Introduction to Sociological Theory
Description
Thoroughly revised and updated, the third edition of an Introduction to Sociological Theory offers an in-depth introduction to classical and contemporary theories, and demonstrates their relevance to offer a clear understanding of a broad range of contemporary issues and topics. As with the previous editions, the text continues to combine carefully selected primary quotations from a broad range of theorists with extensive discussion and illustrative examples from a diverse range of countries, helpful timelines of important and thematically relevant events, biographical notes, contemporary topic boxes, analytical photos, and chapter glossaries.
The text addresses topics such as the persistence of economic and social inequality, Brexit, post-truth society, same-sex marriage, digital surveillance and the on-demand gig economy. Written in an engaging style, Introduction to Sociological Theory offers a comprehensive introduction to the pluralistic breadth and wide-ranging applicability of sociological theory. This updated edition of the authoritative text:
* Contains both classical and contemporary theories in a single text
* Builds on excerpts from original theoretical writings with detailed discussion of the concepts and ideas under review
* Includes new examples of current empirical topics such as Brexit, Donald Trump's presidency, China's growing economic power, global warming, intersectionality, social media, and much more
* Offers additional resources including a website that contains multiple choice and essay questions, a thoroughly refreshed set of PowerPoint slides for each chapter with multimedia links to content illustrative of sociological processes, a list of complementary primary readings, a quotation bank, and other background materials
Written for undergraduate courses in contemporary and classical sociological theory, the third edition of an Introduction to Sociological Theory continues to provide a comprehensive, in-depth, and empirically engaging, introduction to sociological theory.
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MICHELE DILLON, PhD, is Professor of Sociology at the University of New Hampshire, USA and has many years of experience teaching sociological theory to undergraduate and graduate students. She has authored five books on religion and social change, many articles and book chapters and is the editor of a handbook.
Content
List of Boxed Features xi
List of Analytical Photos xv
Acknowledgments xvii
How to Use This Book xix
About the Website xxi
Introduction - Sociological Theory: A Vibrant Living Tradition 1
Analyzing Everyday Social Life 4
Societal Transformation and the Origins of Sociology 10
The Establishment of Sociology as Science: Auguste Comte and Harriet Martineau 14
Social Inequality and Contextual Standpoints: Du Bois, De Tocqueville, and Martineau 20
Summary 25
Points to Remember 26
Glossary 26
Questions for Review 27
Note 28
References 28
1 Karl Marx (1818-1883) 31
Expansion of Capitalism 34
Marx's Theory of History 36
Human Nature 40
Capitalism as a Distinctive Social Form 42
The Division of Labor and Alienation 52
Economic Inequality 58
Ideology and Power 61
Summary 68
Points to Remember 68
Glossary 69
Questions for Review 71
Notes 71
References 72
2 Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) 75
Durkheim's Methodological Rules 78
The Nature of Society 83
Societal Transformation and Social Cohesion 87
Traditional Society 87
Modern Society 89
Social Conditions of Suicide 95
Religion and the Sacred 102
Summary 108
Points to Remember 108
Glossary 109
Questions for Review 110
Notes 110
References 111
3 Max Weber (1864-1920) 113
Sociology: Understanding Social Action 116
Culture and Economic Activity 117
Ideal Types 123
Social Action 124
Power, Authority, and Domination 130
Social Stratification 139
Modernity and Competing Values 142
Summary 144
Points to Remember 144
Glossary 145
Questions for Review 146
Notes 146
References 147
4 American Classics: The Chicago School, Talcott Parsons, and Robert Merton 149
The Chicago School of Sociology 150
Talcott Parsons 153
The Social System 154
Socialization and Societal Integration 157
Social Change and the Secularization of Protestantism 158
Pattern Variables 159
Modernization Theory 162
Stratification and Inequality 165
Robert Merton 167
Neofunctionalism 171
Summary 173
Points to Remember 174
Glossary 174
Questions for Review 177
Note 177
References 177
5 Critical Theory: Technology, Culture, and Politics 179
The Societal Critique of Horkheimer, Adorno, and Marcuse 183
Dialectic of Enlightenment 187
Mass Culture and Consumption 192
Politics: Uniformity and Control 199
Jurgen Habermas: the State and the Public Sphere 201
Summary 206
Points to Remember 206
Glossary 207
Questions for Review 209
References 209
6 Conflict, Power, and Dependency in Macro-Societal Processes 211
Ralf Dahrendorf 's Theory of Group Conflict 212
C. Wright Mills: Class and Power 217
Dependency Theory: Gunder Frank's and Cardoso's Neo-Marxist Critiques of Economic Development 222
Summary 228
Points to Remember 228
Glossary 229
Questions for Review 229
