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<span>History</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-History-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle History subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-History-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Ancient" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Ancient"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.1</span> <span>Ancient</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Ancient-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Medieval" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Medieval"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.2</span> <span>Medieval</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Medieval-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-European_social_thought" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#European_social_thought"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.3</span> <span>European social thought</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-European_social_thought-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Classical_social_theory" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Classical_social_theory"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.3.1</span> <span>Classical social theory</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Classical_social_theory-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Post-modern_social_theory" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Post-modern_social_theory"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.3.2</span> <span>Post-modern social theory</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Post-modern_social_theory-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Today" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Today"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.3.3</span> <span>Today</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Today-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Schools_of_thought" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Schools_of_thought"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3</span> <span>Schools of thought</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Schools_of_thought-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Schools of thought subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Schools_of_thought-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Chicago_school" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Chicago_school"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.1</span> <span>Chicago school</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Chicago_school-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Critical_theory" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Critical_theory"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.2</span> <span>Critical theory</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Critical_theory-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Marxism" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Marxism"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.3</span> <span>Marxism</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Marxism-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Postmodernism" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Postmodernism"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.4</span> <span>Postmodernism</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Postmodernism-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Other_perspectives" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Other_perspectives"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.5</span> <span>Other perspectives</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Other_perspectives-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Key_thinkers" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Key_thinkers"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4</span> <span>Key thinkers</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Key_thinkers-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Key thinkers subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Key_thinkers-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-French_social_thought" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#French_social_thought"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.1</span> <span>French social thought</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-French_social_thought-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-British_social_thought" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#British_social_thought"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.2</span> <span>British social thought</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-British_social_thought-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-German_social_thought" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#German_social_thought"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.3</span> <span>German social thought</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-German_social_thought-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Chinese_social_thought" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Chinese_social_thought"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.4</span> <span>Chinese social thought</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Chinese_social_thought-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Italian_sociology" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Italian_sociology"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.5</span> <span>Italian sociology</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Italian_sociology-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Thai_social_thought" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Thai_social_thought"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.6</span> <span>Thai social thought</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Thai_social_thought-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-In_academic_practices" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#In_academic_practices"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5</span> <span>In academic practices</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-In_academic_practices-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle In academic practices subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-In_academic_practices-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Example_of_questions_posed_by_social_theorists" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Example_of_questions_posed_by_social_theorists"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5.1</span> <span>Example of questions posed by social theorists</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Example_of_questions_posed_by_social_theorists-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-See_also" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#See_also"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6</span> <span>See also</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-See_also-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-References" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#References"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">7</span> <span>References</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-References-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Further_reading" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Further_reading"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">8</span> <span>Further reading</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Further_reading-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-External_links" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#External_links"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">9</span> <span>External links</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-External_links-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="mw-content-container"> <main id="content" class="mw-body"> <header class="mw-body-header vector-page-titlebar"> <nav aria-label="Contents" class="vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-titlebar-toc vector-button-flush-left" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" 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Available in 25 languages" > <label id="p-lang-btn-label" for="p-lang-btn-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--action-progressive mw-portlet-lang-heading-25" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-language-progressive mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-language-progressive"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">25 languages</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ar mw-list-item"><a href="https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%86%D8%B8%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A9_%D8%A7%D8%AC%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B9%D9%8A%D8%A9" title="نظرية اجتماعية – Arabic" lang="ar" hreflang="ar" data-title="نظرية اجتماعية" data-language-autonym="العربية" data-language-local-name="Arabic" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>العربية</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ast