Roberta Garner is a professor in the Department of Sociology at DePaul University. Black Hawk Hancock is Associate Professor of Sociology at DePaul University in Chicago. He is the co-author with Roberta Garner of Changing Theories: New Directions in Sociology (2009) and author of American Allegory: Lindy Hop and the Racial Imagination (2013).

Changing Theories makes for a warm and engaging read. The authors have given us a good history and summation of some of the most important contemporary theories in the discipline. [...] Changing Theories would make a strong contribution to the critically engaged contemporary theory course as well as graduate courses on the history of sociology and the sociology of knowledge. - Teaching Sociology The authors manage effectively to paint the bigger picture for their readers, exploring the difficulties of theory and cementing it in the real world, and that's an achievement of which they should be proud. Changing Theories could be an indispensable tool for encouraging new students to engage with theory. More importantly, it could also go a long way to break misconceptions about the inaccessibility of theory. - Times Higher Education

• Preface Introduction: What is Theory and Why Does it Change? Periods of Social TheoryThe Organization of the Book Part I: Changes Chapter 1: 1968-2009: What Happened? Why 1968?A New Global Order: Globalization, Neoliberalism and Market Expansion, and Hyper-IndustrializationIssues without Borders: Population Growth, Urbanization, Health and Environmental Problems, and Regional ConflictsThe Emerging Distribution of Economic InequalityCultural Consequences: Postmodern Culture and Ironic HopelessnessHow and Why Did All These Changes Happen?Conclusion Chapter 2: Changes in TheoryIntroduction: Making TheoriesHow and Why Have Sociological Theories Changed in the Past Forty Years?Toward Contemporary TheoriesConclusionPart II: Transitional GiantsChapter 3: Erving Goffman (1922-1982)Major Works, Ideas, and ConceptsTotal Institutions and LabelsInteraction Order and BehaviorFrames of Reference and DiscourseThe Politics and Feeling-Tone of Goffman's WorkRupture and Continuity: Goffman as a Transitional Giant and PostmodernistChapter 4: Michel Foucault (1926-1984) Major Works, Ideas, and ConceptsFoucault and the Traditions of Social TheoryFoucault's Impact and MethodFoucault's PoliticsConclusion: Foucault and the Transition to Contemporary TheoryChapter 5:  Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002)The Craft of SociologyHabitus, Body, PracticeSymbolic Power, Symbolic Violence, and MisrecognitionFields, Spaces, and CapitalsTaste, Distinction, and Naturalized CategoriesPublic Intellectuals and PoliticsThe Critique of NeoliberalismConclusion: A Note on Foucault and BourdieuChapter 6: Stuart Hall (1932- )HegemonyIdeologyArticulationOverdeterminationFalse ConsciousnessThe Function of Common SenseInterpellation and Ideological SubjectsHegemony, Ideology, and Societies Structured in DominanceRace: The Floating SignifierMedia: The Politics of RepresentationCritical Politics of Contesting ImagesCulture as the Arena of StruggleIdentityThe Move to EthnicityThinking about MulticulturalismIntellectual Labor and Politics of ResistanceConclusionConclusion The Uneven Impact of Contemporary Theory on SociologyLegacies, Reinterpretations, and New ParadigmsBeyond Legacies: What's New?What Will Happen Next? References and Suggestions for Further ReadingNote to Readers General Theoretical References (with Jose Soltero) References and Reading Suggestions for the Transitional Giants Erving Goffman Michel Foucault Pierre Bourdieu Stuart Hall Two Specialized Areas: References and Reading Suggestions Theoretical Development in the Sociology of Families (prepared by Tait Runnfeldt Medina and Julie Artis) Sociology of Health (prepared by Grace Budrys) Index