Introduction to Sociological Theory (eBook)

Michele Dillon is Professor of Sociology at the University of New Hampshire and has many years of experience teaching sociological theory to undergraduate and graduate students. Her previous publications include Handbook of the Sociology of Religion (ed.) (2003), In the Course of a Lifetime: Tracing Religious Belief, Practice, and Change (with Paul Wink) (2007), and American Catholics in Transition (with W. D'Antonio and M. Gautier) (2013).

Introduction to Sociological Theory: Theorists, Concepts, and Their Applicability to the Twenty-First Century 5
Copyright 6
Contents 7
List of Boxed Features 13
List of Figures 17
Acknowledgments 19
How to Use This Book 21
Introduction: Welcome to Sociological Theory 23
ANALYZING SOCIAL LIFE 26
SOCIETAL TRANSFORMATION AND THE ORIGINS OF SOCIOLOGY 34
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SOCIOLOGY 39
EVOLUTIONARY PROGRESS AND AUGUSTE COMTE’S VISION OF SOCIOLOGY 39
THE SOCIOLOGICAL CRAFT IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 44
SUMMARY 48
POINTS TO REMEMBER 48
GLOSSARY 49
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 50
NOTES 50
REFERENCES 51
CHAPTER ONE KARL MARX (1818–1883) 53
EXPANSION OF CAPITALISM 56
CAPITALISM AS STRUCTURED INEQUALITY 58
MARX’S THEORY OF HISTORY 59
DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM 60
MARX’S VISION OF COMMUNISM 61
THE MILLENNIUM’S GREATEST THINKER 62
HUMAN NATURE 63
MATERIAL AND SOCIAL EXISTENCE INTERTWINED 64
CAPITALISM AS A DISTINCTIVE SOCIAL FORM 65
PRIVATE PRoPERTY 65
THE PRODUCTION OF PROFIT 66
THE COMMODIFICATION OF LABOR POWER 67
PROFESSIONAL SPORTS: THE COMMODIFICATION OF LABOR POWER IN ACTION 69
WORK: LIFE SACRIFICE 71
WAGE-LABOR 72
WAGE-LABOR AND SURPLUS VALUE 72
THE GAP BETWEEN EXCHANGE-VALUE AND USE-VALUE 74
THE DIVISION OF LABOR AND ALIENATION 74
THE PRODUCTION PROCESS 75
ALIENATED LABOR 75
THE OPPRESSION OF CAPITALISTS 80
ECONOMIC INEQUALITY 81
INCOME DISPARITIES 83
MAINTAINING THE STATUS QUO 83
IDEOLOGY AND POWER 85
EVERYDAY EXISTENCE AND THE NORMALITY OF IDEAS 85
FREEDOM TO SHOP 85
IDEOLOGY OF CONSUMPTION 86
THE MYSTICAL VALUE OF COMMODITIES 87
THE CAPITALIST SUPERSTRUCTURE 89
THE RULING POWER OF MONEY IN POLITICS 91
SUMMARY 92
POINTS TO REMEMBER 93
GLOSSARY 93
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 95
NOTES 95
REFERENCES 96
CHAPTER TWO EMILE DURKHEIM (1858–1917) 99
DURKHEIM’S METHODOLOGICAL RULES 102
SCIENTIFIC SOCIOLOGY: THE STUDY OF SOCIAL FACTS 102
STUDYING SOCIAL FACTS AS THINGS 104
SOCIAL FACTS AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 106
THE NATURE OF SOCIETY 106
COOPERATION AS THE KEY TO SOCIAL LIFE 108
THE CONSTRAINT OF SOCIETAL EXPECTATIONS 108
AN ARMY OF ONE 109
CHANGE AND RESISTANCE 110
SOCIETAL TRANSFORMATION AND SOCIAL COHESION 111
TRADITIONAL SOCIETY 111
THE SOCIETAL ABSORPTION OF THE INDIVIDUAL 112
MECHANICAL SOLIDARITY 113