mw-list-item"><a href="https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teor%C3%ADa_social" title="Teoría social – Asturian" lang="ast" hreflang="ast" data-title="Teoría social" data-language-autonym="Asturianu" data-language-local-name="Asturian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Asturianu</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bn mw-list-item"><a href="https://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%AE%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%9C%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%95_%E0%A6%9C%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%9E%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A8%E0%A6%A4%E0%A6%A4%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%A4%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AC" title="সামাজিক জ্ঞানতত্ত্ব – Bangla" lang="bn" hreflang="bn" data-title="সামাজিক জ্ঞানতত্ত্ব" data-language-autonym="বাংলা" data-language-local-name="Bangla" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>বাংলা</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bg mw-list-item"><a href="https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D0%BE%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%8F" title="Социална теория – Bulgarian" lang="bg" hreflang="bg" data-title="Социална теория" data-language-autonym="Български" data-language-local-name="Bulgarian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Български</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ca mw-list-item"><a href="https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teoria_social" title="Teoria social – Catalan" lang="ca" hreflang="ca" data-title="Teoria social" data-language-autonym="Català" data-language-local-name="Catalan" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Català</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-cs mw-list-item"><a href="https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soci%C3%A1ln%C3%AD_teorie" title="Sociální teorie – Czech" lang="cs" hreflang="cs" data-title="Sociální teorie" data-language-autonym="Čeština" data-language-local-name="Czech" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Čeština</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-es mw-list-item"><a href="https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teor%C3%ADa_social" title="Teoría social – Spanish" lang="es" hreflang="es" data-title="Teoría social" data-language-autonym="Español" data-language-local-name="Spanish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Español</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-eo mw-list-item"><a href="https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socia_teorio" title="Socia teorio – Esperanto" lang="eo" hreflang="eo" data-title="Socia teorio" data-language-autonym="Esperanto" data-language-local-name="Esperanto" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Esperanto</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fa mw-list-item"><a href="https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%86%D8%B8%D8%B1%DB%8C%D9%87_%D8%A7%D8%AC%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B9%DB%8C" title="نظریه اجتماعی – Persian" lang="fa" hreflang="fa" data-title="نظریه اجتماعی" data-language-autonym="فارسی" data-language-local-name="Persian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>فارسی</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fr mw-list-item"><a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%A9orie_sociale" title="Théorie sociale – French" lang="fr" hreflang="fr" data-title="Théorie sociale" data-language-autonym="Français" data-language-local-name="French" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Français</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ko mw-list-item"><a href="https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%82%AC%ED%9A%8C_%EC%9D%B4%EB%A1%A0" title="사회 이론 – Korean" lang="ko" hreflang="ko" data-title="사회 이론" data-language-autonym="한국어" data-language-local-name="Korean" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>한국어</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-mk mw-list-item"><a href="https://mk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9E%D0%BF%D1%88%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%98%D0%B0" title="Општествена теорија – Macedonian" lang="mk" hreflang="mk" data-title="Општествена теорија" data-language-autonym="Македонски" data-language-local-name="Macedonian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Македонски</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ja mw-list-item"><a href="https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%A4%BE%E4%BC%9A%E7%90%86%E8%AB%96" title="社会理論 – Japanese" lang="ja" hreflang="ja" data-title="社会理論" data-language-autonym="日本語" data-language-local-name="Japanese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>日本語</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ce mw-list-item"><a href="https://ce.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%99%D1%83%D0%BA%D1%8A%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%BB%D0%B0_%D1%85%D0%B0%D0%B0%D1%80" title="Йукъаралла хаар – Chechen" lang="ce" hreflang="ce" data-title="Йукъаралла хаар" data-language-autonym="Нохчийн" data-language-local-name="Chechen" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Нохчийн</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pt mw-list-item"><a href="https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teoria_social" title="Teoria social – Portuguese" lang="pt" hreflang="pt" data-title="Teoria social" data-language-autonym="Português" data-language-local-name="Portuguese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Português</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ru mw-list-item"><a href="https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9E%D0%B1%D1%89%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%B7%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5" title="Обществознание – Russian" lang="ru" hreflang="ru" data-title="Обществознание" data-language-autonym="Русский" data-language-local-name="Russian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Русский</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sk mw-list-item"><a href="https://sk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soci%C3%A1lna_te%C3%B3ria" title="Sociálna teória – Slovak" lang="sk" hreflang="sk" data-title="Sociálna teória" data-language-autonym="Slovenčina" data-language-local-name="Slovak" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Slovenčina</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fi mw-list-item"><a href="https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yhteiskuntateoria" title="Yhteiskuntateoria – Finnish" lang="fi" hreflang="fi" data-title="Yhteiskuntateoria" data-language-autonym="Suomi" data-language-local-name="Finnish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Suomi</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-tl mw-list-item"><a href="https://tl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teoryang_panlipunan" title="Teoryang panlipunan – Tagalog" lang="tl" hreflang="tl" data-title="Teoryang panlipunan" data-language-autonym="Tagalog" data-language-local-name="Tagalog" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Tagalog</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-tr mw-list-item"><a href="https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sosyal_teori" title="Sosyal teori – Turkish" lang="tr" hreflang="tr" data-title="Sosyal teori" data-language-autonym="Türkçe" data-language-local-name="Turkish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Türkçe</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-uk mw-list-item"><a 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data-language-autonym="Yorùbá" data-language-local-name="Yoruba" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Yorùbá</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-zh-yue mw-list-item"><a href="https://zh-yue.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%A4%BE%E6%9C%83%E7%90%86%E8%AB%96" title="社會理論 – Cantonese" lang="yue" hreflang="yue" data-title="社會理論" data-language-autonym="粵語" data-language-local-name="Cantonese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>粵語</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-zh mw-list-item"><a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%A4%BE%E6%9C%83%E7%90%86%E8%AB%96" title="社會理論 – Chinese" lang="zh" hreflang="zh" data-title="社會理論" data-language-autonym="中文" data-language-local-name="Chinese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>中文</span></a></li> </ul> <div class="after-portlet after-portlet-lang"><span class="wb-langlinks-edit wb-langlinks-link"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityPage/Q1990987#sitelinks-wikipedia" title="Edit interlanguage 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0.4em;text-align:left;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6em;font-size:105%}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-list-title-c{padding:0 0.4em;text-align:center;margin:0 3.3em}@media(max-width:640px){body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .sidebar{width:100%!important;clear:both;float:none!important;margin-left:0!important;margin-right:0!important}}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .sidebar a>img{max-width:none!important}@media screen{html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-list-title,html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle{background:transparent!important}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle a{color:var(--color-progressive)!important}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-list-title,html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle{background:transparent!important}html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle a{color:var(--color-progressive)!important}}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .sidebar{display:none!important}}</style><table class="sidebar sidebar-collapse nomobile nowraplinks hlist"><tbody><tr><td class="sidebar-pretitle">Part of a series on</td></tr><tr><th class="sidebar-title-with-pretitle"><a href="/wiki/Sociology" title="Sociology">Sociology</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-image"><span class="mw-image-border" typeof="mw:File/Frameless"><a href="/wiki/File:Social_Network_Diagram_(segment).svg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e4/Social_Network_Diagram_%28segment%29.svg/250px-Social_Network_Diagram_%28segment%29.svg.png" decoding="async" width="250" height="97" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e4/Social_Network_Diagram_%28segment%29.svg/375px-Social_Network_Diagram_%28segment%29.