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Ritzer: Contemporary Sociological Theory Book Cover
Contemporary Sociological Theory and Its Classical Roots: The Basics
George Ritzer, University of Maryland

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

Part I Classical Background to Contemporary Theory

2. Classical Grand Theories
    Auguste Comte: The Law of the Three Stages
    Biographical Sketch
    BOX: Key Concept: Positivism
    Emile Durkheim: From Mechanical to Organic Solidarity
    Biographical Sketch
    BOX: Key Concept: Social Facts
    BOX: A Neat Distinction: The Sacred and the Profane
    Herbert Spencer: Compounding and from Militant to Industrial Society
    Biographical Sketch
    BOX: An Unfortunate Idea: Survival-of-the-Fittest
    Karl Marx: From Capitalism to Communism
    Biographical Sketch
    BOX: A Key Concept: Dialectical Materialism
    Max Weber: The Rationalization of Society
    Biographical Sketch
    BOX: Key Concepts: The Ideal Type and the Ideal-Typical Bureaucracy
    Georg Simmel: The Growing Tragedy of Culture
    Biographical Sketch
    Thorstein Veblen: From Industry to Business
    Biographical Sketch
    BOX: Key Concepts: Conspicuous Leisure and Conspicuous Consumption

3. Classical Theories of Everyday Life
    Max Weber: Social Action
    BOX: Key Concept: Verstehen
    Georg Simmel: Association
    BOX: Key Concept: Secrecy
    George Herbert Mead: Social Behaviorism
    Biographical Sketch
    Other Key Ideas Associated with the Chicago School
    Biographical Sketch: Charles Horton Cooley
    Talcott Parsons: Action Theory
    Biographical Sketch
    Alfred Schutz; The Lifeworld
    Biographical Sketch

Part II Contemporary Theory

4. Modern Theoretical Portraits of the Social World
    Structural Functionalism
    The Functional Theory of Stratification and Its Critics
    Talcott Parsons's Structural Functionalism
    Robert Merton's Structural Functionalism
    Biographical Sketch
    Conflict Theory
    The Work of Ralf Dahrendorf
    Niklas Luhmann's General System Theory
    Autopoietic Systems
    Society and Psychic Systems
    Differentiation

5. Modern Grand Theories
    A Structural Functional Theory of Change: Talcott Parsons on Social Evolution
    Neo-Marxian Theory
    Critical Theory and the Emergence of the “Culture Industry”
    Monopoly Capitalism: The Changing Nature of the Capitalist Economy
    From Fordism to Post-Fordism
    Rational Choice Theory: James Coleman and the Rise of the Corporate Actor
    Biographical Sketch
    Micro-Macro Analysis: Norbert Elias and the Civilizing Process
    Biographical Sketch
    Analyzing Modernity: Jurgen Habermas and the Colonization of the Life World
    Biographical Sketch
    Analyzing Modernity: Anthony Giddens' “Juggernaut” and Ulrich Beck's Risk Society
    Biographical Sketch: Anthony Giddens
    Analyzing Modernity: George Ritzer's “McDonaldization of Society”
    Analyzing Modernity: Manuel Castells' Informationalism and the Network Society

6. Modern Theories of Everyday Life
    Dramaturgy (And Other Aspects of Symbolic Interaction): Erving Goffman
    Biographical Sketch
    Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis: Harold Garfinkel
    Biographical Sketch
    Exchange Theory: George Homans
    Biographical Sketch
    Rational Choice Theory: James Coleman
    The Everyday World from a Feminist Perspective
    Modernity, Identity and Intimacy: Anthony Giddens

7. Modern Integrative Theories
    The Micro Foundations of Macrosociology
    Autobiographical Sketch: Randall Collins
    The Work of Richard Emerson and His Disciples on a More Integrated Exchange Theory
    Biographical Sketch: Richard Emerson
    Toward a More Integrative Rational Choice Theory: James Coleman
    Structuration Theory: Anthony Giddens
    Culture and Agency: Margaret Archer
    Habitus and Field: Pierre Bourdieu
    Biographical Sketch: Pierre Bourdieu
    Colonization of the Life-World: Jurgen Habermas
    An Integrated Feminist Sociological Theory

8. Modern Feminist Grand Theory
    The Basic Theoretical Questions
    Contemporary Feminist Grand Theories
    Gender Difference
    Cultural Feminism
    Explanatory Theories
    Existential and Phenomenological Analyses
    Gender Inequality
    Liberal Feminism
    Biographical Sketch: Jessie Bernard
    Gender Oppression
    Psychoanalytic Feminism
    Radical Feminism
    Biographical Sketch: Dorothy E. Smith
    Structural Oppression
    Socialist Feminism
    Intersectionality Theory
    Biographical Sketch: Patricia Hill Collins

9. Postmodern Grand Theories
    Toward Postmodern Grand Narratives: Daniel Bell and the Transition from Industrial to Post-Industrial Society
    Postmodern Analysis: Michel Foucault and Increasing “Governmentality”
    Biographical Sketch
    From Modern to Postmodern: Zygmunt Bauman
    Postmodern Analysis: Jean Baudrillard's Rise of Consumer Society, Loss of “Symbolic Exchange” and Increase in “Simulations”
    Postmodern Analysis: The Consumer Society and the New Means of Consumption
    Biographical Sketch: George Ritzer
    Feminism and Postmodern Social Theory

10. Cutting Edge Developments in Contemporary Theory








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