Modern Sociological Theory

A comprehensive and up-to-date synthesis of modern social thought, which enables students with a basic grasp of sociology to develop an understanding of the large and complex body of social theory. It is organized around concepts rather than schools of thought or individual theorists. This innovative textbook presents an up-to-date synthesis of the central debates in contemporary social thought. It offers a different framework for the study of social theory. By focusing on the core concepts and issues - rather than on schools of thought or individual theorists - Malcolm Waters relates past and present theory to the key concerns of sociology today. Modern Sociological Theory gives a lucid overview of: the core concepts that sociological theory must address and attempt to reconcile - agency, rationality, structure and system; and the main phenomena that sociological theory sets to explain - culture, power, gender, differentiation and stratification. It explains the major contributions to the analysis of each concept by classical and contemporary theorists, and links these ideas to current sociological issues such as change and globalization, feminism and sociological theory and the return to cultural analysis.