CONTENTS
Introduction : The Theoretical Self = 1
Personal knowledge : from knowing that to knowing how = 5
Social theory and its recent history = 6
What is a social theory? = 7
What do social theorists do? = 8
The limits of what social theory can do = 10
Social theory and the search for truth = 11
Conclusion = 13
1 Functionalist Perspectives : Theorising Systems and Structures = 15
Emile Durkheim(1858-1917) = 17
Talcott Parsons : The Funcionalist Approach = 30
Neil Smelser : Social Paralysis and Social Change = 34
Niklas Luhmann : 'Autopoietic Systems Theory' = 36
Summary = 44
2 Marxism : Theorising Capitalism - Debates and Developments = 47
The labour theory of value = 50
The dominant ideology = 52
Marxism : modernist perspectives = 54
Marx on ideology = 55
The Frankfurt School = 56
Walter Benjamin = 58
J$$\ddot u$$rgen Habermas = 58
British cultural studies = 61
Post-Fordism = 63
Baudrillard, postmodernity and Marxism = 70
Post-communism = 73
Laclau(1935-present) and Mouffe(1943-present) = 75
Fredric Jameson(1934-present) = 76
Alex Callinicos = 79
Karl Mannheim : the transition from the theory of ideology to the sociology of knowledge = 82
From post-industrial society theory to network society theory = 84
The information society = 85
What is information? = 87
Daniel Bell : the coming of post-industrial society = 88
Manuel Castells = 92
Manuel Castells : the network society = 92
Summary = 104
3 The Action Perspectives : Theorising Social Action and Self = 107
Blumer and symbolic interactionism = 110
Mead's social analysis = 115
Sigmund Freud = 115
Alfred Schutz on action, interaction and sociological phenomenology = 117
Erving Goffman : the ethnographer of the self = 119
Erving Goffman : Stigma : Notes on the Management of a Spoiled Identity(1963) = 126
Charles Taylor on the self = 128
Christopher Lasch on the self = 128
Richard Sennett on the self = 130
Ethnomethodology = 131
The ethnomethodological self : Agnes the transsexual = 133
Conversation analysis = 136
Summary = 138
4 Feminist Approaches : Theorising Patriarchy and Oppression = 141
What is feminism? = 147
Radical feminism = 148
Sylvia Walby : theorising patriarchy = 150
Socialist feminism = 152
Third-wave feminism = 154
Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality = 155
The Order of Things = 159
The History of Sexuality = 164
Critiques of Foucault = 166
Jacques Lacan's model of a decentred and unstable identity = 167
Jacques Derrida's notions of deconstruction and 'performativity' = 167
Judith Butler = 168
Marjorie Garber : Vested Interests : Cross-Dressing and Cultural Anxiety = 169
Naomi Wolf = 170
Camille Paglia = 172
Luce Irigaray = 175
Conclusions = 177
5 Anthony Giddens : Theorising Agency and Structure = 181
Giddens on the relationship between 'agency' and 'structure' = 183
From emancipatory politics to life politics = 186
Self = 187
Agency and structure = 187
Giddens's critique of postmodernism = 194
Life politics, social movements and the far side of modernity = 195
Why are individual selves reflexive in modernity? = 196
Risk = 197
Reflexive modernisation = 199
What is individualisation? = 200
What is globalisation? = 201
Pierre Bourdieu = 203
Norbert Elias = 205
Conclusion = 209
6 Postmodernism : Theorising Fragmentation and Uncertainty = 211
Friedrich Nietzsche = 213
'Gloss' and 'disclaimers' in the writings of Jean-Fran$$\cedil c$$ois Lyotard = 217
Lyotard, The Diff$$\acute e$$rend : Phrases in Dispute(1988) = 219
Critique of Lyotard = 221
Richard Rorty = 223
Zygmunt Bauman = 226
The creation of a postmodernist = 229
Bauman as modernist = 230
Bauman as postmodernist = 234
What is a modern person? = 237
The modern identity = 238
Bauman : the critique of life in the postmodern conditon = 243
Deleuze and Guattari = 244
Jean Baudrillard(1929-present) = 259
Gianni Vattimo(1936-present) = 262
Critiques of postmodernism = 265
In conclusion : living in the postmodern condition = 270
Index = 275
