Includes bibliographical references (p. 465-472) and index.

Introduction: who is this book for and how do I use it? -- What is social theory? -- Where did social theory come from? -- Emile Durkheim and the coming of industrial society -- Karl Marx, capitalism and revolution -- Max Weber, rational capitalism and social action -- Talcott Parsons, functionalism and the social system -- Social interactionism and the real lives of social actors -- Western Marxism, Antonio Gramsci and the Frankfurt School -- Language, structure, meaning -- Discourse and power: Post-structuralist social theory -- Feminist social theory -- Reviving theories of modernity: Habermas, Giddens and Bourdieu -- Theories of modernity and post-modernity -- Reflexive modernisation: the global dimension and cultural theory -- The boundary problem in contemporary social theory.