A Critical Introduction to Contemporary Social Theory
Key Theories and Theorists of the 21st Century
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd
Publishing:24th Feb '25
£39.99
This title is due to be published on 24th February, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
Examining the core sociological theories that have emerged in the first two decades of the current century, A Critical Introduction to Contemporary Social Theory outlines their attempts to answer the most fundamental questions of the discipline, from the nature of social order to the mechanisms of social change.
Through a careful exploration of the history of modern social theory, Piotr Sztompka lays the critical groundwork for investigating the development of contemporary social theory from its founding fathers in the 19th century, through the rich contributions of the 20th century, known as “the golden age of theory”, up to the most recent developments and illuminates how it is both anchored in and a critique of previous attempts to theorize foundational questions to social being and action. Contemporary theory, the book argues, is now moving toward analysis of action, interpersonal relations, social and epistemological realism, and multivalent mechanisms at the root of social phenomenon.
Major social theoretical thinkers like Anthony Giddens, Pierre Bourdieu, Jeffrey Alexander, Randall Collins, Jonathan Turner, Hans Joas, Ulrich Beck, Erving Goffman, and others are presented and evaluated as significant contributors to contemporary social theory, while pointing toward future possibilities for social theory in the current century. This will be a key resource for undergraduate and graduate students in sociology, social theory, and contemporary cultural studies.
In A Critical Introduction to Contemporary Social Theory, eminent scholar Piotr Sztompka takes us on an illuminating guided tour of key contemporary sociological theories. A compelling volume for established scholars and an ideal text for graduate instruction.
Viviana A. Zelizer, Lloyd Cotsen ’50 Professor of Sociology at Princeton University, and author of Economic Lives: How Culture Shapes the Economy
This is a majestic overview of sociological theorizing that covers its many threads as it weaves them into a coherent totality. Piotr Sztompka has an excellent grasp of these threads and is unique in being as able to explain the nuances of discipline oriented formal analytic theorizing (of Hedstrom) as the more loosely coherent social theorizing of critical theorists like Butler and Burawoy. This is an outstanding and very timely book with the promise of a long shelf-life.
Ron Eyerman, Professor of Sociology at Yale University, and author of Cultural Trauma: Slavery and the Formation of African-American Identity
Piotr Sztompka’s new book is a learned, thought provoking and critical review of contemporary sociology and its theories, with a focus on the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. It is a deeply informative, highly readable and, occasionally, polemical book. No one interested in social science, social theory and in achieving an understanding of the contemporary world can afford not to engage with this volume. It will find a wide readership among senior scholars, university students and the interested public alike.
Björn Wittrock, Chair of Social Sciences and Vice-President ex officio of Academia Europaea.
ISBN: 9781032756127
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
248 pages