Sociological Theory in the Contemporary Era

Scott Appelrouth (PhD, New York University, 2000) is Professor of Sociology at California State University, Northridge. His interests include sociological theory, cultural sociology, and social movements. He has taught classical and contemporary theory at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, and has published several articles in research- and teaching-oriented journals on social movements, theory, and the controversies over jazz during the 1920s and rap during the 1980s. His current research focuses on political discourse in American party platforms.Laura Desfor Edles (PhD, University of California, Los Angeles, 1990) is Professor of Sociology at California State University, Northridge. She is the author of Symbol and Ritual in the New Spain: The Transition to Democracy after Franco (1998) and Cultural Sociology in Practice (2002), as well as various articles on culture, theory, race/ethnicity, and social movements.

• Chapter 1: IntroductionWhat Is Sociological Theory?Why Read Original Works?Who Are Sociology′s Core Theorists?Who are Sociology′s Core Contemporary Theorists?How Can We Navigate Sociological Theory?Discussion QuestionsChapter 2: Structural FunctionalismTalcott C. Parsons (1902-1979): A Biographical SketchParson′s Intellecutal Influences and Core IdeasParson′s Theoretical OrientationReadingsCategories of the Orientation and Organization of Action (1951)Sex Roles in the American Kinship System (1943)Robert K. Merton (1910-2003): A Biographical SketchMerton′s Intellectual Influences and Core IdeasMerton′s Theoretical OrientationReadingsManifest and Latent Functions (1949)Social Structure and Anomie (1967)Discussion QuestionsChapter 3: Critical TheoryMark Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, and Herbert Marcuse: Biographical SketchesHorkheimer′s, Adorno′s, and Marcuse′s Intellectual Influences and Core IdeasHorkheimer′s, Adorno′a, and Marcuse′s Theoretical OrientationsReadingsEclipse of Reason (1947)The Culture Industry Reconsidered (1975)One-Dimensional Man (1964)Jurgen Habermas (1929- ): A Biographical SketchHabermas′s Intellectual Influences and Core IdeasHabermas′s Theoretical OrientationReadingsCivil Society, Public Opinion, and Communicative Power (1996)The Tasks of a Critical Theory of Society (1987)Patricia Hill Collins (1948- ): A Biographical SketchCollins′s Intellectual Influences and Core IdeasCollins′s Theoretical OrientationReadingBlack Feminist Thought (1990)Discussion QuestionsChaper 4: Exchange and Rational Choice TheoriesGeorge C. Homans (1910-1989): A Biographical SketchHoman′s Intellectual Influences and Core IdeasHoman′s Theoretical OrientationReadingSocial Behavior as Exchange (1958)Peter M. Blau (1918-2002): A Biographical SketchBlau′s Intellectual Influences and Core IdeasBlau′s Theoretical OrientationReadingExchange and Power in Social Life (1964)James S. Coleman (1926-1995): A Biographical SketchColeman′s Intellectual Influences and Core IdeasColeman′s Theoretical OrientationReadingSocial Capital in the Creation of Human Capital (1988)Discussion QuestionsChapter 5: Symbolic Interactionism and DramaturgyHerbert Blumer (1900-1987): A Biographical SketchBlumer′s Intellectual Influences and Core IdeasBlumer′s Theoretical OrientationReadingThe Methodological Position of Symbolic Interactionism (1969)Erving Goffman (1922-1982): A Biographical SketchGoffman′s Intellectual Influences and Core IdeasGoffman′s Theoretical OrientationReadingsThe Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life (1959)Asylums (1961)Arlie Russell Hochschild (1940- ): A Biographical SketchHochschild′s Intellectual Influences and Core IdeasHochschild′s Theoretical OrientationReadingsWorking on Feeling (2003)The Managed Heart (1983)Discussion QuestionsChapter 6: Phenomenology and EthnomethodologyAlfred Schutz (1899-1959): A Biographical SketchSchutz′s Intellectual Influences and Core IdeasSchutz′s Theoreitcal OrientationReadingThe Phenomenology of the Social World (1967)Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann: Biographical SketchesBerger and Luckmann′s Intellectual Influences and Core IdeasBerger and Luckmann′s Theoretial OrientationReadingThe Social Construction of Reality (1966)Harold Garfinkle (1917- ): A Biographical SketchGarfinkle′s Intellectual Influences and Core IdeasGarfinkle′s Theoretical OrientationReadingStudies in Ethnomethodology (1967)Dorothy E. Smith (1926- ): A Biographical SketchSmith′s Intellectual Influences and Core IdeasSmith′s Theoretical OrientationReadingsInstitutional Ethnography (2005)The Everyday World as Problematic (1987)Discussion QuestionsChapter 7: PoststructuralismDefining PoststructuralismMichel Foucault (1926-1984): A Biographical SketchFoucault′s Intellectual Influences and Core IdeasFoucault′s Theoretical OrientationReadingSocial Space and the Genesis of Groups (1982)Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002): A Biographical SketchBourdieu′s Intellectual Influences and Core IdeasBourdieu′s Theoretical OrientationReadingsDiscipline and Punish (1975)Outline of a Sociological Theory of Art Perception (1968)Edward Said (1935-2003): A Biographical SketchSaid′s Intellectual Influences and Core IdeasSaid′s Theoretical OrientationReadingOrientalism (1978)Discussion QuestionsChapter 8: PostmodernismDefining PostmodernismJean Baudrillard (1929-2007): A Biographical SketchBaudrillard′s Intellectual Influences and Core IdeasBaudrillard′s Theoretical OrientationReadingSimulacra and Simulations (1981)Jean-Francois Lyotard (1924-1998): A Biographical SketchLyotard′s Intellectual Influences and Core IdeasLyotard′s Theoretical OrientationReadingThe Postmodern Condition (1979)Judith Butler (1956- ): A Biographical SketchButler′s Intellectual Influences and Core IdeasButler′s Theoretical OrientationReadingSubjects of Sex/Gender/Desire (1990)Discussion QuestionsChapter 9: The Global SocietyDefining GlobalizationImmanuel Wallerstein (1930- ): A Biographical SketchWallerstein′s Intellectual Influences and Core IdeasWallerstein′s Theoretical OrientationReadingThe Modern World-System as a Capitalist World-Economy: Production, Surplus Value, and Polarization (2004)Leslie Sklair (1940- ): A Biographical SketchSklair′s Intellectual Influences and Core IdeasSklair′s Theoretical OrientationReadingGlobalization: Capitalism and Its Alternatives (2002)George Ritzer (1940- ): A Biographical SketchRitzer′s Intellectual Influences and Core IdeasRitzer′s Theoretical OrientationReadingRethinking Globalization: Glocalization/Grobalization and Something/Nothing (2003)Anthony Giddens (1938- ): A Biographical SketchGidden′s Intellectual Influences and Core IdeasGidden′s Theoretical OrientationReadingThe Consequences of Modernity (1990)Discussion Questions