Foundations of Classical Sociological Theory: Functionalism, Conflict and Action

Foundations of Classical Sociological Theory: Functionalism, Conflict and Action begins by giving an overview of the emergence of sociology as a discipline in the background of socio-economic development that characterized Europe in 18th century. The first part examines how the theorists viewed society as an organism; the second part takes cognizance of the conflict theory and third part deals with the emergence of action theory which took ambivalent position with regard to science and emphasized human agency and consciousness.