Introduction : The Theoretical Self = 1
Personal knowledge : from knowing that to knowing how = 5
Social theory and its recent history = 6
What is a social theory? = 7
What do social theorists do? = 8
The limits of what social theory can do = 10
Social theory and the search for truth = 11
Conclusion = 13
1 Functionalist Perspectives : Theorising Systems and Structures = 15
Emile Durkheim(1858-1917) = 17
Talcott Parsons : The Funcionalist Approach = 30
Neil Smelser : Social Paralysis and Social Change = 34
Niklas Luhmann : 'Autopoietic Systems Theory' = 36
Summary = 44
2 Marxism : Theorising Capitalism - Debates and Developments = 47
The labour theory of value = 50
The dominant ideology = 52
Marxism : modernist perspectives = 54
Marx on ideology = 55
The Frankfurt School = 56
Walter Benjamin = 58
J$$\ddot u$$rgen Habermas = 58
British cultural studies = 61
Post-Fordism = 63
Baudrillard, postmodernity and Marxism = 70
Post-communism = 73
Laclau(1935-present) and Mouffe(1943-present) = 75
Fredric Jameson(1934-present) = 76
Alex Callinicos = 79
Karl Mannheim : the transition from the theory of ideology to the sociology of knowledge = 82
From post-industrial society theory to network society theory = 84
The information society = 85
What is information? = 87
Daniel Bell : the coming of post-industrial society = 88
Manuel Castells = 92
Manuel Castells : the network society = 92
Summary = 104
3 The Action Perspectives : Theorising Social Action and Self = 107
Blumer and symbolic interactionism = 110
Mead's social analysis = 115
Sigmund Freud = 115
Alfred Schutz on action, interaction and sociological phenomenology = 117
Erving Goffman : the ethnographer of the self = 119
Erving Goffman : Stigma : Notes on the Management of a Spoiled Identity(1963) = 126
Charles Taylor on the self = 128
Christopher Lasch on the self = 128
Richard Sennett on the self = 130
Ethnomethodology = 131
The ethnomethodological self : Agnes the transsexual = 133
Conversation analysis = 136
Summary = 138
4 Feminist Approaches : Theorising Patriarchy and Oppression = 141
What is feminism? = 147
Radical feminism = 148
Sylvia Walby : theorising patriarchy = 150
Socialist feminism = 152
Third-wave feminism = 154
Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality = 155
The Order of Things = 159
The History of Sexuality = 164
Critiques of Foucault = 166
Jacques Lacan's model of a decentred and unstable identity = 167
Jacques Derrida's notions of deconstruction and 'performativity' = 167
Judith Butler = 168
Marjorie Garber : Vested Interests : Cross-Dressing and Cultural Anxiety = 169
Naomi Wolf = 170
Camille Paglia = 172
Luce Irigaray = 175
Conclusions = 177
5 Anthony Giddens : Theorising Agency and Structure = 181
Giddens on the relationship between 'agency' and 'structure' = 183
From emancipatory politics to life politics = 186
Self = 187
Agency and structure = 187
Giddens's critique of postmodernism = 194
Life politics, social movements and the far side of modernity = 195
Why are individual selves reflexive in modernity? = 196
Risk = 197
Reflexive modernisation = 199
What is individualisation? = 200
What is globalisation? = 201
Pierre Bourdieu = 203
Norbert Elias = 205
Conclusion = 209
6 Postmodernism : Theorising Fragmentation and Uncertainty = 211
Friedrich Nietzsche = 213
'Gloss' and 'disclaimers' in the writings of Jean-Fran$$\cedil c$$ois Lyotard = 217
Lyotard, The Diff$$\acute e$$rend : Phrases in Dispute(1988) = 219
Critique of Lyotard = 221
Richard Rorty = 223
Zygmunt Bauman = 226
The creation of a postmodernist = 229
Bauman as modernist = 230
Bauman as postmodernist = 234
What is a modern person? = 237
The modern identity = 238
Bauman : the critique of life in the postmodern conditon = 243
Deleuze and Guattari = 244
Jean Baudrillard(1929-present) = 259
Gianni Vattimo(1936-present) = 262
Critiques of postmodernism = 265
In conclusion : living in the postmodern condition = 270
Index = 275