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e4/Social_Network_Diagram_%28segment%29.svg/500px-Social_Network_Diagram_%28segment%29.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="670" data-file-height="260" /></a></span></td></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-above" style="padding-bottom:0.35em;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/History_of_sociology" title="History of sociology">History</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Outline_of_sociology" title="Outline of sociology">Outline</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Index_of_sociology_articles" title="Index of sociology articles">Index</a></li></ul></td></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="padding-top:0.2em;"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="background:#ddddff;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)">Key themes</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Society" title="Society">Society</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Globalization" title="Globalization">Globalization</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Human_behavior" title="Human behavior">Human behavior</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Human_impact_on_the_environment" title="Human impact on the environment">Human environmental impact</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Identity_(social_science)" title="Identity (social science)">Identity</a></li> <li>Industrial revolutions <a href="/wiki/Digital_Revolution" class="mw-redirect" title="Digital Revolution">3</a> / <a href="/wiki/Fourth_Industrial_Revolution" title="Fourth Industrial Revolution">4</a> / <a href="/wiki/Fifth_Industrial_Revolution" class="mw-redirect" title="Fifth Industrial Revolution">5</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Popularity" title="Popularity">Popularity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Social_complexity" title="Social complexity">Social complexity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Social_environment" title="Social environment">Social environment</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Social_equality" title="Social equality">Social equality</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Social_equity" title="Social equity">Social equity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Power_(social_and_political)" title="Power (social and political)">Social power</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Social_stratification" title="Social stratification">Social stratification</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Social_structure" title="Social structure">Social structure</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Social_cycle_theory" title="Social cycle theory">Social cycle theory</a></li></ul> </div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="padding-top:0.2em;"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="background:#ddddff;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)"><a href="/wiki/Sociological_theory" title="Sociological theory">Perspectives</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Conflict_theories" title="Conflict theories">Conflict theory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Critical_theory" title="Critical theory">Critical theory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Structural_functionalism" title="Structural functionalism">Structural functionalism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Positivism" title="Positivism">Positivism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Social_constructionism" title="Social constructionism">Social constructionism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Social_darwinism" class="mw-redirect" title="Social darwinism">Social darwinism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Symbolic_interactionism" title="Symbolic interactionism">Symbolic interactionism</a></li></ul> </div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="padding-top:0.2em;"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="background:#ddddff;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)"><a href="/wiki/Branches_of_sociology" class="mw-redirect" title="Branches of sociology">Branches</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Gerontology" title="Gerontology">Aging</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_architecture" title="Sociology of architecture">Architecture</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_art" title="Sociology of art">Art</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Astrosociology" title="Astrosociology">Astrosociology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_the_body" title="Sociology of the body">Body</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Criminology" title="Criminology">Criminology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_human_consciousness" title="Sociology of human consciousness">Consciousness</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_culture" title="Sociology of culture">Culture</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_death" title="Sociology of death">Death</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Demography" title="Demography">Demography</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Deviance_(sociology)" title="Deviance (sociology)">Deviance</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_disaster" title="Sociology of disaster">Disaster</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Economic_sociology" title="Economic sociology">Economic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_education" title="Sociology of education">Education</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_emotions" title="Sociology of emotions">Emotion</a> (<a href="/wiki/Social_aspects_of_jealousy" title="Social aspects of jealousy">Jealousy</a>)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Environmental_sociology" title="Environmental sociology">Environmental</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_the_family" title="Sociology of the family">Family</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Feminist_sociology" title="Feminist sociology">Feminist</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fiscal_sociology" title="Fiscal sociology">Fiscal</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_food" title="Sociology of food">Food</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_gender" title="Sociology of gender">Gender</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Theory_of_generations" title="Theory of generations">Generations</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_health_and_illness" title="Sociology of health and illness">Health</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Historical_sociology" title="Historical sociology">Historical</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_immigration" title="Sociology of immigration">Immigration</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Industrial_sociology" title="Industrial sociology">Industrial</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_the_Internet" title="Sociology of the Internet">Internet</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_Jewry" title="Sociology of Jewry">Jewry</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_knowledge" title="Sociology of knowledge">Knowledge</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_language" title="Sociology of language">Language</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_law" title="Sociology of law">Law</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_leisure" title="Sociology of leisure">Leisure</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_literature" title="Sociology of literature">Literature</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Marxist_sociology" title="Marxist sociology">Marxist</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mathematical_sociology" title="Mathematical sociology">Mathematic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Medical_sociology" title="Medical