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Classical and Contemporary Sociological Theory
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Classical and Contemporary Sociological Theory
Text and Readings

Fourth Edition


September 2020 | 920 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
The authors are proud sponsors of the 2020 SAGE Keith Roberts Teaching Innovations Award—enabling graduate students and early career faculty to attend the annual ASA pre-conference teaching and learning workshop.

Now available for the first time in print and e-book formats

Classical and Contemporary Sociological Theory: Text and Readings offers students with the best of both worlds—carefully-edited excerpts from the original works of sociology's key thinkers accompanied by an analytical framework that discusses the lives, ideas, and historical circumstances of each theorist. This unique format enables students to examine, compare, and contrast each theorist’s major themes and concepts. In the Fourth Edition of this bestseller, examples from contemporary life and a rich variety of updated pedagogical tools (tables, figures, discussion questions, and photographs) come together to illuminate complex ideas for today’s readers.


Included with this title:

The password-protected Instructor Resource Site (formally known as SAGE Edge)
offers access to all text-specific resources, including a test bank and editable, chapter-specific PowerPoint® slides. Learn more.
 

 
List of Figures and Tables
 
Preface
 
About the Authors
 
Chapter 1. Introduction
Key Concepts

 
What Is Sociological Theory?

 
Why Read Original Works?

 
Navigating Sociological Theory: The Questions of “Order” and “Action”

 
The European Enlightenment

 
The Ins and Outs of the Sociological Theory “Canon”

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
PART I. FOUNDATIONS OF CLASSICAL SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY
 
Chapter 2. Karl Marx (1818–1883)
Key Concepts

 
A Biographical Sketch

 
Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas

 
Marx’s Theoretical Orientation

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 3. Émile Durkheim (1858–1917)
Key Concepts

 
A Biographical Sketch

 
Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas

 
Durkheim’s Theoretical Orientation

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 4. Max Weber (1864–1920)
Key Concepts

 
A Biographical Sketch

 
Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas

 
Weber’s Theoretical Orientation

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
PART II. CLASSICAL SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY: EXPANDING THE FOUNDATION
 
Chapter 5. Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935)
Key Concepts

 
A Biographical Sketch

 
Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas

 
Gilman’s Theoretical Orientation

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 6. Georg Simmel (1858–1918)
Key Concepts

 
A Biographical Sketch

 
Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas

 
Simmel’s Theoretical Orientation

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 7. W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963)
Key Concepts

 
A Biographical Sketch

 
Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas

 
Du Bois’s Theoretical Orientation

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 8. George Herbert Mead (1863–1931)
Key Concepts

 
A Biographical Sketch

 
Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas

 
Mead’s Theoretical Orientation

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
PART III. TWENTIETH-CENTURY SOCIOLOGICAL TRADITIONS
 
Chapter 9. Structural Functionalism
Key Concepts

 
Talcott C. Parsons (1902–1979): A Biographical Sketch

 
Parsons’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas

 
Parsons’s Theoretical Orientation

 
Robert K. Merton (1910–2003): A Biographical Sketch

 
Merton’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas

 
Merton’s Theoretical Orientation

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 10. Critical Theory
Key Concepts

 
Theodor Adorno and Herbert Marcuse: Biographical Sketches

 
Adorno’s and Marcuse’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas

 
Adorno’s and Marcuse’s Theoretical Orientations

 
Jürgen Habermas (1929– ): A Biographical Sketch

 
Habermas’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas

 
Habermas’s Theoretical Orientation

 
Patricia Hill Collins (1948– ): A Biographical Sketch

 
Collins’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas

 
Collins’s Theoretical Orientation

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 11. Exchange and Rational Choice Theories
Key Concepts

 
George C. Homans (1910–1989): A Biographical Sketch

 
Homans’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas

 
Homans’s Theoretical Orientation

 
Peter M. Blau (1918–2002): A Biographical Sketch

 
Blau’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas

 
Blau’s Theoretical Orientation

 
James S. Coleman (1926–1995): A Biographical Sketch

 
Coleman’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas

 
Coleman’s Theoretical Orientation

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 12. Symbolic Interactionism and Dramaturgy
Key Concepts

