A fascinating guide to thinking theoretically about the social world Organized around the discourses of modernity, democracy, and citizenship, A Primer in Social and Sociological Theory: Toward a Sociology of Citizenship helps readers to develop skills in critical thinking and theory analysis as they explore nine central ideas of thought: modernity, society, self, religion, capitalism, power, gender, race, and globalization. Each chapter concludes with a section that discusses the craft of citizenship as it relates to the chapter content.

In the Third Edition of Ken Allan's highly-praised Contemporary Social and Sociological Theory book, sociological theories and theorists are explored using a straightforward approach and conversational, jargon-free language. Filled with examples drawn from everyday life, this edition highlights diversity in contemporary society, exploring theories of race, gender, and sexuality that address some of today's most important social concerns. Through this textbook students will learn to think theoretically and apply to their own lives.

This book equips students with skills in critical thinking and theory built around nine central ideas of thought: modernity, society, self, religion, capitalism, power, gender, race, and globalization. Coverage of both classical and contemporary theorists are included, and the text is organized around the discourses of modernity, democracy, and citizenship. The end of chapter exercises build on one another and students are guided to higher order thinking and theorizing skills to formulate their own definitions, analyses, interpretations, evaluations, and syntheses of theory.

This fully updated edition of Kenneth Allan’s acclaimed social theory text emphasizes the diversity of classical and contemporary theory, critical thinking, and the importance of historical context. Chosen for the diversity of their perspectives and their suitability for introducing students to contemporary social thought, a wide variety of theorists appear in the text with their individual voices vividly intact. The author engages students in the historic and contemporary changes that have spawned diverse social theories and invites them to see theory as an element within a broader range of critical thinking skills that can be applied to current social problems. Contributor to the SAGE Teaching Innovations and Professional Development Award

Praised for its conversational tone, personal examples, and helpful pedagogical tools, the Fourth Edition of Explorations in Classical Sociological Theory: Seeing the Social World is organized around the modern ideas of progress, knowledge, and democracy. With this historical thread woven throughout the chapters, the book examines the works and intellectual contributions of major classical theorists, including Marx, Spencer, Durkheim, Weber, Mead, Simmel, Martineau, Gilman, Douglass, Du Bois, Parsons, and the Frankfurt School. Kenneth Allan and new co-author Sarah Daynes focus on the specific views of each theorist, rather than schools of thought, and highlight modernity and postmodernity to help contemporary readers understand how classical sociological theory applies to their lives.

The importance of the spatial dimension of the structure, organization and experience of social relations is fundamental for sociological analysis and understanding. Space and Social Theory is an essential primer on the theories of space and inherent spatiality, guiding readers through the contributions of key and influential theorists: Marx, Simmel, Lefebvre, Harvey and Foucault. Giving an essential and accessible overview of social theories of space, this books shows why it matters to understand these theorists spatially. It will be of interest to upper level students and researchers of social theory, urban sociology, urban studies, human geography, and urban politics.

This book is a classical theory text aimed at teaching theorizing as a skill. After analyzing the process of theorizing into a set of simple steps, it shows how the theories of Marx, Weber, Durkheim, and Mead were constructed following these steps. It links their theories with contemporary ones in the same research tradition and shows how these traditions exemplify fundamental paradigms that can guide the student's own theorizing.

Sharpen your tools -- How to formulate a question -- How do you choose a site? -- Talking to people -- Hanging out -- Ethics in research -- Comparing -- Dealing with documents -- Interpreting it and writing it up

This revised edition of this extremely popular introduction to social theory has been carefully and thoroughly updated with the latest developments in this continually changing field. Written in a refreshingly lucid and engaging style, Introducing Social Theory provides readers with a wide-ranging, well organized and thematic introduction to all the major thinkers, issues and debates in classical and contemporary social theory. Introducing Social Theory traces the development of social theorizing from the classical ideas about modernity of Durkheim, Marx and Weber, right up to a uniquely accessible review of the contemporary theoretical controversies in sociology that surround post-colonialism, gender and feminist theories, and public sociology. The ideal textbook for students of sociology at all levels, from A-level to undergraduates, Introducing Social Theory is remarkably easy to follow and understand. This new edition lives up to its predecessors' goal that students need never be intimidated by social theory again.

This comprehensive and authoritative statement of fundamental principles of sociological analysis integrates approaches that are often seen as mutually exclusive. John Scott argues that theorising in sociology and other social sciences is characterised by the application of eight key principles of sociological analysis: culture, nature, system, structure, action, space-time, mind and development. He considers the principal contributions to the study of each of these dimensions in their historical sequence in order to bring out the cumulative character of knowledge. Showing that the various principles can be combined in a single disciplinary framework, Scott argues that sociologists can work most productively within an intellectual division of labour that transcends artificial theoretical and disciplinary differences. Sociology provides the central ideas for conceptualising the social, but it must co-exist productively with other social science disciplines and disciplinary areas.