sociology">Medical</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Military_sociology" title="Military sociology">Military</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociomusicology" title="Sociomusicology">Music</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_peace,_war,_and_social_conflict" title="Sociology of peace, war, and social conflict">Peace, war, and social conflict</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_philosophy" title="Sociology of philosophy">Philosophy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Political_sociology" title="Political sociology">Political</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Public_sociology" title="Public sociology">Public</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_punishment" title="Sociology of punishment">Punishment</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_race_and_ethnic_relations" title="Sociology of race and ethnic relations">Race and ethnicity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_religion" title="Sociology of religion">Religion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rural_sociology" title="Rural sociology">Rural</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_scientific_knowledge" title="Sociology of scientific knowledge">Science</a> (<a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_the_history_of_science" title="Sociology of the history of science">History of science</a>)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Social_movement_theory" title="Social movement theory">Social movements</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Social_psychology_(sociology)" title="Social psychology (sociology)">Social psychology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociocybernetics" title="Sociocybernetics">Sociocybernetics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_sociology" title="Sociology of sociology">Sociology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_space" title="Sociology of space">Space</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_sport" title="Sociology of sport">Sport</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Social_construction_of_technology" title="Social construction of technology">Technology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology_of_terrorism" title="Sociology of terrorism">Terrorism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Urban_sociology" title="Urban sociology">Urban</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Real_utopian_sociology" title="Real utopian sociology">Utopian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Victimology" title="Victimology">Victimology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Visual_sociology" title="Visual sociology">Visual</a></li></ul> </div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="padding-top:0.2em;"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="background:#ddddff;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)"><a href="/wiki/Social_research" title="Social research">Methods</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Quantitative_research" title="Quantitative research">Quantitative</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Qualitative_research" title="Qualitative research">Qualitative</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Comparative_historical_research" title="Comparative historical research">Comparative</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Computational_sociology" title="Computational sociology">Computational</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ethnography" title="Ethnography">Ethnographic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Conversation_analysis" title="Conversation analysis">Conversation analysis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Historical_method" title="Historical method">Historical</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Interview_(research)" title="Interview (research)">Interview</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mathematical_sociology" title="Mathematical sociology">Mathematical</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Social_network_analysis" title="Social network analysis">Network analysis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Social_experiment" title="Social experiment">Social experiment</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Survey_(human_research)" title="Survey (human research)">Survey</a></li></ul> </div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="padding-top:0.2em;"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="background:#ddddff;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)"><a href="/wiki/List_of_sociologists" title="List of sociologists">Major theorists</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"> <ul><li><b>1700s:</b> <a href="/wiki/Auguste_Comte" title="Auguste Comte">Comte</a> · <a href="/wiki/Emmanuel_Joseph_Siey%C3%A8s" title="Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès">Sieyès</a><br /></li></ul> <p><b>1800s:</b> <a href="/wiki/Harriet_Martineau" title="Harriet Martineau">Martineau</a> · <a href="/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville" title="Alexis de Tocqueville">Tocqueville</a> · <a href="/wiki/Karl_Marx" title="Karl Marx">Marx</a> · <a href="/wiki/Herbert_Spencer" title="Herbert Spencer">Spencer</a> · <a href="/wiki/Gustave_Le_Bon" title="Gustave Le Bon">Le Bon</a> · <a href="/wiki/Lester_Frank_Ward" title="Lester Frank Ward">Ward</a> · <a href="/wiki/Vilfredo_Pareto" title="Vilfredo Pareto">Pareto</a> · <a href="/wiki/Ferdinand_T%C3%B6nnies" title="Ferdinand Tönnies">Tönnies</a> · <a href="/wiki/Thorstein_Veblen" title="Thorstein Veblen">Veblen</a> · <a href="/wiki/Georg_Simmel" title="Georg Simmel">Simmel</a> · <a href="/wiki/%C3%89mile_Durkheim" title="Émile Durkheim">Durkheim</a> · <a href="/wiki/Jane_Addams" title="Jane Addams">Addams</a> · <a href="/wiki/George_Herbert_Mead" title="George Herbert Mead">Mead</a> · <a href="/wiki/Max_Weber" title="Max Weber">Weber</a> · <a href="/wiki/W.E.B._Du_Bois" class="mw-redirect" title="W.E.B. Du Bois">Du Bois</a> · <a href="/wiki/Karl_Mannheim" title="Karl Mannheim">Mannheim</a> · <a href="/wiki/Norbert_Elias" title="Norbert Elias">Elias</a><br /> </p> <b>1900s:</b> <a href="/wiki/Erich_Fromm" title="Erich Fromm">Fromm</a> · <a href="/wiki/Theodor_W._Adorno" title="Theodor W. Adorno">Adorno</a> · <a href="/wiki/Arnold_Gehlen" title="Arnold Gehlen">Gehlen</a> · <a href="/wiki/Raymond_Aron" title="Raymond Aron">Aron</a> · <a href="/wiki/Robert_K._Merton" title="Robert K. Merton">Merton</a> · <a href="/wiki/Robert_Nisbet" title="Robert Nisbet">Nisbet</a> · <a href="/wiki/C._Wright_Mills" title="C. Wright Mills">Mills</a> · <a href="/wiki/Daniel_Bell" title="Daniel Bell">Bell</a> · <a href="/wiki/Helmut_Schoeck" title="Helmut Schoeck">Schoeck</a> · <a href="/wiki/Erving_Goffman" title="Erving Goffman">Goffman</a> · <a href="/wiki/Zygmunt_Bauman" title="Zygmunt Bauman">Bauman</a> · <a href="/wiki/Michel_Foucault" title="Michel Foucault">Foucault</a> · <a href="/wiki/Niklas_Luhmann" title="Niklas Luhmann">Luhmann </a> · <a href="/wiki/J%C3%BCrgen_Habermas" title="Jürgen Habermas">Habermas</a> · <a href="/wiki/Jean_Baudrillard" title="Jean Baudrillard">Baudrillard</a> · <a href="/wiki/Pierre_Bourdieu" title="Pierre Bourdieu">Bourdieu</a> · <a href="/wiki/Anthony_Giddens" title="Anthony Giddens">Giddens</a></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="padding-top:0.2em;"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="background:#ddddff;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)"><a href="/wiki/Index_of_sociology_articles" title="Index of sociology articles">Lists</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Bibliography_of_sociology" title="Bibliography of sociology">Bibliography</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Category:Sociological_terminology" title="Category:Sociological terminology">Terminology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_sociology_journals" title="List of sociology journals">Journals</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_sociological_associations" title="List of sociological associations">Organizations</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_sociologists" title="List of sociologists">People</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Timeline_of_sociology" title="Timeline of sociology">Timeline</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Category:Sociology_by_country" title="Category:Sociology by country">By country</a></li></ul> </div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-below" style="border-top:1px solid #aaa;border-bottom:1px solid #aaa;"> <ul><li><span class="nowrap"><span class="noviewer" typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Social_sciences.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="icon" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/42/Social_sciences.svg/16px-Social_sciences.svg.png" decoding="async" width="16" height="14" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/42/Social_sciences.svg/24px-Social_sciences.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/42/Social_sciences.svg/32px-Social_sciences.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="139" data-file-height="122" /></a></span> </span><a href="/wiki/Portal:Society" title="Portal:Society">Society portal</a></li></ul></td></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-navbar"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239400231">.