Table of Content

1. Ideology, History, and Classical Sociological Theory.
2. The Nature and Types of Sociological Theory.
3. (Isidore) Auguste Marie François-Xavier Comte.
4. (David) Emile Durkheim.
5. Herbert Spencer.
6. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.
7. Karl Marx.
8. Max Weber.
9. Georg Simmel.
10. Sigmund Freud.
11. Vilfredo Pareto.
12. Thorstein Bunde Veblen.
13. George Herbert Mead.
14. Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche.
15. The Paradoxical Failure of Classical Sociological Theory: A Concluding Essay.

Salient Features

• Both authors are prominent scholars of sociological theory.
• Offers a balanced treatment of all the major classical theorists.
• Puts classical sociological theory into historical, social, and cultural context to show how theorists were responding to the issues and concerns of their time.
• Includes annotated bibliographies, biographical sketches, and glossaries for each theorist covered.
• The concluding chapter offers an evaluation of the achievements and limitations of classical theory, and of the relevance of classical theory in a postmodern age.
• Addresses issues of gender, race, and class on the development of classical theory in Chapter 1.
• Divides the theories discussed into Positivism/Interpretive theory and Critical theory throughout in order to help students understand the diversity of theoretical perspectives.