MODERN SOCIETY 114
SPECIALIZED DIVISION OF LABOR 116
SOCIAL INTERDEPENDENCE 116
THE DENSITY OF SOCIAL INTERACTION 117
ORGANIC SOLIDARITY 118
THE MORAL-SOCIAL BASIS OF CONTRACT 118
SOCIAL CONDITIONS OF SUICIDE 120
SUICIDE : A SOCIAL FACT 121
ALTRUISTIC SUICIDE 121
EGOISTIC SUICIDE 122
ANOMIC SUICIDE 124
ABNORMALITIES THAT THREATEN SOCIAL COHESION 128
ANOMIE THAT FOSTERS SOCIAL COHESION 128
RELIGION AND THE SACRED 129
SACRED THINGS 130
SACRED BELIEFS AND RITUALS 130
THE ASSEMBLING OF COMMUNITY 132
RELIGION AND SCIENCE 133
SUMMARY 133
POINTS TO REMEMBER 134
GLOSSARY 135
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 136
NOTES 136
REFERENCES 137
CHAPTER THREE MAX WEBER (1864–1920) 139
SOCIOLOGY: UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL ACTION 143
CULTURE AND ECONOMIC ACTIVITY 143
THE PROTESTANT-CAPITALIST PUZZLE 144
THE PROTESTANT ETHIC 144
THE REFORMATION 145
SALVATION AND PREDESTINATION 147
PROVING ONE’S SALVATION 148
RATIONAL SELF-REGULATION AND SELF-CONTROL 148
PROTESTANT-WESTERN INDIVIDUALISM 149
IDEAL TYPES 150
SOCIAL ACTION 151
VALUE-RATIONAL ACTION 151
INSTRUMENTAL RATIONAL ACTION 152
NON-RATIONAL ACTION 154
THE INTERPLAY OF RATIONAL AND NON-RATIONAL ACTION 155
VALUES AND EMOTIONS IN THE CORPORATE WORLD 155
WANTING A CHILD: EMOTION, VALUES, AND INSTRUMENTAL RATIONALITY 155
POWER, AUTHORITY, AND DOMINATION 157
THE LEGAL AUTHORITY OF THE STATE 158
BUREAUCRACY 161
CHARISMATIC AUTHORITY 163
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION 165
GRADIENTS OF ECONOMIC INEQUALITY 166
SOCIAL STATUS 166
POLITICAL POWER 168
MODERNITY AND COMPETING VALUES 169
SCIENCE AND VALUES 169
THE VALUE NEUTRALITY OF SCIENCE 170
SUMMARY 171
POINTS TO REMEMBER 171
GLOSSARY 173
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 174
NOTES 174
REFERENCES 175
CHAPTER FOUR TALCOTT PARSONS AND ROBERT MERTON: FUNCTIONALISM AND MODERNIZATION 177
TALCOTT PARSONS 178
DEVELOPING SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY 179
BLENDING THEORY AND DATA 180
PARSONS’S INTELLECTUAL DEBT TO WEBER AND DURKHEIM 180
THE SOCIAL SYSTEM 181
SOCIAL ACTION 183
NORMATIVE REGULATION 183
SOCIALIZATION AND SOCIETAL INTEGRATION 184
VALUES CONSENSUS 185
SOCIAL DIFFERENTIATION, CULTURE, AND THE SECULARIZATION OF PROTESTANTISM 185
RELIGION AS A SOURCE OF CULTURAL INTEGRATION 186
VALUE-ORIENTATIONS IN A TIME OF GLOBAL SOCIAL CHANGE 188
PATTERN VARIABLES 188
THE DOCTOR–PATIENT RELATIONSHIP 189
CHANGE IN THE MEDICAL SYSTEM 191
MODERNIZATION THEORY 193
AMERICAN SOCIETY AS THE PROTOTYPE OF MODERNIZATION 194
STRATIFICATION AND INEQUALITY 195
FUNCTIONALISM OF SEX ROLES 195
ROBERT MERTON’S MIDDLE-RANGE THEORY 197
MANIFEST AND LATENT FUNCTIONS 198
SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES 198
STRAIN BETWEEN CULTURE AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE 199
PARSONS’S LEGACY: VARIED DIRECTIONS 201
NIKLAS LUHMANN: SYSTEMS THEORY 201
