Read complete books and articles on: Social Theory

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15 of the Best Books and Articles on: Social Theory

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

Social Theory: The Multicultural and Classic Readings » Read Now
by Charles Lemert. 674 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

"A rich, highly textured, historically sweeping, & strikingly inclusive collection that aims to reconstruct, perhaps for the first time, the actual dialogue of contemporary social thought." Jeffrey Alexander University of California at Los Angeles "Charles Lemert captures the surfacing of multiple...
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"A rich, highly textured, historically sweeping, & strikingly inclusive collection that aims to reconstruct, perhaps for the first time, the actual dialogue of contemporary social thought." Jeffrey Alexander University of California at Los Angeles "Charles Lemert captures the surfacing of multiple theoretical voices in the postmodern era. No theory course should be without Social Theory." Steve Seidman State University of New York at Albany
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2.

Value in Social Theory: A Selection of Essays on Methodology » Read Now
by Gunnar Myrdal. 287 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library
3.

Social Theory for a Changing Society » Read Now
by Pierre Bourdieu, James S. Coleman. 392 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library
4.

Informality: Social Theory and Contemporary Practice » Read Now
by Barbara A. Misztal. 265 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

For most of the twentieth century, modernity has been characterised by the formalisation of social relations as face to face interactions are replaced by impersonal bureaucracy and finance. As we enter the new millennium, however, it becomes increasingly clear that it is only by stepping outside...
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For most of the twentieth century, modernity has been characterised by the formalisation of social relations as face to face interactions are replaced by impersonal bureaucracy and finance. As we enter the new millennium, however, it becomes increasingly clear that it is only by stepping outside these formal structures that trust and co-operation can be created and social change achieved. In a brilliant theoretical tour de force, illustrated with sustained case studies of changing societies in the former eastern Europe and of changing forms of interaction within so-called virtual communities, Barbara Misztal argues that only the society that achieves an appropriate balance between the informality and formality of interaction will find itself in a position to move forward to further democratisation and an improved quality of life.
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5.

Modernist Radicalism and Its Aftermath: Foundationalism and Anti-Foundationalism in Radical Social Theory » Read Now
by Stephen Crook. 262 pgs.

Collections: Philosophy, Entire Library

Modernist Radicalism and its Aftermath investigates the ways in which Marx, Durkheim, Althusser and Habermas are all drawn towards foundationalism, and offers a framework for the analysis of foundationalism in social theory.
6.

Social Theory and the Environment » Read Now
by David Goldblatt. 247 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library
7.

Ethics and the Urban Ethos: An Essay in Social Theory and Theological Reconstruction » Read Now
by Max L. Stackhouse. 228 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Philosophy, Entire Library
8.

Social Capital versus Social Theory: Political Economy and Social Science at the Turn of the Millennium » Read Now
by Ben Fine. 294 pgs.

Collections: Philosophy, Entire Library

This volume traces the origins of social capital through the work of Becker, Bourdieu and Coleman, and comprehensively reviews the literature across the social sciences.
9.

Property and Power in Social Theory: A Study in Intellectual Rivalry » Read Now
by Dick Pels. 318 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

Property and power perform a key role in social and political theories of class inequality and social stratification, however, theorists have yet clearly to define these concepts, their mutual boundaries and scopes of application. This book answers the property/power puzzle by undertaking a broad...
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Property and power perform a key role in social and political theories of class inequality and social stratification, however, theorists have yet clearly to define these concepts, their mutual boundaries and scopes of application. This book answers the property/power puzzle by undertaking a broad historical inquiry into its intellectual origins and present-day effects through a series of case studies, including: Marxism vs. anarchism * the fascist assertion of the primacy of the political * social science as power theory * the managerial revolution * the knowledge society and the new intellectual classes
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10.

Interpreting Culture: Rethinking Method and Truth in Social Theory » Read Now
by Joseph D. Lewandowski. 206 pgs.

Collections: Philosophy, Entire Library

This study argues that cultures are made up of social fields, embedded social practices that are continually created and patterned in certain ways. The author builds on the work of major social theorists of the modern era.
11.

The Social Theory of Georg Simmel » Read Now
by Nicholas J. Spykman. 300 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library
12.

Auguste Comte and the Religion of Humanity: The Post-Theistic Program of French Social Theory » Read Now
by Andrew Wernick. 281 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Philosophy, Entire Library

This book offers an exciting reinterpretation of Auguste Comte, the founder of French sociology. Andrew Wernick provides the first in-depth critique of Comte's concept of religion and its place in his thinking on politics, sociology and philosophy of science. He places Comte's ideas within the...
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This book offers an exciting reinterpretation of Auguste Comte, the founder of French sociology. Andrew Wernick provides the first in-depth critique of Comte's concept of religion and its place in his thinking on politics, sociology and philosophy of science. He places Comte's ideas within the context of post-1789 French political and intellectual history, and of modern philosophy, especially postmodernism. Wernick relates Comte to Marx and Nietzsche as seminal figures of modernity and examines key features of modern and postmodern French social theory, tracing the inherent flaws and disintegration of Comte's system.
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13.

Social Theory of the Scottish Enlightenment » Read Now
by Christopher J. Berry. 228 pgs.

Collections: Philosophy, History, Entire Library

David Hume, Adam Smith, William Robertson, Adam Ferguson, Lord Kames, John Millar, James Dunbar and Gilbert Stuart were at the heart of Scottish Enlightenment thought. This introductory survey offers the student a clear, accessible interpretation and synthesis of the social thought of these...
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David Hume, Adam Smith, William Robertson, Adam Ferguson, Lord Kames, John Millar, James Dunbar and Gilbert Stuart were at the heart of Scottish Enlightenment thought. This introductory survey offers the student a clear, accessible interpretation and synthesis of the social thought of these historically significant thinkers. Organised thematically, it takes the student through their accounts of social institutions, their critique of individualism, their methodology, their views of progress and of moral and cultural values. By taking human sociality as their premise, the book shows how they produced important analyses of historical change, politics and morality, together with an assessment of their own commercial society.
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14.

Social Theory after the Holocaust » Read Now
by Robert Fine, Charles Turner. 266 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Philosophy, History, Entire Library

This collection of essays explores the character and quality of the Holocaust�2s impact and the abiding legacy it has left for social theory. The premise which informs the contributions is that, ten years after its publication, Zygmunt Bauman�2s claim that social theory has either...
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This collection of essays explores the character and quality of the Holocaust�2s impact and the abiding legacy it has left for social theory. The premise which informs the contributions is that, ten years after its publication, Zygmunt Bauman�2s claim that social theory has either failed to address the Holocaust or protected itself from its implications remains true.
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15.

The Resurgence of Race: Black Social Theory from Reconstruction to the Pan-African Conferences » Read Now
by William Toll. 280 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library