A Short History of Sociological Thought

This book is a critical assessment of the work of classical sociologists such as Marx, Weber, and Durkheim and in part two the work of Mead, Goffman, Parsons, Foucault, is critically examined. The relationship between modernity and sociology is critically evaluated and it is argued that sociology arose out of modernity and its theories of society can be understood in this context. The book concludes with a critical view of new theories of identity which have developed out of post-structuralism and postmodernism.

Author Biography: Alan Swingewood is Lecturer of Sociology.