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:inline;font-size:88%;font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output 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.navbar{display:none!important}}</style><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Sociology" title="Template:Sociology"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Sociology" title="Template talk:Sociology"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Sociology" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Sociology"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p><b>Social theories</b> are analytical frameworks, or <a href="/wiki/Paradigm" title="Paradigm">paradigms</a>, that are used to study and interpret <a href="/wiki/Social_phenomenon" title="Social phenomenon">social phenomena</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-auto_1-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-auto-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> A tool used by <a href="/wiki/Social_scientists" class="mw-redirect" title="Social scientists">social scientists</a>, social theories relate to historical debates over the validity and reliability of different methodologies (e.g. <a href="/wiki/Positivism" title="Positivism">positivism</a> and <a href="/wiki/Antipositivism" title="Antipositivism">antipositivism</a>), the primacy of either <a href="/wiki/Structure_or_agency" class="mw-redirect" title="Structure or agency">structure or agency</a>, as well as the relationship between contingency and necessity. Social theory in an informal nature, or authorship based outside of academic social and political science, may be referred to as "<a href="/wiki/Social_criticism" title="Social criticism">social criticism</a>" or "<a href="/wiki/Social_commentary" title="Social commentary">social commentary</a>", or "cultural criticism" and may be associated both with formal <a href="/wiki/Cultural_studies" title="Cultural studies">cultural</a> and <a href="/wiki/Literary_criticism" title="Literary criticism">literary</a> scholarship, as well as other non-academic or journalistic forms of writing.<sup id="cite_ref-auto_1-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-auto-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Definitions">Definitions</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Social_theory&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Definitions"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <figure class="mw-halign-right" typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:What_is_a_Social_Theory%3F.png" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/50/What_is_a_Social_Theory%3F.png/400px-What_is_a_Social_Theory%3F.png" decoding="async" width="400" height="458" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/50/What_is_a_Social_Theory%3F.png/600px-What_is_a_Social_Theory%3F.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/50/What_is_a_Social_Theory%3F.png/800px-What_is_a_Social_Theory%3F.png 2x" data-file-width="2411" data-file-height="2761" /></a><figcaption></figcaption></figure> <p><b>Social theory</b> by definition is used to make distinctions and generalizations among different types of societies, and to analyze <a href="/wiki/Modernity" title="Modernity">modernity</a> as it has emerged in the past few centuries.<sup id="cite_ref-Callinicos_2-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Callinicos-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference nowrap"><span title="Page / location: 10">: 10 </span></sup> Social theory, as it is recognized today, emerged in the 20th century as a distinct discipline, and was largely equated with an attitude of critical thinking and the desire for knowledge through <i><a href="/wiki/Empirical_evidence" title="Empirical evidence">a posteriori</a></i> methods of discovery, rather than <i><a href="/wiki/A_priori_and_a_posteriori" title="A priori and a posteriori">a priori</a></i> methods of tradition.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (December 2017)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p><p><b>Social thought</b> provides general theories to explain actions and behavior of society as a whole, encompassing <a href="/wiki/Sociology" title="Sociology">sociological</a>, <a href="/wiki/Political_science" title="Political science">political</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Philosophy" title="Philosophy">philosophical</a> ideas. Classical social theory has generally been presented from a perspective of <a href="/wiki/Western_philosophy" title="Western philosophy">Western philosophy</a>, and often regarded as <a href="/wiki/Eurocentric" class="mw-redirect" title="Eurocentric">Eurocentric</a>.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Words_to_watch#Unsupported_attributions" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Words to watch"><span title="The material near this tag may use weasel words or too-vague attribution. (July 2018)">by whom?</span></a></i>]</sup> </p><p><b>Theory construction</b>, according to The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, is instrumental: "Their goal is to promote accurate communication, rigorous testing, high accuracy, and broad applicability. They include the following: absence of contradictions, absence of ambivalence, abstractness, generality, precision, parsimony, and conditionality."<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Therefore, a social theory consists of well-defined terms, statements, arguments and scope conditions. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="History">History</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Social_theory&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: History"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Ancient">Ancient</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Social_theory&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Ancient"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><a href="/wiki/Confucius" title="Confucius">Confucius</a> (551–479 BCE) envisaged a just society that went beyond his contemporary society of the <a href="/wiki/Warring_States" class="mw-redirect" title="Warring States">Warring States</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Later on, also in China, <a href="/wiki/Mozi" title="Mozi">Mozi</a> (<i>circa</i> 470 – <i>circa</i> 390 BCE) recommended a more pragmatic sociology, but ethical at base. </p><p>In the West, <a href="/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo" title="Augustine of Hippo">Saint Augustine</a> (354–430) was concerned exclusively with the idea of the <i>just society</i>. St. Augustine describes late <a href="/wiki/Ancient_Rome" title="Ancient Rome">Ancient Roman</a> society through a lens of hatred and contempt for what he saw as false <a href="/wiki/Deity" title="Deity">Gods</a>, and in reaction theorized <a href="/wiki/City_of_God_(book)" class="mw-redirect" title="City of God (book)">City of God</a>.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (December 2017)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> <a href="/wiki/Ancient_Greek" title="Ancient Greek">Ancient Greek</a> philosophers, including <a href="/wiki/Aristotle" title="Aristotle">Aristotle</a> (384–322 BC) and <a href="/wiki/Plato" title="Plato">Plato</a> (428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC), did not see a distinction between politics and society. The concept of society did not come until the <a href="/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenment" title="Age of Enlightenment">Enlightenment period</a>. The term, <i>société</i>, was probably first used as key concept by <a href="/wiki/Jean-Jacques_Rousseau" title="Jean-Jacques Rousseau">Rousseau</a> in discussion of social relations.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Prior to the enlightenment, social theory took largely <a href="/wiki/Narrative" title="Narrative">narrative</a> and <a href="/wiki/Norm_(sociology)" class="mw-redirect" title="Norm (sociology)">normative</a> form. It was expressed as stories and fables, and it may be assumed the <a href="/wiki/Pre-Socratic" class="mw-redirect" title="Pre-Socratic">pre-Socratic</a> philosophers and religious teachers were the precursors to social theory proper.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (December 2017)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Medieval">Medieval</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Social_theory&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Medieval"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main articles: <a href="/wiki/Sociology_in_medieval_Islam" class="mw-redirect" title="Sociology in medieval Islam">Sociology in medieval Islam</a>, <a href="/wiki/Muqaddimah" title="Muqaddimah">Muqaddimah</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Asabiyyah" title="Asabiyyah">Asabiyyah</a></div> <p>There is evidence of <a href="/wiki/Early_Muslim_sociology" class="mw-redirect" title="Early Muslim sociology">early Muslim sociology</a> from the 14th century: in <a href="/wiki/Ibn_Khaldun" title="Ibn Khaldun">Ibn Khaldun</a>'s <i><a href="/wiki/Muqaddimah" title="Muqaddimah">Muqaddimah</a></i> (later translated as <i>Prolegomena</i> in <a href="/wiki/Latin" title="Latin">Latin</a>), the introduction to a seven volume analysis of <a href="/wiki/Universal_history_(genre)" title="Universal history (genre)">universal history</a>, was the first to advance <a href="/wiki/Social_philosophy" title="Social philosophy">social philosophy</a> and <a href="/wiki/Social_science" title="Social science">social science</a> in formulating theories of <a href="/wiki/Structural_cohesion" title="Structural cohesion">social cohesion</a> and <a href="/wiki/Social_conflict" title="Social conflict">social conflict</a>. <a href="/wiki/Ibn_Khaldun" title="Ibn Khaldun">Ibn Khaldun</a> is thus considered by many to be the forerunner of sociology.