The Companion to Major Social Theorists offers a broad-ranging survey of classical and contemporary social theory. In original essays especially commissioned for this volume, leading experts and practitioners examine the life and work of 25 major theorists, discussing the social and intellectual context of their writings and offering an analysis of the impact of their work over time.
Includes 25 original essays on major classical and contemporary social theorists
Contributions are especially commissioned for this volume, and are by leading experts and practitioners in the field
Covers the key figures who shaped classical social theory, such as Marx, Weber and Durkheim, as well as figures such as Martineau, DuBois, and Simmel
Dedicates coverage is given to contemporary social theorists, including Goffman, Elias, Foucault, Giddens, Bourdieu and Butler
Essays include biographical sketches, the social and intellectual context, and the impact of the theorist's work on social theory
Includes bibliographies of the theorist's most important works as well as key secondary works
Edited by a leading figure in social theory, this volume provides an outstanding one-volume reference source in social theory.
Preface. List of Contributors.
Introduction: Towards a More Open Canon (George Ritzer and Doug Goodman, University of Maryland)
Part I: Classical Social Theorists.
1. Auguste Comte (Mary Pickering, San Jose State University).
2. Harriet Martineau (Susan Hoecker-Drysdale, Concordia University).
3. Herbert Spencer (Jonathan H. Turner, University of California).
4. Karl Marx (Robert J. Antonio, University of Kansas).
5. Max Weber (Stephen Kalberg, Boston University).
6. Emile Durkheim (Robert Alun Jones, University of Illinois).
7. Georg Simmel (Lawrence Scaff, Penn State University).
8. Charlotte Perkins Gilman (Charles Lemert, Wesleyan University).
9. George Herbert Mead (Dimitri N. Shalin, University of Nevada-Las Vegas).
10. W.E.B. DuBois (Charles Lemert, Wesleyan University).
11. Alfred Schutz (Mary Rogers, University of West Florida).
12. Talcott Parsons (Victor Lidz, Hahnemann University).
Part II: Contemporary Social Theorists.
13. Robert K. Merton (Piotr Sztompka, Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland).
14. Erving Goffman (Gary Alan Fine and Philip Manning, Northwestern University and Cleveland State University).
15. Richard M. Emerson (Karen S. Cook and Joseph Whitmeyer, Stanford University and University of North Carolina at Charlotte).
16. James Coleman (Siegwart Lindenberg, University of Groningen, the Netherlands).
17. Harold Garfinkel (Anne Rawls, Wayne State University).
18. Daniel Bell (Malcolm Waters, University of Tasmania, Australia).
19. Norbert Elias (Richard Kilminster and Stephen Mennell, University of Leeds and University College Dublin).
20. Michel Foucault (Barry Smart, University of Portsmouth).
21. Jürgen Habermas (William Outhwaite, University of Sussex).
22. Anthony Giddens (Christopher G. A. Bryant and David Jary, University of Salford and Staffordshire University).
23. Pierre Bourdieu (Craig Calhoun, New York University).
24. Jean Baudrillard (Douglas Kellner).
25. Judith Butler (Patricia T. Clough, UCLA).
Index.