References 230
7 Exchange, Exchange Network, and Rational Choice Theories 231
Exchange Theory: George Homans and Peter Blau 232
Exchange Network Theory: Richard Emerson, Karen Cook, Mark Granovetter 237
Actor-Network Theory (ANT): Bruno Latour 242
Rational Choice Theory and Its Critique: James Coleman, Gary Becker, Paula England 244
Analytical Marxism 248
Summary 250
Points to Remember 250
Glossary 251
Questions for Review 253
Note 253
References 253
8 Symbolic Interactionism 255
Development of the Self Through Social Interaction: G. H. Mead and C. H. Cooley 256
The Premises of Symbolic Interactionism: Herbert Blumer 261
Erving Goffman: Society as Ritualized Social Interaction 263
Symbolic Interactionism and Ethnographic Research 275
Summary 275
Points to Remember 275
Glossary 276
Questions for Review 278
Note 278
References 278
9 Phenomenology and Ethnomethodology 281
Phenomenology: Alfred Schutz, Peter Berger, and Thomas Luckmann 282
Ethnomethodology: Harold Garfinkel 292
Gender as an Accomplished Reality: Candace West and Don Zimmerman 296
Summary 299
Points to Remember 300
Glossary 300
Questions for Review 301
References 302
10 Feminist Theories 305
Consciousness of Women's Inequality: Charlotte Perkins Gilman 309
Standpoint Theory: Dorothy Smith and the Relations of Ruling 311
Masculinities: R. W. Connell 321
Patricia Hill Collins: Black Women's Standpoint 323
Sociology of Emotion 330
Arlie Hochschild: Emotional Labor 331
Summary 337
Points to Remember 337
Glossary 338
Questions for Review 340
Notes 340
References 340
11 Sex, Bodies, Truth, and Power: Michel Foucault, Steven Seidman, and Queer Theory 343
Disciplining the Body 344
Sex and Queer Theory 353
Summary 360
Points to Remember 361
Glossary 361
Questions for Review 362
References 362
12 Postcolonial Theories and Race 365
Racial Otherness: Edward Said, Frantz Fanon 367
New Directions in the Sociology of Colonialism: R. W. Connell 373
Race and Racism 374
Cultural Histories and Postcolonial Identities: Stuart Hall 377
Race and Class: William J. Wilson, Cornell West 379
Scarring of Black America 381
Culture and the New Racism: Paul Gilroy 385
Summary 388
Points to Remember 388
Glossary 389
Questions for Review 390
References 390
13 Pierre Bourdieu: Class, Culture, and the Social Reproduction of Inequality 393
Social Stratification 395
Family and School in the Production of Cultural Capital 399
Taste and Everyday Practices 402
Summary 410
Points to Remember 411
Glossary 411
Questions for Review 412
References 412
14 Economic and Political Globalization: Wallerstein, Sklair, Giddens, Sassen, Bauman, Castells 415
What is Globalization? 420
Economic Globalization 421
Immanuel Wallerstein: The Modern World-System 422
Contemporary Globalizing Economic Processes 427
Globalizing Political Processes: The Changing Authority of the Nation-State 434
Migration and Political Mobilization in a Transnational World 440
Summary 445
Points to Remember 446
Glossary 447
Questions for Review 448
Notes 448
References 449
15 Modernities, Risk, Cosmopolitanism, and Global Consumer Culture 451
Jurgen Habermas: Contrite Modernity 452
S.N. Eisenstadt: Multiple Modernities 454
Ulrich Beck: Global Risk Society 458
Cosmopolitan Modernity 460
The Global Expansion of Human Rights 462
Global Consumer Culture 465
Jean Baudrillard: The Aestheticization of Reality 469
Anthony Giddens: Disembeddedness and Dilemmas of the Self 471
Summary 473
Points to Remember 473
Glossary 474
Questions for Review 475
References 475
Glossary 477
Sociological Theorists and Select Key Writings 495
Index 499
INTRODUCTION
SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY: A VIBRANT, LIVING TRADITION
KEY CONCEPTS
sociological theory
concepts
conceptual frameworks
pluralistic
macro
social structures
micro
culture
agency
classical theory
canon
contemporary theory
Enlightenment
democracy
reason
rationality
inalienable rights
utilitarianism
scientific reasoning
empiricism
positivist
objectivity
interpretive understanding
emancipatory knowledge
double-consciousness
CHAPTER MENU
- Analyzing Everyday Social Life
- Societal Transformation and the Origins of Sociology
- The Establishment of Sociology as Science: Auguste Comte and Harriet Martineau
- Social Inequality and Contextual Standpoints: Du Bois, De Tocqueville, and Martineau
- Summary
- Points to Remember
- Glossary
- Questions for Review
- Note
- References
Timeline I.1 Major pre-Enlightenment influences, and events from the Enlightenment to the establishment of sociology
500 BC-AD 999 The Classical World1000-1490 The Feudal Age