<sup id="cite_ref-Mowlana_6-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Mowlana-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-Akhtar_7-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Akhtar-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> <a href="/wiki/Ibn_Khaldun" title="Ibn Khaldun">Khaldun's</a> treatise described in <i><a href="/wiki/Muqaddimah" title="Muqaddimah">Muqaddimah</a></i> <i>(Introduction to History)</i>, published in 1377, two types of societies: (1) the city or <a href="/wiki/Town" title="Town">town</a>-dweller and (2) the mobile, <a href="/wiki/Nomadic" class="mw-redirect" title="Nomadic">nomadic</a> societies.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (September 2012)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="European_social_thought">European social thought</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Social_theory&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: European social thought"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><a href="/wiki/Modernity" title="Modernity">Modernity</a> arose during the Enlightenment period, with the emergence of the <a href="/wiki/World_economy" title="World economy">world economy</a> and exchange among diverse societies, bringing sweeping changes and new challenges for society. Many <a href="/wiki/France" title="France">French</a> and <a href="/wiki/Scotland" title="Scotland">Scottish</a> intellectuals and <a href="/wiki/Philosopher" class="mw-redirect" title="Philosopher">philosophers</a> embraced the idea of progress and ideas of modernity.<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>The Enlightenment period was marked by the idea that with new <a href="/wiki/Discovery_(observation)" title="Discovery (observation)">discoveries</a> challenging the traditional way of thinking, scientists were required to find new normativity. This process allowed <a href="/wiki/Scientific_knowledge" class="mw-redirect" title="Scientific knowledge">scientific knowledge</a> and society to <a href="/wiki/Social_progress" class="mw-redirect" title="Social progress">progress</a>.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (March 2018)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> French thought during this period focused on <a href="/wiki/Moral" title="Moral">moral</a> critique and criticisms of the <a href="/wiki/Monarchy" title="Monarchy">monarchy</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-Callinicos_2-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Callinicos-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference nowrap"><span title="Page / location: 15">: 15 </span></sup> These ideas did not draw on ideas of the past from classical thinkers, nor involved following <a href="/wiki/Religion" title="Religion">religious</a> teachings and authority of the <a href="/wiki/Monarch" title="Monarch">monarch</a>. </p><p>A common factor among the classical theories was the agreement that the <a href="/wiki/History_of_humanity" class="mw-redirect" title="History of humanity">history of humanity</a> is pursuing a fixed path. They differed on where that path would lead: <a href="/wiki/Social_progress" class="mw-redirect" title="Social progress">social progress</a>, technological progress, decline or even fall. Social cycle theorists were skeptical of the Western achievements and technological progress, but argued that progress is an illusion of the ups and downs of the historical cycles. <sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (March 2018)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> The classical approach has been criticized by many modern sociologists and theorists; among them <a href="/wiki/Karl_Popper" title="Karl Popper">Karl Popper</a>, <a href="/wiki/Robert_Nisbet" title="Robert Nisbet">Robert Nisbet</a>, <a href="/wiki/Charles_Tilly" title="Charles Tilly">Charles Tilly</a> and <a href="/wiki/Immanuel_Wallerstein" title="Immanuel Wallerstein">Immanuel Wallerstein</a>. </p><p>The 19th century brought questions involving <a href="/wiki/Social_order" title="Social order">social order</a>. The <a href="/wiki/French_Revolution" title="French Revolution">French Revolution</a> freed French society of control by the monarchy, with no effective means of maintaining social order until <a href="/wiki/Napoleon_I_of_France" class="mw-redirect" title="Napoleon I of France">Napoleon</a> came to power. Three great classical theories of social and historical change emerged: the <a href="/wiki/Social_evolutionism" class="mw-redirect" title="Social evolutionism">social evolutionism</a> theory (of which <a href="/wiki/Social_Darwinism" title="Social Darwinism">Social Darwinism</a> forms a part), the <a href="/wiki/Social_cycle_theory" title="Social cycle theory">social cycle theory</a>, and the <a href="/wiki/Marxism" title="Marxism">Marxist</a> <a href="/wiki/Historical_materialism" title="Historical materialism">historical materialism</a> theory.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (December 2017)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p><p>19th-century classical social theory has been expanded upon to create newer, contemporary social theories such as <a href="/wiki/Multilineal_evolution" title="Multilineal evolution">multilineal theories of evolution</a> (<a href="/wiki/Neoevolutionism" title="Neoevolutionism">neoevolutionism</a>, <a href="/wiki/Sociobiology" title="Sociobiology">sociobiology</a>, <a href="/wiki/Theory_of_modernization" class="mw-redirect" title="Theory of modernization">theory of modernization</a>, <a href="/wiki/Theory_of_post-industrial_society" class="mw-redirect" title="Theory of post-industrial society">theory of post-industrial society</a>) and various strains of <a href="/wiki/Neo-Marxism" title="Neo-Marxism">Neo-Marxism</a>.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (December 2017)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p><p>In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, social theory became closely related to academic <a href="/wiki/Sociology" title="Sociology">sociology</a>, and other related studies such as <a href="/wiki/Anthropology" title="Anthropology">anthropology</a>, <a href="/wiki/Philosophy" title="Philosophy">philosophy</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Social_work" title="Social work">social work</a> branched out into their own disciplines. Subjects like "<a href="/wiki/Philosophy_of_history" title="Philosophy of history">philosophy of history</a>" and other multi-disciplinary subject matter became part of social theory as taught under sociology.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (December 2017)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p><p>A revival of discussion free of disciplines began in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The <a href="/wiki/Frankfurt_School" title="Frankfurt School">Frankfurt Institute for Social Research</a> is a historical example. The <a href="/wiki/Committee_on_Social_Thought" title="Committee on Social Thought">Committee on Social Thought</a> at the <a href="/wiki/University_of_Chicago" title="University of Chicago">University of Chicago</a> followed in the 1940s. In the 1970s, programs in Social and Political Thought were established at <a href="/wiki/University_of_Sussex" title="University of Sussex">Sussex</a> and <a href="/wiki/York_University" title="York University">York</a>. Others followed, with emphases and structures, such as Social Theory and History (<a href="/wiki/University_of_California,_Davis" title="University of California, Davis">University of California, Davis</a>). <a href="/wiki/Cultural_Studies" class="mw-redirect" title="Cultural Studies">Cultural Studies</a> programs extended the concerns of social theory into the domain of <a href="/wiki/Culture" title="Culture">culture</a> and thus <a href="/wiki/Anthropology" title="Anthropology">anthropology</a>. A chair and undergraduate program in social theory was established at the <a href="/wiki/University_of_Melbourne" title="University of Melbourne">University of Melbourne</a>. Social theory at present seems to be gaining acceptance as a classical academic discipline.