Handbook of Social Theory

`This book is an indispensable resource for anyone interested in the roots, current debates and future development of social theory. It will be required reading for scholars and students in sociology, social philosophy and cultural studies... A genuine comprehensive treatment that provides a bridge between European and American perspectives, serving the needs of students and teachers in social sciences' - The Hindu

`Ritzer and Smart provide a judicious editorial guide to the complexities of social theory from the classics to contemporary approaches. A genuinely comprehensive treatment that provides a bridge between European and American perspectives, the Handbook will serve the needs of students and teachers in the social sciences - a laudable work of theoretical integration' - Bryan S Turner, University of Cambridge

`We are in the midst of a great change: social theory is replacing sociological theory. Ritzer and Smart make use of the time-honored device of the "Handbook" to bring order to this new, often conflicting, and often confusing, intellectual field. They bring together a sparkling array of articles by some of the best minds in contemporary sociological theory. The result is a significant clarification of the transition from sociological to social theory that we are undergoing today' - Jeffrey Alexander, University of California

George Ritzer is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, where he has also been a Distinguished Scholar-Teacher and won a Teaching Excellence Award. He was awarded the Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award by the American Sociological Association, an honorary doctorate from LaTrobe University in Australia, and the Robin Williams Lectureship from the Eastern Sociological Society. His best-known work, The McDonaldization of Society (8th ed.), has been read by hundreds of thousands of students over two decades and translated into over a dozen languages. Ritzer is also the editor of McDonaldization: The Reader; and author of other works of critical sociology related to the McDonaldization thesis, including Enchanting a Disenchanted World, The Globalization of Nothing, Expressing America: A Critique of the Global Credit Card Society, as well as a series best-selling social theory textbooks and Globalization: A Basic Text. He is the Editor of the Encyclopedia of Social Theory (2 vols.), the Encyclopedia of Sociology (11 vols.; 2nd edition forthcoming), the Encyclopedia of Globalization (5 vols.), and is Founding Editor of the Journal of Consumer Culture. In 2016 he will publish the second edition of Essentials of Sociology with SAGE.

George Ritzer and Barry Smart Introduction: Theorists, Theories and Theorizing / PART ONE: CLASSICAL SOCIAL THEORY / John Rundell Modernity, Enlightenment, Revolution and Romanticism: Creating Social Theory / Jonathan H Turner The Origins of Positivism: The Contributions of Auguste Comte and Herbert Spencer / Gregor McLennan Maintaining Marx / Sam Whimster Max Weber: Work and Interpretation / Birgitta Nedelmann The Continuing Relevance of Georg Simmel: Staking Out Anew the Field of Sociology / Mike Gane Durkheim's Project for a Sociological Science / Hans Joas The Emergence of the New: Mead's Theory and Its Contemporary Potential / David Kettler and Volker Meja Karl Mannheim and the Sociology of Knowledge / John O'Neill Psychoanalysis and Sociology: From Freudo-Marxism to Freudo-Feminism / Patricia Madoo Lengermann and Jill Niebrugge-Brantley Classical Feminist Social Theory / PART TWO: CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL THEORY / Mark Abrahamson Functional, Conflict and Neofunctional Theories / Robert J Holton Talcott Parsons: Conservative Apologist or Irreplaceable Icon? / Robert J Antonio Nietzsche: Social Theory in the Twilight of the Millennium / Craig Calhoun and Joseph Karaganis Critical Theory