 
Symbolic Interactionism: An Overview

 
Erving Goffman (1922–1982): A Biographical Sketch

 
Goffman’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas

 
Goffman’s Theoretical Orientation

 
Arlie Russell Hochschild (1940– ): A Biographical Sketch

 
Hochschild’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas

 
Hochschild’s Theoretical Orientation

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 13. Phenomenology
Key Concepts

 
Alfred Schutz (1899–1959): A Biographical Sketch

 
Schutz’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas

 
Schutz’s Theoretical Orientation

 
Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann: Biographical Sketches

 
Berger and Luckmann’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas

 
Berger and Luckmann’s Theoretical Orientation

 
Ethnomethodology: An Overview

 
Dorothy E. Smith (1926– ): A Biographical Sketch

 
Smith’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas

 
Smith’s Theoretical Orientation

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 14. Poststructuralism
Key Concepts

 
Defining Poststructuralism

 
Michel Foucault (1926–1984): A Biographical Sketch

 
Foucault’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas

 
Foucault’s Theoretical Orientation

 
Pierre Bourdieu (1930–2002): A Biographical Sketch

 
Bourdieu’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas

 
Bourdieu’s Theoretical Orientation

 
Edward Said (1935–2003): A Biographical Sketch

 
Said’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas

 
Said’s Theoretical Orientation

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 15. Postmodernism
Key Concepts

 
Defining Postmodernism

 
Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007): A Biographical Sketch

 
Baudrillard’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas

 
Baudrillard’s Theoretical Orientation

 
Judith Butler (1956– ): A Biographical Sketch

 
Butler’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas

 
Butler’s Theoretical Orientation

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 16. The Global Society
Key Concepts

 
Defining Globalization

 
Immanuel Wallerstein (1930–2019): A Biographical Sketch

 
Wallerstein’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas

 
Wallerstein’s Theoretical Orientation

 
Anthony Giddens (1938– ): A Biographical Sketch

 
Giddens’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas

 
Giddens’s Theoretical Orientation

 
Ulrich Beck (1944–2015): A Biographical Sketch

 
Beck’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas

 
Beck’s Theoretical Orientation

 
George Ritzer (1940– ): A Biographical Sketch

 
Ritzer’s Intellectual Influences and Core Ideas

 
Ritzer’s Theoretical Orientation

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Glossary and Terminology
 
References
 
Index

Supplements

Instructor Resource Site
edge.sagepub.com/appelrouthcc4e

Online resources included with this text

The online resources for your text are available via the password-protected Instructor Resource Site, which offers access to all text-specific resources, including a test bank and editable, chapter-specific PowerPoint® slides.

I've used this book before and I've always loved how it's organized!

Professor Angelique Maes
Sociology, Coker College
February 7, 2023

Fantastic text from which to teach Intro to Theory. I very much appreciate the blend of original source material and interpretation. Makes my job easier!

Mr Nathan F Parsons
Sociology Dept, Washington State Uni Vancouver
August 12, 2021
Key features
NEW TO THIS EDITION:
  • The overarching theoretical framework has been expanded to further help students understand, compare, and contrast the readings.
  • Additional discussion of the Enlightenment thinkers, such as Locke, Rousseau, Hume, Kant, Hobbes, Wollstonecraft, demonstrates how these thinkers shaped the core theoretical questions that guide sociological inquiry to this day.
  • A new primary source reading from theorist Ulrich Beck enables students to analyze climate change from a sociological perspective.
  • A new reading from Talcott Parsons gives students a better understanding of social action theory and structural functionalism.
  • Updated examples, statistics and visuals tie theory to current events, thus connecting the material to students' lives.
  • Streamlined primary readings such as Weber's "Bureaucracy" keep students focused on central ideas.
  • An expanded glossary isolates key concepts.
  • Now available for the first time in print and e-book formats.

KEY FEATURES:

  • The book’s acclaimed text/reader format provides students with the best of both worlds, original readings accompanied by interpretive and analytical guidance necessary to interpret them.
  • A theoretical framework presented in chapter one gives students a visual means to understand the theorists and perspectives that follow.
  • Theoretical Orientation Diagrams and Core Concepts Diagrams show students how to fit the theorist under study into the broader universe of social theory.
  • “Significant Others” boxes highlight writers and thinkers who influenced, and were influenced by, the major theorists featured in each chapter.
  • Each chapter includes photos of theorists and of their historical milieu, along with applications to the contemporary scene.

For instructors

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