Introduction to Sociological Theory: Concepts and Applications
Edition: 1
Copyright: 2024
Pages: 318
Edition: 2
Copyright: 2026
Pages: 390
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An Introduction to Sociological Theory: Concepts & Applications is clearly written to be accessible and engaging to a wide audience of students. This textbook explores classical and contemporary sociological theories, as well as various theorists from each perspective, and provides relevant and relatable real-life applications of theoretical concepts. Each chapter also includes selections of original writings with easy-to-grasp explanations of these writings.
Following select sections in each chapter are multiple interactive "What Do You Think?" questions, which allow students to delve deeper into theories and concepts discussed throughout the chapter. Each chapter also contains short end-of-chapter quizzes, a key term bank, and key term definitions. The authors also created beautiful and effective PowerPoint lecture slides for each chapter.
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Chapter 1 What Is Social Theory?
What to Expect in This Chapter
What Is Sociology?
How Did Sociology Begin?
Sociology’s Birth in Europe
Pioneers of Sociology
What Do You Think?
What Is Sociological Theory?
Classical Sociological Theories
Structural Functionalism
Social Conflict Theory
What Do You Think?
Symbolic Interactionism Theory
Contemporary Sociological Theories
Critical Theory
Postmodernism and Poststructuralism
What Do You Think?
Theories of Globalization
Conclusion
Reading Original Works
Key Terms
Chapter 1 Questions
Classical Sociological Theorists
Chapter 2 Karl Marx
What to Expect?
Biography
Core Ideas
Social Class—Bourgeoisie and Proletariat
A Quick Look at Monopoly Capitalism
What Do You Think?
Chapter 2 Activity 1
Ruling Ideas and False Consciousness
Commodity Fetishism
Theoretical Orientation
Readings
Introduction to “The German Ideology”
What Do You Think?
Chapter 2 Activity 2
Introduction to Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844
What Do You Think?
Chapter 2 Activity 3
Introduction to the Communist Manifesto
Conclusion
Key Terms
References
Chapter 2 Questions
Chapter 3 Émile Durkheim
What to Expect
Biography
Core Ideas
Social Facts
Collective Consciousness
What Do You Think?
Social Solidarity
Social Integration and Social Regulation
Theoretical Orientation and Methodology
Key Concepts of Functionalism
Readings
Introduction to The Division of Labor in Society
What Do You Think?
Introduction to The Rules of Sociological Method
Introduction to Suicide
Application to Contemporary Life
What Do You Think?
Introduction to The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
Conclusion
Key Terms
End Notes
References
Chapter 3 Questions
Chapter 4 Max Weber
What to Expect?
Biography
Core Ideas
Religious Roots of Capitalism
A Multidimensional Theory of Stratification: Class, Status, and Party
What Do You Think?
Types of Legitimate Authority
Rationalization, Depersonalization, and the Disenchantment of the Modern World
Theoretical Orientation and Methodology
Readings
Introduction to “Class, Status, and Party” Reading
Contemporary Application
What Do You Think?
Introduction to “Charismatic, Traditional, and Legal-Rational Authority”
Reading
Application to Contemporary Society
Introduction to “Bureaucracy” Reading
Application to Contemporary Society
What Do You Think?
Conclusion
Key Terms
References
Chapter 4 Questions
Expanding Classical Sociological Theory
Chapter 5 Georg Simmel
What to Expect
Biography
Core Ideas
Social Interaction
Forms and Content
Geometry of Social Life
What Do You Think?
Chapter 5 Activity 1
What Do You Think?
Money and Economic Life
Money and Rationalization
Money and Impersonal Ties
Money and Quantifiable Goods
Value
Modernity and Urban Life
Theoretical Orientation and Methodology
Readings
Introduction to “The Stranger”
Application to Contemporary Society
What Do You Think?
Introduction to “Exchange”
Application to Contemporary Society
Introduction to “Metropolis and Mental Life”
Application to Contemporary Society
Conclusion
Key Terms
Endnotes
Chapter 5 Questions
Chapter 6 George H. Mead
What to Expect
Biography
Core Ideas
Pragmatism
Symbolic Interaction Theory
Theory of the Self
What Do You Think?
Dialectical Phases of the Self: The I and Me
Theoretical Orientation and Methodology
Research
Readings
Introduction to Mind, Self, and Society (Part I: The Mind)
Introduction to Mind, Self, and Society (Part II: The Self)
What Do You Think?
From Part II: “The Self”
What Do You Think?
Conclusion
Key Terms
End Note
Chapter 6 Questions
Chapter 7 Structural Functionalism
What to Expect
Structural Functionalism: An Overview
Contributions by Herbert Spencer (1820–1903)
What Do You Think?
Contributions by Émile Durkheim
Readings from Suicide
Contemporary Application
Contributions by Talcott C. Parsons
What Do You Think?
Contributions by Robert K. Merton
Contemporary Application
Readings from Merton’s Article, Social Structure and Anomie (1938)
What Do You Think?
Conclusion
Key Terms
References
Chapter 7 Questions
Chapter 8 Critical Theory, Conflict Theory, and Power Dynamics
What to Expect
Power Dynamics
C. Wright Mills
Conflict Theory
Reading
Ralf Dahrendorf
Ida B. Wells
What Do You Think?
Chapter 8 Activity 1
Family Violence Theory
Murray Straus and Richard Gelles
Critical Theory
Application to Contemporary Society
Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno
Herbert Marcuse (1898–1979)
What Do You Think?
Chapter 8 Activity 2
Conclusion
What Do You Think?
