Overview

The second edition of this remarkably lucid text, provides a wide-ranging historical introduction to social theory. The new edition preserves, and further enhances, the book’s striking qualities – its clarity, reliability, comprehensiveness and scholarship. The theorists treated include Montesquieu, Adam Smith and the Scottish Enlightenment, Hegel, Marx, Tocqueville, Maistre, Gobineau, Darwin, Spencer, Kautsky, Nietzsche, Durkheim, Weber, Simmel, Freud, Lukács, Gramsci, Heidegger, Keynes, Hayek, Parsons, the Frankfurt School, Lévi-Strauss, Althusser, Foucault, Habermas, Bourdieu, Beck, and Giddens. Callinicos examines the ways in which social theory grew out of the eighteenth century Enlightenment, a time when societies emerging in the West ceased to invoke the authority of tradition to validate themselves, instead looking to scientific knowledge to justify their mastery of the world. He traces social theory’s connections with central themes in modern philosophy, with the development of political economy, and with the impact of evolutionary biology on social thought. The book has been carefully updated to ensure that it engages with the most current debates in social theory, and concludes with a substantial new chapter. Here Callinicos assesses the significance of contemporary debates about globalization, including the recent re-emergence of critiques of capitalism and imperialism in the work of Michael Hardt, Toni Negri, Luc Boltanski, Eve Chiapello, David Harvey, Robert Brenner, Giovanni Arrighi, and Slavoj Žižek. This updated version of a widely praised text will be essential reading for students of politics, sociology and social and political thought.

Full Product Details

Author:   Alex Callinicos (University of York)
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Imprint:   Polity Press
Edition:   2nd edition
Dimensions:   Width: 16.20cm , Height: 2.60cm , Length: 24.10cm
Weight:   0.680kg
ISBN:  

9780745638393

ISBN 10:   0745638392
Pages:   368
Publication Date:   11 February 2007
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock  
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Table of Contents

Introduction 1. The Enlightenment 1. 1 Prehistory 1. 2 The concept of modernity 1. 3 A moral science 1. 4 The development of social theory 1. 5 Inner strains 2. Hegel 2. 1 Reconciling modernity 2. 2 The labour of the negative 2. 3 The debate over modernity 3. Liberals and Reactionaries 3. 1 Post-revolutionary debates 3. 2 Agonistic liberalism: Tocqueville and Mill 3. 3 Providence and race: Maistre and Gobineau 4. Marx 4. 1 The adventures of the dialectic 4. 2 History and capitalism 4. 3 Class struggle and revolution 5. Life and Power 5. 1 Evolution before and after Darwin 5. 2 Two evolutionists: Spencer and Kautsky 5. 3 Nature as the will to power: Nietzsche 6. Durkheim 6. 1 Social evolution and scientific objectivity 6. 2 Society as a moral reality 6. 3 Meaning and belief 7. Weber 7. 1 Prussian agriculture and the German state 7. 2 Science and the warring gods 7. 3 History and rationalization 7. 4 Liberal imperialism and democratic politics 8. The Illusions of Progress 8. 1 The strange death of liberal Europe 8. 2 Objectivity and estrangement: Simmel 8. 3 The self dissected: Freud 8. 4 Memories of underdevelopment: Russian intellectuals and capitalism 9. Revolution and Counter-Revolution 9. 1 Hegelian Marxism: Lukács and Gramsci 9. 2 Heidegger and the conservative revolution 10. The Golden Age 10. 1 Theories of capitalism: Keynes and Hayek 10. 2 Functionalist sociology: Talcott Parsons 10. 3 Despairing critique: the Frankfurt school 11. Crack-Up? 11. 1 The 1960s and after 11. 2 Structure and subject: Lévi-Strauss and Althusser 11. 3 Nietzsche’s revenge: Foucault and poststructuralism 11. 4 Carrying on the tradition: Habermas and Bourdieu 12. Debating modernity and postmodernity 12. 1 Postmodernity? 12. 2 Modernity and capitalism 12. 3 Reason and nature 12. 4 Theory and practice 12. 5 Universal and particular 12. 6 Beyond capitalism? 13. Changing the subject: globalization, capitalism, and imperialism 13. 1 Much ado about globalization 13. 2 The social as networks ... or as nothing 13. 3 Back to capitalism - and imperialism? 13. 4 The debate resumed Further Reading Index

Reviews

The best of its kind on the market. Steve Fuller, Times Higher Education Alex Callincos has written one of the best historical introductions to sociological thoery. His book also does a nice job of connecting sociological theory to broader intellectual trends and movements. This new edition sustains the quality and improves the coverage. Craig Calhoun, New York University The second edition of Alex Callincos' Social Theory reads in the same beautifully clear, reliable and accessible way as the first edition. The new material adds a further dimension to this splendid book, bringing it fully up to date with debates in which Callinicos has himself played a part. William Outhwaite, University of Sussex

"""The best of its kind on the market."" Steve Fuller, Times Higher Education ""Alex Callincos has written one of the best historical introductions to sociological thoery. His book also does a nice job of connecting sociological theory to broader intellectual trends and movements. This new edition sustains the quality and improves the coverage."" Craig Calhoun, New York University ""The second edition of Alex Callincos' Social Theory reads in the same beautifully clear, reliable and accessible way as the first edition. The new material adds a further dimension to this splendid book, bringing it fully up to date with debates in which Callinicos has himself played a part."" William Outhwaite, University of Sussex"

Author Information

Alex Callinicos, Professor of European Studies, King's College London

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