1990)
Ulrich Beck (1944–2015): A Biographical Sketch
Beck’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas
Reflexive Modernization and the Risk Society
A Path Forward
Beck’s Theoretical Orientation
▶ Reading
Introduction to “Climate for Change, or How to Create a Green Modernity?”
“Climate for Change, or How to Create a Green Modernity?”
George Ritzer (1940– ): A Biographical Sketch
Ritzer’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas
Ritzer’s Theoretical Orientation
▶ Reading
Introduction to “Rethinking Globalization: Glocalization/Grobalization and Something/Nothing”
From “Rethinking Globalization: Glocalization/Grobalization and Something/Nothing” (2003)
Discussion Questions
Glossary and Terminology
References
Index