JEFFREY ALEXANDER: THE CIVIL SPHERE 202
SUMMARY 203
POINTS TO REMEMBER 204
GLOSSARY: PARSONS 205
GLOSSARY: MERTON, LUHMANN, ALEXANDER 206
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 206
NOTE 207
REFERENCES 207
CHAPTER FIVE CRITICAL THEORY TECHNOLOGY, CULTURE, AND POLITICS: TECHNOLOGY, CULTURE, AND POLITICS 209
CRITICAL THEORY 213
TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIAL PROGRESS 215
DIALECTIC OF ENLIGHTENMENT 218
TECHNOLOGY AS SOCIAL CONTROL 220
SOCIETY’S RATIONAL CONTROL OF NATURE 222
MASS CULTURE AND CONSUMPTION 223
TECHNOLOGY AND PROFIT 223
CULTURE OF ADVERTISING 225
CONTROLLED CONSUMPTION 226
MEDIA REALITY 228
CULTURAL TOTALITARIANISM 229
ACTIVE CONSUMERS AND AUDIENCES 229
POLITICS: UNIFORMITY AND CONTROL 230
TECHNOLOGY AS POLITICAL CONTROL 230
JÜRGEN HABERMAS: THE STATE AND SOCIETY 233
ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL STEERING PROBLEMS 234
LEGITIMATION CRISES 234
COMMUNICATION AND THE PUBLIC SPHERE 235
DISTORTED COMMUNICATION 237
REASON IN THE CONTEXT OF EVERYDAY LIFE 238
SUMMARY 238
POINTS TO REMEMBER 239
GLOSSARY 240
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 241
REFERENCES 242
CHAPTER SIX CONFLICT, POWER, AND DEPENDENCY IN MACRO-SOCIETAL PROCESSES 243
RALF DAHRENDORF’S THEORY OF GROUP CONFLICT 244
CONFLICT GROUPS 246
CLASS CONFLICT IN INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY 247
THE CHANGING CHARACTER OF CLASS CONFLICT 248
THE MULTIPLICITY OF CONFLICT GROUPS 249
C. WRIGHT MILLS 250
THE NEW MIDDLE CLASS 250
THE POWER ELITE 251
SHIFTS IN THE COMPOSITION OF THE POWER ELITE 252
WOMEN IN THE POWER ELITE 253
THE PASSIVE, MASS SOCIETY 255
DEPENDENCY THEORY: NEO-MARXIST CRITIQUES OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 255
CAPITALIST DEVELOPMENT OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT 256
DEPENDENCY RELATIONS IN ECONOMIC UNDERDEVELOPMENT 258
CHALLENGES TO MODERNIZATION THEORY 261
SUMMARY 262
POINTS TO REMEMBER 262
GLOSSARY 263
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 264
REFERENCES 264
CHAPTER SEVEN EXCHANGE, EXCHANGE NETWORK, AND RATIONAL CHOICE THEORIES 267
EXCHANGE THEORY 268
GEORGE HOMANS: INDIVIDUAL ACTORS IN SOCIAL EXCHANGE 269
PETER BLAU: SOCIAL EXCHANGE IN ORGANIZATIONS 271
EXCHANGE NETWORK THEORY 274
POWER AND MISTRUST IN SOCIAL EXCHANGE NETWORKS 275
THE INSTITUTIONAL REGULATION OF TRUST 276
NETWORKS AND SOCIAL CAPITAL 277
THE STRENGTH OF WEAK TIES 277
ACTOR–NETWORK THEORY (ANT) 279
RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY 282
MAXIMIZATION OF INDIVIDUAL INTEREST 283
HUMAN CAPITAL AND SOCIAL CAPITAL 283
NEGOTIATING SCARCE RESOURCES 284
MARRIAGE: STRUCTURAL AND CULTURAL CONSTRAINTS ON SELF-INTEREST 285
ANALYTICAL MARXISM 287
CLASS LOCATIONS 287
SUMMARY 288
POINTS TO REMEMBER 289
GLOSSARY: EXCHANGE THEORY 290
GLOSSARY: EXCHANGE NETWORK THEORY 290
GLOSSARY: ACTOR–NETWORK THEORY (ANT) 290
GLOSSARY: RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY 291