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (December 2017)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Classical_social_theory">Classical social theory</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Social_theory&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Classical social theory"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/History_of_sociology" title="History of sociology">History of sociology</a></div> <p><a href="/wiki/Adam_Ferguson" title="Adam Ferguson">Adam Ferguson</a>, <a href="/wiki/Charles_de_Secondat,_baron_de_Montesquieu" class="mw-redirect" title="Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu">Montesquieu</a>, and <a href="/wiki/John_Millar_(philosopher)" title="John Millar (philosopher)">John Millar</a>, among others, were the first to study society as distinct from political institutions and processes. In the nineteenth century, the <a href="/wiki/Scientific_method" title="Scientific method">scientific method</a> was introduced into study of society, which was a significant advance leading to development of <a href="/wiki/Sociology" title="Sociology">sociology</a> as a <a href="/wiki/Discipline" title="Discipline">discipline</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>In the 18th century, the pre-classical period of social theories developed a new form that provides the basic ideas for social theory, such as <a href="/wiki/Evolution" title="Evolution">evolution</a>, <a href="/wiki/Philosophy_of_history" title="Philosophy of history">philosophy of history</a>, social life and <a href="/wiki/Social_contract" title="Social contract">social contract</a>, public and <a href="/wiki/General_will" title="General will">general will</a>, competition in social space, organismic pattern for social description. <a href="/wiki/Charles_de_Secondat,_baron_de_Montesquieu" class="mw-redirect" title="Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu">Montesquieu</a>, in <i>The Spirit of Laws</i>, which established that social elements influence human nature, was possibly the first to suggest a universal explanation for <a href="/wiki/History" title="History">history</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Montesquieu included changes in <a href="/wiki/Mores" title="Mores">mores</a> and manners as part of his explanation of political and historic events.<sup id="cite_ref-Callinicos_2-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Callinicos-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference nowrap"><span title="Page / location: 23">: 23 </span></sup> </p><p>Philosophers, including <a href="/wiki/Jean-Jacques_Rousseau" title="Jean-Jacques Rousseau">Jean-Jacques Rousseau</a>, <a href="/wiki/Voltaire" title="Voltaire">Voltaire</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Denis_Diderot" title="Denis Diderot">Denis Diderot</a>, developed new social ideas during the <a href="/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenment" title="Age of Enlightenment">Enlightenment</a> period that were based on <a href="/wiki/Reason" title="Reason">reason</a> and methods of scientific inquiry. <a href="/wiki/Jean-Jacques_Rousseau" title="Jean-Jacques Rousseau">Jean-Jacques Rousseau</a> in this time played a significant role in social theory. He revealed the origin of <a href="/wiki/Social_inequality" title="Social inequality">inequality</a>, analyzed the social contract (and social compact) that forms <a href="/wiki/Social_integration" title="Social integration">social integration</a> and defined the social sphere or <a href="/wiki/Civil_society" title="Civil society">civil society</a>. <a href="/wiki/Jean-Jacques_Rousseau" title="Jean-Jacques Rousseau">Jean-Jacques Rousseau</a> also emphasized that man has the liberty to change his world, an assertion that made it possible to program and change society.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (December 2017)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p><p><a href="/wiki/Adam_Smith" title="Adam Smith">Adam Smith</a> addressed the question of whether vast inequalities of wealth represented progress. He explained that the wealthy often demand <a href="/wiki/Convenience" title="Convenience">convenience</a>, employing numerous others to carry out <a href="/wiki/Employment" title="Employment">labor</a> to meet their demands.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (March 2018)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> Smith argued that this allows wealth to be redistributed among inhabitants, and for all to share in progress of society. Smith explained that social forces could regulate the <a href="/wiki/Market_economy" title="Market economy">market economy</a> with social objectivity and without need for <a href="/wiki/Government" title="Government">government</a> intervention. Smith regarded the <a href="/wiki/Division_of_labor" class="mw-redirect" title="Division of labor">division of labor</a> as an important factor for economic progress. <a href="/wiki/John_Millar_(philosopher)" title="John Millar (philosopher)">John Millar</a> suggested that improved status of <a href="/wiki/Women" class="mw-redirect" title="Women">women</a> was important for progress of society. Millar also advocated for <a href="/wiki/Abolitionism" title="Abolitionism">abolition</a> of <a href="/wiki/Slavery" title="Slavery">slavery</a>, suggesting that personal <a href="/wiki/Liberty" title="Liberty">liberty</a> makes people more industrious, ambitious, and <a href="/wiki/Productivity" title="Productivity">productive</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>The first "modern" social theories (known as classical theories) that begin to resemble the analytic social theory of today developed simultaneously with the birth of the science of sociology. <a href="/wiki/Auguste_Comte" title="Auguste Comte">Auguste Comte</a> (1798–1857), known as the "father of sociology" and regarded by some as the first philosopher of science,<sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>12<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> laid the groundwork for <a href="/wiki/Positivism" title="Positivism">positivism</a> – as well as <a href="/wiki/Structural_functionalism" title="Structural functionalism">structural functionalism</a> and <a href="/wiki/Social_evolutionism" class="mw-redirect" title="Social evolutionism">social evolutionism</a>. <a href="/wiki/Karl_Marx" title="Karl Marx">Karl Marx</a> rejected Comtean positivism but nevertheless aimed to establish a <i>science of society</i> based on <a href="/wiki/Historical_materialism" title="Historical materialism">historical materialism</a>, becoming recognised as a founding figure of sociology posthumously. At the turn of the 20th century, the first of German sociologists, including <a href="/wiki/Max_Weber" title="Max Weber">Max Weber</a> and <a href="/wiki/Georg_Simmel" title="Georg Simmel">Georg Simmel</a>, developed sociological <a href="/wiki/Antipositivism" title="Antipositivism">antipositivism</a>. The field may be broadly recognized as an amalgam of three modes of social scientific thought in particular; Durkheimian <a href="/wiki/Sociological_positivism" class="mw-redirect" title="Sociological positivism">sociological positivism</a> and <a href="/wiki/Structural_functionalism" title="Structural functionalism">structural functionalism</a>, Marxist historical materialism and <a href="/wiki/Conflict_theory" class="mw-redirect" title="Conflict theory">conflict theory</a>, and Weberian <a href="/wiki/Antipositivism" title="Antipositivism">antipositivism</a> and <a href="/wiki/Verstehen" title="Verstehen">verstehen</a> critique.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (December 2017)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p><p>Another early modern theorist, <a href="/wiki/Herbert_Spencer" title="Herbert Spencer">Herbert Spencer</a> (1820–1903), coined the term "<a href="/wiki/Survival_of_the_fittest" title="Survival of the fittest">survival of the fittest</a>". <a href="/wiki/Vilfredo_Pareto" title="Vilfredo Pareto">Vilfredo Pareto</a> (1848–1923) and <a href="/wiki/Pitirim_A._Sorokin" class="mw-redirect" title="Pitirim A. Sorokin">Pitirim A. Sorokin</a> argued that "history goes in cycles," and presented the <a href="/wiki/Social_cycle_theory" title="Social cycle theory">social cycle theory</a> to illustrate their point. <a href="/wiki/Ferdinand_T%C3%B6nnies" title="Ferdinand Tönnies">Ferdinand Tönnies</a> (1855–1936) made <i>community</i> and <i>society</i> (<i><a href="/wiki/Gemeinschaft_and_Gesellschaft" title="Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft">Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft</a></i>, 1887) the special topics of the new science of "sociology", both of them based on different modes of <a href="/wiki/Will_(philosophy)" title="Will (philosophy)">will</a> of <a href="/wiki/Social_actor" class="mw-redirect" title="Social actor">social actors</a>.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (December 2017)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p><p>The 19th century pioneers of social theory and sociology, like Saint-Simon, Comte, Marx, <a href="/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill" title="John Stuart Mill">John Stuart Mill</a> or Spencer, never held university posts and they were broadly regarded as philosophers. <a href="/wiki/Emile_Durkheim" class="mw-redirect" title="Emile Durkheim">Emile Durkheim</a> endeavoured to formally established academic sociology, and did so at the <a href="/wiki/University_of_Bordeaux" title="University of Bordeaux">University of Bordeaux</a> in 1895, he published <i><a href="/wiki/Rules_of_the_Sociological_Method" class="mw-redirect" title="Rules of the Sociological Method">Rules of the Sociological Method</a></i>. In 1896, he established the journal <i><a href="/wiki/Ann%C3%A9e_Sociologique" class="mw-redirect" title="Année Sociologique">L'Année Sociologique</a></i>. Durkheim's seminal monograph, <i><a href="/wiki/Suicide_(Durkheim_book)" title="Suicide (Durkheim book)">Suicide</a></i> (1897), a case study of suicide rates amongst <a href="/wiki/Catholic" class="mw-redirect" title="Catholic">Catholic</a> and <a href="/wiki/Protestant" class="mw-redirect" title="Protestant">Protestant</a> populations, distinguished sociological analysis from <a href="/wiki/Psychology" title="Psychology">psychology</a> or <a href="/wiki/Philosophy" title="Philosophy">philosophy</a>.