"Roberta Garner's successful Social Theory: Continuity and Confrontation is now available in a two-volume format, divided as follows: Social Theory, Volume I: From the Beginnings to the 1960s Social Theory, Volume II: Power and Identity in the Global Era Social Theory: Power and Identity in the Global Era offers students substantial selections from the classic and standard texts alongside unusual and thought-provoking examples of theory in action. The organization of the reader and Garner's short introductions to selections enable students to understand the historical flow of social theory, trace continuities in theory, and see how disagreements and confrontations shape theory. Her introductions, written in clear, down-to-earth language, highlight links among theorists. She shows that theoretical traditions are not rigidly separated from one another, but are always in conversation?addressing and challenging each other. She discusses how changes in society bring about changes in theories and notes the relationship between theories and research methods.
Attention is given throughout the book to counter-currents as well as mainstream social thought. Designed to be easily read in conjunction with most theory texts currently available, the book contains selections which are written by theorists from a range of national origins and cultural backgrounds. Their writings trace the emergence and elaboration of key concepts such as power, class, ethnicity, and gender inequalities; hegemony; interaction; and structure and function. Readings also cover culture, the media, technology, and globalization. Theorists in Social Theory: Power and Identity in the Global Era include Walter Benjamin, Antonio Gramsci, C. Wright Mills, Marshall McLuhan, Pierre Bourdieu, Jurgen Habermas, Anthony Giddens, Michel Foucault, Dorothy Smith, Janice Boddy, Frederic Jameson, Stuart Hall, Arjun Appadurai and others. "Garner's writing style is a real treasure. Her breezy approach avoids long, overly abstract sentences and summarizes the theories accessibly. I'm impressed!"
- Carol Ray, San Jose State University Special Combined Price: A special package price is available on course text orders when Social Theory, Volume II: Power and Identity in the Global Era is ordered together with A Good Book, In Theory by Alan Sears. Please contact customerservice@broadviewpress.com for more details.