GLOSSARY: ANALYTICAL MARXISM 291
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 291
NOTE 291
REFERENCES 292
CHAPTER EIGHT SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM 295
DEVELOPMENT OF THE SELF THROUGH SOCIAL INTERACTION 296
THE LOOKING-GLASS SELF 298
SOCIALIZATION 298
BEYOND THE SELF: THE CONVERSATION OF GESTURES 300
THE PREMISES OF SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM 301
THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF HUMAN INTERACTION 303
ERVING GOFFMAN: SOCIETY AS RITUALIZED SOCIAL INTERACTION 303
SOCIAL ROLES 304
PERFORMANCE PRESSURE 305
ESTABLISHING THE DEFINITION OF THE SITUATION 306
INTERACTION RITUALS 308
NON-VERBAL RITUALIZED INTERACTION 309
IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT 310
TOTAL INSTITUTIONS 312
MANAGING OUR AUDIENCES 312
MISREPRESENTATION 313
STIGMA 313
PASSING 314
INSTITUTIONAL FRAME ANALYSIS 315
SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM AND ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH 316
SUMMARY 317
POINTS TO REMEMBER 317
GLOSSARY 318
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 319
NOTES 320
REFERENCES 320
CHAPTER NINE PHENOMENOLOGY AND ETHNOMETHODOLOGY 323
PHENOMENOLOGY 324
EXPERIENCE, MEANING, AND SOCIAL ACTION 325
HERE-AND-NOW, EVERYDAY REALITY 325
SHARED, INTERSUBJECTIVE REALITY 327
EVERYDAY REALITY AS THE SOCIAL REALITY 327
ORDERED REALITY 328
PHENOMENOLOGICAL DIVERSITY 329
THE STRANGER 330
THE HOMECOMER 331
SYMBOLIC UNIVERSES 334
ETHNOMETHODOLOGY 335
THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF SOCIAL REALITY 336
THE CORONER’S OFFICE: ESTABLISHING HOW INDIVIDUALS DIED AND LIVED 336
JURORS ACCOMPLISHING REALITY 338
PRODUCING AN ORDERED REALITY 338
GENDER AS AN ACCOMPLISHED REALITY 339
RESEARCHING THE DOING OF REALITY-MAKING 341
BREACHING EXPERIMENTS 341
CONVERSATION ANALYSIS 342
SUMMARY 343
POINTS TO REMEMBER 343
GLOSSARY: PHENOMENOLOGY 344
GLOSSARY: ETHNOMETHODOLOGY 345
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 345
REFERENCES 346
CHAPTER TEN FEMINIST THEORIES 349
CONSCIOUSNESS OF WOMEN’S INEQUALITY 352
STANDPOINT THEORY: DOROTHY SMITH AND THE RELATIONS OF RULING 355
ADVERTISING FEMININITY 356
THE RULES OF SOCIOLOGY AND THE EXCLUSION OF WOMEN’S STANDPOINT 357
RULING TEXTS AND THE EXCLUSION OF EVERYDAY EXPERIENCES 357
KNOWING FROM WITHIN LOCAL EXPERIENCES 359
WOMEN’S REALITIES 360
NEGOTIATING TWO WORLDS SIMULTANEOUSLY 362
A FEMINIST SOCIOLOGY: THE STANDPOINT OF WOMEN 363
DOING ALTERNATIVE SOCIOLOGY 364
DOROTHY SMITH’S INTEGRATED VISION OF SOCIETAL EQUALITY 366
MASCULINITY 366
PATRICIA HILL COLLINS: BLACK WOMEN’S STANDPOINT 368
BLACK WOMEN’S HISTORY: SLAVERY AND COMMUNITY 369
CONTROLLING IMAGES OF BLACK WOMEN 370
CULTURAL OPPRESSION 370
BLACK FEMINIST THOUGHT 371
SOCIAL INTERSECTIONALITY 372
ACTIVIST KNOWLEDGE 373
BLACK BODIES AND SEXUALITY 375
SEXUAL INTEGRITY 375