Chapter 8 Activity 3
Key Terms
References
Chapter 8 Questions
Chapter 9 Symbolic Interactionism and Dramaturgy
What to Expect
Symbolic Interactionism: An Overview
Blumer’s Three Major Premises of Symbolic Interactionism
What Do You Think?
Chapter 9 Activity 1
Contributions by Harold Garfinkel (1917–2011)
Contributions by Erving Goffman (1922–1982)
Goffman’s “Impression Management”
Goffman’s “Stigma and Social Identity”
What Do You Think?
Chapter 9 Activity 2
Goffman’s “Total Institutions”
Contributions by Arlie Hochschild (1940–)
Hochschild’s Theory of Emotions
What Do You Think?
Chapter 9 Activity 3
Hochschild’s “Commercialization of Human Feeling”
Conclusion
Key Terms
References
Chapter 9 Questions
Chapter 10 Postmodernism and Post-Structuralism
What to Expect
Post-Structuralism
Jacques Derrida
Biography
Core Ideas
Reading
Michel Foucault
Biography
Core Ideas
What Do You Think?
Chapter 10 Activity 1
Reading
Application to Contemporary Society
Postmodernism
Judith Butler
Biography
Core Ideas
Reading
Zygmunt Bauman
Biography
Core Ideas
Reading
Jean Baudrillard
Biography
Core Ideas
What Do You Think?
Chapter 10 Activity 2
Reading
Application to Contemporary Society
Pierre Bourdieu
Biography
Core Ideas
What Do You Think?
Chapter 10 Activity 3
Reading
Conclusion
Key Terms
Endnotes
References
Chapter 10 Questions
Chapter 11 Feminist Theory
What to Expect
Overview of Feminist Theory
Dorothy Smith
Biography
Core Ideas
Reading
Raewyn Connell
Biography
Core Ideas
Reading
What Do You Think?
Chapter 11 Activity 1
Candace West and Don Zimmerman
Biography
Core Ideas
What Do You Think?
Chapter 11 Activity 2
Reading
Conclusion
Key Terms
References
Chapter 11 Questions
Chapter 12 Race and Racism
What to Expect
What Is Race? A Brief Overview
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois
Biography
W. E. B. Du Bois’ Core Ideas
W. E. B. Du Bois’ Readings
What Do You Think?
Theories of Race and Racism
Readings: Critical Race Theory
Colorblind Racism
What Do You Think?
Gender and Racism
Readings: Gender and Racism
What Do You think?
Chapter Conclusion
Key Terms
References
Chapter 12 Questions
Chapter 13 Intersectionality Theory
What to Expect
Intersectionality Theory: An Overview
Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw
Biography
Core Ideas
Reading
Gloria Anzaldúa
Biography
Core Ideas
Reading
Audre Lorde
Biography
Core Ideas
Reading
What Do You Think?
Chapter 13 Activity 1
bell hooks
Biography
Core Ideas
Reading
Patricia Hill Collins
Biography
Core Ideas
Reading
What Do You Think?
Chapter 13 Activity 2
Maxine Baca Zinn and Bonnie Thornton Dill
Biography
Core Ideas
Reading
What Do You Think?
Chapter 13 Activity 3
Conclusion
Key Terms
References
Chapter 13 Questions
Chapter 14 Theories of Globalization
What to Expect
Globalization: An Overview
Immanuel Wallerstein
Biography
Core Ideas
What Do You Think?
Chapter 14 Activity 1
Contributions by Manuel Castells
Core Ideas
Contributions by George Ritzer
Core Ideas
What Do You Think?
Chapter 14 Activity 2
Conclusion
Key Terms
Chapter 14 Questions
Glossary
Dr. Abby Reiter is an assistant professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, where she teaches a variety of courses, including an introduction to sociology, sociological writing and rhetoric, exploring masculinities, and sociological theory. She cocreated a course on race and racism, and a course devoted to feminist theories. She earned her PhD from George Mason University. Her research typically uses a qualitative or mixed methodology to examine experiences with, and manifestations of, various types of interpersonal and institutional oppression, such as racism, heteronormativity, and sexism, and the maintenance of power associated with these systems. She is involved with social justice and inclusion initiatives at the university. She is a member of multiple boards and committees devoted to advancing sociological knowledge, and she is the current President-Elect of the North Carolina Sociological Association.
Dr. Miranda Reiter is an associate professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, where she is the coordinator of the medical sociology minor for the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice. She teaches a variety of courses, including social statistics, social research, health and society, and health inequalities. She earned her PhD from Utah State University and worked as a postdoctoral research assistant at Sam Houston State University. As a social epidemiologist, she studies how social processes and factors impact the health of groups and individuals and contribute to health inequalities. Most of her research focuses on health disparities related to race and other social categories. She is devoted to social justice and is involved with inclusion and diversity efforts at her university, and she is a past President of the North Carolina Sociological Association.
Dr. Victoria Kurdyla (she/they) is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, where they teach a variety of courses including Social Deviance, Sexuality and Society, Criminology, and Family Violence. They earned a Ph.D. in Sociology with a focus on the sociology of crime, deviance, and social control from North Carolina State University. They also hold an M.A. in Sociology and Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Women’s and Gender Studies from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Her research has largely focused on the victimization experiences of queer and transgender people, as well as their experiences seeking help for abuse. She frequently uses queer and intersectional theories to explore how interlocking systems of power exert social control on people as well as how individuals utilize tools of systemic oppression in instances of family violence. She considers herself an advocate for social justice, and she engages in numerous campus and professional initiatives striving towards an equitable society.