The New Blackwell Companion to Social Theory (eBook)

BRYAN S. TURNER is the Presidential Professor of Sociology and Director of the Mellon Committee for the Study of Religion, The Graduate Center, The City University of New York and Director of the Institute for Religion Politics and Society at the Australian Catholic University (Melbourne). He was the Alona Evans Distinguished Visiting Professor at Wellesley College (2009-10). His most recent publications are Religion and Modern Society (Cambridge 2011) and The Religious and the Political (Cambridge 2013). With Oscar Salemink, he edited the Routledge Handbook of Religions in Asia (2014). He is the founding editor with John O'Neill of the Journal of Classical Sociology (Sage) and with Irfan Ahmad the Journal of Religious and Political Practice (Routledge). He received the Max Planck Award in 2015 for research on secularization and modernity: social and religious pluralism, and is a Guest Professor at the University of Potsdam.

List of Contributors viii

Introduction: A New Agenda for Social Theory? 1
Bryan S. Turner

PART I FOUNDATIONS 17

1 The Foundations of Social Theory 19
Gerard Delanty

2 Contemporary Sociological Theory: Post-Parsonian Developments 38
John Holmwood

3 Philosophy of the Social Sciences 60
Patrick Baert and Fernando Domínguez Rubio

PART II ACTIONS, ACTORS, AND SYSTEMS 81

4 Theories of Social Action 83
Rob Stones

5 Functionalism and Social Systems Theory 106
Giuseppe Sciortino

6 Structuralism and Poststructuralism 124
Daniel Chaffee and Charles Lemert

7 Actor Network Theory and Material Semiotics 141
John Law

8 Ethnomethodology and Social Theory 159
Richard A. Hilbert

9 Rational Choice Theory 179
Raymond Boudon

PART III PERSPECTIVES ON SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ANALYSIS 197

10 Pragmatism and Symbolic Interactionism 199
Jack Barbalet

11 Phenomenology 218
Michael G. Flaherty

12 Feminist Theory 235
Mary Evans

13 Postmodern Social Theory 251
Jan Pakulski

14 Social Constructionism 281
Darin Weinberg

15 Conversation Analysis as Social Theory 300
John Heritage

16 Globalization Theory 321
John Boli and Frank J. Lechner

PART IV SOCIOLOGY AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES 341

17 Genetics and Social Theory 343
Oonagh Corrigan

18 Economic Sociology 360
Richard Swedberg

19 Cultural Sociology 378
Isaac Reed and Jeffrey C. Alexander

20 Historical Sociology 391
Krishan Kumar

21 The Sociology of Religion 409
Michele Dillon

22 Demography 428
John MacInnes and Julio Pérez Díaz

23 Science and Technology Studies: From Controversies to Posthumanist Social Theory 451
Sophia Roosth and Susan Silbey

PART V NEW DEVELOPMENTS 475

24 Mobilities and Social Theory 477
John Urry

25 Sociological Theory and Human Rights: Two Logics, One World 496
Judith Blau and Alberto Moncada

26 The Sociology of the Body 513
Bryan S. Turner

27 Cosmopolitanism and Social Theory 533
Daniel Chernilo

28 The Future of Social Theory 551
Stephen Turner

Index 567

"Every university should be considering acquiring this book for its
library stock.... This is a solid and worthy resource for students
at the level of bright undergraduates or taught postgraduates in a
wide range of academic disciplines." (Reference Reviews,
2009)
"The New Blackwell Companion to Social Theory is aptly titled since it involves a dramatic revision and updating of the previous volume. It is an excellent overview of the state of social theory with strong essays written, in the main, by many of the world's leading social theorists. An indispensable resource for anyone interested in social theory."
George Ritzer, University if Maryland

"Comprehensive and engaging, this new companion will help students and other readers understand both the changing agendas and the core content of social theory."
Craig Calhoun, New York University