SOCIOLOGY OF EMOTION 376
ARLIE HOCHSCHILD: EMOTIONAL LABOR 377
GENDERED DIVISION OF EMOTIONAL LABOR 378
PAID EMOTIONAL LABOR 379
THE MANAGEMENT OF FEELINGS 380
GOING BEYOND SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM 380
HOCHSCHILD’S CONTRIBUTIONS TO FEMINIST AND LABOR THEORIES 384
SUMMARY 384
POINTS TO REMEMBER 385
GLOSSARY 386
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 387
NOTES 387
REFERENCES 388
CHAPTER ELEVEN MICHEL FOUCAULT THEORIZING SEXUALITY, THE BODY, AND POWER: THEORIZING SEXUALITY, THE BODY, AND POWER 391
DISCIPLINING THE BODY 392
BIO-POWER 394
THE INVENTION OF SEXUALITY 395
THE PRODUCTION OF BODY DISCOURSE 396
CONFESSION 397
PRODUCING TRUTH 397
SEX AND THE CONFESSING SOCIETY 398
THE PRODUCTION AND CIRCULATION OF POWER 399
MASKING POWER 400
RESISTING/REPRODUCING POWER 401
SEXUALITY AND QUEER THEORY 402
SOCIOLOGY’S HETEROSEXIST BIAS 402
NORMALIZING HOMOSEXUALITY 403
PROBLEMATIZING SEXUALITY 405
THE QUEERING OF SOCIAL THEORY 407
THE REBELLIOUS CHARACTER OF QUEER THEORY 408
SUMMARY 410
POINTS TO REMEMBER 410
GLOSSARY 411
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 412
REFERENCES 412
CHAPTER TWELVE RACE, RACISM, AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF RACIAL OTHERNESS 415
RACIAL OTHERNESS 417
THE COLOR LINE 417
THE CREATION OF OTHERNESS 419
THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF OTHERNESS 421
SOCIAL CHANGE, RACE, AND RACISM 422
RACE AND RACISM 423
CONSTRUING WHITENESS 425
SLAVERY, COLONIALISM, AND RACIAL FORMATION 427
CULTURAL HISTORIES AND POST-COLONIAL IDENTITIES 427
SLAVERY AS SOCIAL DOMINATION, SOCIAL DEATH 429
WILLIAM DU BOIS: SLAVERY AND RACIAL INEQUALITY 430
TRANSFORMING RACIAL-SOCIAL INEQUALITY 431
GENDER EQUALITY 432
RACE AND CLASS 433
THE BLACK MIDDLE CLASS 433
THE BLACK CLASS DIVIDE 434
RACE, COMMUNITY, AND DEMOCRACY 435
SCARRING OF BLACK AMERICA 436
BLACK POPULAR CULTURE 438
NEW RACIAL POLITICS 439
CULTURE AND THE NEW RACISM 441
RACIAL LINES AS CULTURE LINES 441
NEW RACISM 442
NEW RACISM AND GENETIC TECHNOLOGY 443
RETHINKING RACIAL DIFFERENCE 444
SUMMARY 444
POINTS TO REMEMBER 445
GLOSSARY 446
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 447
REFERENCES 447
CHAPTER THIRTEEN THE SOCIAL REPRODUCTION OF INEQUALITY: PIERRE BOURDIEU’S THEORY OF CLASS AND CULTURE 449
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION 451
ECONOMIC CAPITAL 451
CULTURAL CAPITAL 451
SOCIAL CAPITAL 452
ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL CAPITAL IN STRATIFYING SOCIETY 454
FAMILY AND SCHOOL IN THE PRODUCTION OF CULTURAL CAPITAL 455
BOURDIEU’S IMPACT ON THE SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION 456
SOCIAL POLICY IMPLICATIONS OF BOURDIEU’S ANALYSIS 458
TASTE AND EVERYDAY PRACTICES 460
THE CLASS CONDITIONING OF TASTE 460
GENDERED TASTES, GENDERED BODIES 463
UPPER-CLASS TASTE 464
THE CULTURE GAME 465
WORKING-CLASS TASTE 466
WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE? 466
TASTE IN THE REPRODUCTION OF SOCIAL INEQUALITY 467
LINKING MICRO ACTION AND MACRO STRUCTURES 468
ENDLESS STRATIFICATION 468
SUMMARY 469
POINTS TO REMEMBER 470
GLOSSARY 470
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 471
NOTES 471
REFERENCES 472
CHAPTER FOURTEEN ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL GLOBALIZATION 473
WHAT IS GLOBALIZATION? 478
ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION 479
IMMANUEL WALLERSTEIN: THE MODERN WORLD-SYSTEM 480
MODERN WORLD-ECONOMY 481
WORLD-SYSTEMS IN CONTRAST TO WORLD-EMPIRES 482
DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MODERN WORLD-SYSTEM 483
THE STATE IN THE EXPANSION OF CAPITALISM 483
CHANGING CONTEXT OF THE CORE–PERIPHERY WORLD 484
WORLD-ECONOMY CRISIS 485
CONTEMPORARY GLOBALIZING ECONOMIC PROCESSES 486
THE TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATION 486
GLOBAL FINANCIAL CAPITALISM 487
HIGH-SPEED, AUTOMATED, AND FLUID FINANCE 490
GLOBAL CITIES AS FINANCIAL CAPITALS 491
CLASS INEQUALITY 492
GLOBALIZING POLITICAL PROCESSES: THE CHANGING AUTHORITY OF THE NATION-STATE 494
ECONOMICS AND POLITICS: THE NEW IMPERIALISM 495
THE STATE’S NEGOTIATION OF LOCAL AND GLOBAL FORCES 496
THE IMPOTENT POST-NATIONAL STATE? 497
THE DENATIONALIZED STATE 499
MIGRATION AND POLITICAL MOBILIZATION IN A TRANSNATIONAL WORLD 500
ANTI-GLOBALIZATION MOVEMENTS 503
ALTERNATIVE VISIONS OF GLOBALIZATION 504
THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT 505
SUMMARY 507
POINTS TO REMEMBER 508
GLOSSARY: WALLERSTEIN 509
GLOSSARY: OTHER RELEVANT CONCEPTS 509
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 510
NOTES 511
REFERENCES 511
CHAPTER FIFTEEN MODERNITIES, COSMOPOLITANISM, AND GLOBAL CONSUMER CULTURE 513
CONTRITE MODERNITY 515
POST-SECULAR SOCIETY 516
MULTIPLE MODERNITIES 517
CHINESE MODERNITY 519
SOUTH KOREAN MODERNITY 520
GLOBAL RISK SOCIETY 521
COSMOPOLITAN MODERNITY 523
COSMOPOLITAN IMPERATIVES 525
THE GLOBAL EXPANSION OF HUMAN RIGHTS 527
WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR? 528
GLOBAL CONSUMER CULTURE 530
CULTURAL HOMOGENIZATION 531
EVERYDAY CULTURAL REMIX 532
THE AESTHETICIZATION OF REALITY: LAS VEGAS AND DUBAI 534
COMMODIFICATION AND SIMULATION 536
DISEMBEDDEDNESS AND DILEMMAS OF THE SELF 537
SUMMARY 538
POINTS TO REMEMBER 539
GLOSSARY 540
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 541
REFERENCES 541
GLOSSARY 543
SOCIOLOGICAL THEORISTS AND SELECT KEY WRITINGS 563
INDEX 567

"Crafting a sociological theory text that addresses complex and
contested ideas in a sophisticated, yet genuinely engaging and
accessible way is a tall order. As this new edition of Michele
Dillon's book reveals, she has a remarkable gift for doing just
that. Students will be well served by professors who adopt
Introduction to Sociological Theory for their theory
courses."

--Peter Kivisto, Augustana College and University of
Turku