The Challenge of Social Theory in the Early Twentieth Century
Based on lectures developed for a graduate-level seminar on contemporary social theory, this work brings the perspective of a critical approach to the sociology of knowledge to bear upon the practice of sociological theorizing itself. Exploring the social production and central themes of a variety of late twentieth and early twenty-first century theoretical paradigms, this book project also makes links between theory and research methods and examines the relationship between the practice of social theory and struggles aimed at the realization of social justice. Theoretical frameworks examined include functionalism; social exchange and conflict theory; symbolic interaction, pragmatism, and phenomenology; feminist thought; contemporary Marxism; cultural studies; structuralism and post-structuralism; social psychoanalysis; as well as varieties of postcolonial and postmodern theorizing. In addition to considering the historical development and uses of these diverse theoretical paradigms, each perspective is also analyzed in terms of its relationship to the sociological study of gender, race and class in a global context.
Faculty