Table of Contents

Introduction (to be read): The Real You
Acknowledgments
Part I. Introduction
1. In the Beginning There Was Modernity
2. Defining Moments in 20th-Century Theory: Talcott Parsons and The Frankfurt School
Part II. The Social Situation and Its People
3. Symbolic Interaction: Herbert Blumer (1900–1987)
4. Organizing Ordinary Life: Harold Garfinkel (1917–)
5. Performing the Self: Erving Goffman (1922–1982)
6. Social Exchanges: George Homans, Peter Blau, and Randall Collins
Elementary Forms of Social Behavior: George Homans (1910–1989),
Social Exchanges and Power: Peter Blau (1918–2002)
Ritualized Exchanges: Randall Collins (1941–)
Part III. Social Structures and Systems
7. Structures of Racial and Gender Inequality: William Julius Wilson and Janet Saltzman Chafetz
The Declining Significance of Race: William Julius Wilson (1935–)
The Structures of Gender Inequality: Janet Saltzman Chafetz (1942–2006)
8. Structuring Class: Pierre Bourdieu (1960–2002)
9. Global Capitalism: Immanuel Wallerstein (1930–)
10. The Network Society: Manuel Castells (1942–)
Part IV: Modernity and Postmodernity
11. Modernity and Reason: Jürgen Habermas (1929–)
12. Runaway Modernity: Anthony Giddens (1938–)
13. Defining the Possible and Impossible: Michel Foucault (1926–1984)
14. The End of Everything: Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007)
Part V. Identity Politics
15. Racial Wounds and the Niggerization of America: Cornel West (1953–)
16. Text, Power, and Women: Dorothy E. Smith (1926–)
17. Embodying Sex: Judith Butler (1956–)
Glossary
References
Index
About the Author

About the Author

Kenneth Allan received his PhD in sociology from the University of California, Riverside (1995), and is currently professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). Before moving to UNCG, he directed the Teaching Assistant Development Program at the University of California, Riverside, and coedited Training Teaching Assistants, 2nd Edition (1997), published by the American Sociological Association. In addition to teaching classical and contemporary theory at UNCG, Allan also supervised UNCG’s sociology iSchool program, which offered online introduction to sociology classes to high school students across North Carolina, has designed several online courses for both the college and department, and has regularly taught graduate pedagogy courses. Allan’s research areas include theory, culture, and the self. He has authored several works in the area of theory, including multiple textbooks covering classical and contemporary theory, as well as The Meaning of Culture: Moving the Postmodern Critique Forward, and A Primer in Social and Sociological Theory: Toward a Sociology of Citizenship. His current projects include a social history of American individualism, a sociological analysis of consciousness and self, as well as a novel based in early 20th century American life.