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Contested Knowledge: Social Theory Today » (4th Edition)

Book cover image of Contested Knowledge: Social Theory Today by Steven Seidman

Authors: Steven Seidman
ISBN-13: 9781405170017, ISBN-10: 1405170018
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated
Date Published: April 2008
Edition: 4th Edition

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Author Biography: Steven Seidman

Steven Seidman is Professor of Sociology at State University of New York at Albany. He is a world renowned social theorist working in the areas of social theory, culture, sexuality, comparative sociology, theory of democracy, nationalism and globalization. He is the author and editor of several books including Embattled Eros: Sexual Politics and Ethics in Contemporary America (1992), The Postmodern Turn : New Perspectives on Social Theory (editor, 1995), Queer Theory/Sociology (Blackwell, 1996), The New Social Theory Reader: Contemporary Debates (edited with Jeffrey C. Alexander, 2001), and Beyond the Closet: The Transformation of Gay and Lesbian Life (2002).

Book Synopsis

Contested Knowledge has established itself as a leading text that brings social theory into the present day by providing the most up to date perspectives on social theory by one of the most important thinkers of our time, Steven Seidman.


  • Responds to current issues, debates, and new social movements.
  • Reviews sociological theory from a truly contemporary perspective.
  • Covers both classical and contemporary theories.
  • Combines social analysis and moral advocacy, and demonstrates how social theory can contribute to the making of a better world.
  • Challenges social scientists to renew their commitment to viewing social knowledge as playing an important moral and political role in public life.
  • Revised new edition organizes contents more appealingly for students, and includes an insightful new chapter on social theory today and short biographies on major social thinkers.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction1
Pt. IThe Rise of the Classical Tradition7
1The Idea of a Science of Society: The Enlightenment and Auguste Comte11
2The Revolutionary Theory of Karl Marx22
3The Promise of Sociology: Emile Durkheim36
4The Ironic Social Theory of Max Weber49
Pt. IIRethinking the Classical Tradition: American Sociology65
5The Grand Theory of Talcott Parsons and Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann70
6The Scientific Theory of Randall Collins and Peter Blau86
7The Moral Sociology of C. Wright Mills and Robert Bellah97
Pt. IIIRethinking the Classical Tradition: European Theory117
8The Critical Theory of Jurgen Habermas121
9Stuart Hall and British Cultural Studies134
10The Critical Sociology of Anthony Giddens and Pierre Bourdieu142
Pt. IVRevisions and Revolts: The Postmodern Turn157
11The Postmodern World of Jacques Derrida, Jean-Francois Lyotard, and Jean Baudrillard161
12Michel Foucault's Disciplinary Society178
13Zygmunt Bauman's Sociology of Postmodernity192
Pt. VRevisions and Revolts: Identity Politics and Theory205
14Feminist Theory209
15Critical Race Theory231
16Lesbian, Gay, and Queer Theory245
17Colonialism and Empire261
Afterword274
Epilogue: Social Theory Today277
Index283

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