1490-1664 The Age of Discovery 1599 Francis Bacon, Essays 1620 English Pilgrims arrive at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts 1633 Galileo summoned by the Inquisition to defend his theory that the earth moves around the sun 1636 Harvard College founded 1637 René Descartes, "I think, therefore, I am" 1665-1774 The Enlightenment 1670 Blaise Pascal, "Man is only a reed, the weakest thing in nature; but he is a thinking reed" 1687 Isaac Newton explains laws of motion and theories of gravitation 1689 John Locke, On Civil Government 1702 Cambridge University establishes faculty chairs in the sciences 1733 Voltaire praises British liberalism 1752 Benjamin Franklin invents a lightning conductor; demonstrates the identity of lightning and electricity 1762 Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract 1771 The right to report parliamentary debates established in Britain 1775-1814 The Age of Revolution 1775 American War of Independence; battles of Lexington and Concord (Massachusetts) 1776 British troops evacuate Boston; Declaration of Independence 1776 Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations 1788 Bread riots in France 1789 Fall of the Bastille; beginning of the French Revolution; new French Constituent Assembly abolishes feudal rights and privileges 1791 Bill of Rights in America; first 10 amendments to the US Constitution 1792 Mary Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of Woman 1796 Freedom of the press established in France 1805 First factory to be lit by gaslight (in Manchester, England) 1807 Air pump developed for use in mines 1813 Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice 1823 Jeremy Bentham, utilitarianism 1831 John Stuart Mill, The Spirit of the Age 1835-1840 Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America 1837 Harriet Martineau, Society in America 1839 Comte gives sociology its name 1855 Harriet Martineau translates Comte's Positive Philosophy 1859 Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species (modern evolutionary theory) 1861-1865 American Civil War, the South (Confederates) versus the North (Union) 1865 US president Abraham Lincoln assassinated 1865 Thirteenth amendment to the US Constitution, abolishing slavery
Welcome to sociological theory. Theory, by definition, is abstract. This book illustrates the richness of sociological theory by emphasizing how its breadth of concepts or analytical ideas have practical application and explanatory relevance to daily life. It will introduce you to the major theorists whose writings and conceptual frameworks inform sociological thinking. It will equip you with the theoretical vocabulary necessary to appreciate the range of perspectives found in sociological theory. It will give you confidence to apply these ideas to the many sociological topics you study (e.g., inequality, crime, medical sociology, race, political sociology, family, gender, sexuality, culture, religion, community, globalization, etc.) and help you to think analytically about the many occurrences in daily life far beyond the classroom.
Topic I.1 Hotel rooms get plusher, adding to maids' injuries
"Some call it the 'amenities arms race,' some 'the battle of the beds.' It is a competition in which the nation's premier hotels are trying to have their accommodations resemble royal bedrooms. Superthick mattresses, plush duvets and decorative bed skirts have been added, and five pillows rather than the pedestrian three now rest on a king-size bed. Hilton markets these rooms as Suite Dreams, while Westin boasts of its heavenly beds. The beds may mean sweet dreams to hotel guests, but they mean pain to many of the nation's 350,000 hotel housekeepers. Several new studies [by unions and health scientists] have found that thousands of housekeepers are suffering arm, shoulder, and lower-back injuries . it is so strenuous a job that [housekeepers have] a higher risk of back disorders than autoworkers who assemble car doors . The problem, housekeepers say, is not just a heavier mattress, but having to rush because they are assigned the same number of rooms as before while being required to deal with far more per room: more pillows, more sheets, more amenities like bathrobes to hang up and coffee pots to wash. Ms. Reyes [a hotel housekeeper] complained that some days she must make 25 double beds, a task that entails taking off, and putting on, 100 pillowcases . Housekeepers who earn $17,300 a year on average, invariably stoop over to lift mattresses, some of which are only 14 inches off the floor. They frequently twist their backs as they tuck in the sheets, often three of them rather than the two of yesteryear. Since it can take 10 to 12 minutes a bed, a housekeeper who makes 25 beds a day frequently spends four to five hours on the task, lifting mattresses 150 to 200 times . [A Hilton spokesman] said the company had increased training to try to minimize harm to housekeepers . [and to ease] workloads . [and said that the unions are] pushing the injury issue as a smoke screen, largely to pressure hotel companies to agree to procedures making it easier to unionize workers."
Steven Greenhouse, "Hotel Rooms Get Plusher, Adding to Maids' Injuries." New York Times (April 21, 2006). © 2006 The New York Times. All rights reserved. Used by permission and protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States.
ANALYZING EVERYDAY SOCIAL LIFE
This short excerpt (Topic I.1) on housekeepers and hotel mattresses provides a single snapshot of contemporary society, but its elements can be used to highlight the different ways that sociological theorists approach the study of society. Karl Marx (1818-1883), a towering figure in the analysis of modern capitalism (see chapter...
