An Invitation to Social Theory
3. Edition November 2024
368 Pages, Softcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
Social theory is a crucial resource for the social sciences. It provides rich insights into how human beings think and act and how contemporary social life is constructed. But often the key ideas of social theorists are expressed in highly technical and difficult language that can hide more than it reveals.
The new edition of this popular book continues to cut to the core of what social theory is about. Wide-ranging in scope and coverage, it is concise in presentation and free from jargon. Covering key themes and schools of thought from the classical thinkers up to the present, the third edition features a new chapter dedicated to post-colonial sociological theory. With updated literature and examples throughout, the book also includes refreshed pedagogical features to connect theory to readers' own life experiences.
Showing why social theory matters, and why it is of far-reaching social and political importance, the book is ideal for readers seeking a clear, crisp mapping of a complex but very rewarding area.
1 Classical Social Theory
2 Functionalist and Systems Theory
3 Marxist and Critical Theory
4 Phenomenological Theory
5 Symbolic Interactionist Theory
6 Process Sociological Theory
7 Structuralist and Post-Structuralist Theory
8 Post-Modernist Theory
9 Structuration Theory
10 Feminist Theory
11 Actor-Network Theory
12 Globalization Theory
13 Post-Colonial Theory
References
Lyn Spillman, University of Notre Dame
"This textbook offers a handy roadmap to the complex world of social theory. It is comprehensive and comprehensible - so clear it could have been written by Durkheim himself."
Frédéric Vandenberghe, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
Christopher Thorpe is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Exeter.