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (December 2017)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Post-modern_social_theory">Post-modern social theory</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Social_theory&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Post-modern social theory"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Further information: <a href="/wiki/Post-modern_feminism" class="mw-redirect" title="Post-modern feminism">post-modern feminism</a>, <a href="/wiki/Postmodernism" title="Postmodernism">postmodernism</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Post-structuralism" title="Post-structuralism">post-structuralism</a></div> <p>The term "postmodernism" was brought into social theory in 1971 by the Arab American Theorist <a href="/wiki/Ihab_Hassan" title="Ihab Hassan">Ihab Hassan</a> in his book: <i>The Dismemberment of Orpheus: Toward a Postmodern Literature</i>. In 1979 <a href="/wiki/Jean-Fran%C3%A7ois_Lyotard" title="Jean-François Lyotard">Jean-François Lyotard</a> wrote a short but influential work <i><a href="/wiki/The_Postmodern_Condition" title="The Postmodern Condition">The Postmodern Condition: A report on knowledge</a></i>. <a href="/wiki/Jean_Baudrillard" title="Jean Baudrillard">Jean Baudrillard</a>, <a href="/wiki/Michel_Foucault" title="Michel Foucault">Michel Foucault</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Roland_Barthes" title="Roland Barthes">Roland Barthes</a> were influential in the 1970s in developing postmodern theory. </p><p>Scholars most commonly hold <i><a href="/wiki/Postmodernism" title="Postmodernism">postmodernism</a></i> to be a movement of ideas arising from, but also critical of elements of <a href="/wiki/Modernism" title="Modernism">modernism</a>.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (February 2012)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> The wide range of uses of this term resulted in different elements of modernity are chosen as being continuous. Each of the different uses is rooted in some argument about the nature of knowledge, known in philosophy as <a href="/wiki/Epistemology" title="Epistemology">epistemology</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-13"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>13<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Individuals who use the term are arguing that either there is something fundamentally different about the transmission of meaning, or that modernism has fundamental flaws in its system of knowledge. <sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (March 2018)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p><p>The argument for the necessity of the term states that economic and technological conditions of our age have given rise to a decentralized, media-dominated society. <sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (March 2018)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> These ideas are <a href="/wiki/Simulacra" class="mw-redirect" title="Simulacra">simulacra</a>, and only inter-referential representations and copies of each other, with no real original, stable or objective source for <a href="/wiki/Communication" title="Communication">communication</a> and meaning. <a href="/wiki/Globalization" title="Globalization">Globalization</a>, brought on by innovations in communication, <a href="/wiki/Manufacturing" title="Manufacturing">manufacturing</a> and <a href="/wiki/Transportation" class="mw-redirect" title="Transportation">transportation</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-14"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>14<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> is cited as one force which has decentralized modern life, creating a culturally pluralistic and interconnected global society, lacking any single dominant center of political power, communication, or intellectual production. The postmodern view is that inter-subjective knowledge, and not objective knowledge, is the dominant form of <a href="/wiki/Discourse" title="Discourse">discourse</a>. The ubiquity of copies and dissemination alters the relationship between reader and what is read, between observer and the observed, between those who consume and those who produce.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (March 2018)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p><p>Not all people who use the term postmodern or postmodernism see these developments as positive.<sup id="cite_ref-15" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-15"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>15<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Users of the term argue that their ideals have arisen as the result of particular economic and social conditions, including "<a href="/wiki/Late_capitalism" title="Late capitalism">late capitalism</a>", the growth of <a href="/wiki/Broadcasting" title="Broadcasting">broadcast</a> media, and that such conditions have pushed society into a new <a href="/wiki/Historical_period" class="mw-redirect" title="Historical period">historical period</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Today">Today</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Social_theory&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: Today"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In the past few decades, in response to postmodern critiques, <sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (March 2018)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> social theory has begun to stress free will, individual choice, subjective reasoning, and the importance of unpredictable events in place of <a href="/wiki/Determinism" title="Determinism">deterministic necessity</a>. <a href="/wiki/Rational_choice_theory" class="mw-redirect" title="Rational choice theory">Rational choice theory</a>, <a href="/wiki/Symbolic_interactionism" title="Symbolic interactionism">symbolic interactionism</a>, <a href="/wiki/False_necessity" title="False necessity">false necessity</a> are examples of more recent developments. A view among contemporary sociologists is that there are no great unifying 'laws of history', but rather smaller, more specific, and more complex laws that govern society.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (December 2017)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p><p>Philosopher and politician <a href="/wiki/Roberto_Mangabeira_Unger" title="Roberto Mangabeira Unger">Roberto Mangabeira Unger</a> recently attempted to revise classical social theory by exploring how things fit together, rather than to provide an all encompassing single explanation of a universal reality. He begins by recognizing the key insight of classical social theory of society as an artifact, and then by discarding the law-like characteristics forcibly attached to it. Unger argues that classical social theory was born proclaiming that society is made and imagined, and not the expression of an underlying natural order, but at the same time its capacity was checked by the equally prevalent ambition to create law-like explanations of history and social development. The <a href="/wiki/Human_sciences" class="mw-redirect" title="Human sciences">human sciences</a> that developed claimed to identify a small number of possible types of social organization that coexisted or succeeded one another through inescapable developmental tendencies or deep-seated economic organization or psychological constraints. <a href="/wiki/Marxism" title="Marxism">Marxism</a> is the star example.<sup id="cite_ref-Unger_16-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Unger-16"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>16<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference nowrap"><span title="Page / location: 1">: 1 </span></sup> </p><p>Unger, calling his efforts "super-theory", has thus sought to develop a comprehensive view of history and society. Unger does so without subsuming deep structure analysis under an indivisible and repeatable type of social organization or with recourse to law-like constraints and tendencies.<sup id="cite_ref-Unger_16-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Unger-16"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>16<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference nowrap"><span title="Page / location: 165">: 165 </span></sup> His articulation of such a theory is in <i>False Necessity: anti-necessitarian social theory in the service of radical democracy,</i> where he uses deep-logic practice to theorize human social activity through anti-necessitarian analysis. </p><p>Unger begins by formulating the theory of false necessity, which claims that social worlds are the artifact of human endeavors. There is no pre-set institutional arrangement that societies must adhere to, and there is no necessary historical mold of development that they will follow. We are free to choose and to create the forms and the paths that our societies will take. However, this does not give license to absolute contingency. Unger finds that there are groups of institutional arrangements that work together to bring about certain institutional forms—liberal democracy, for example. These forms are the basis of a social structure, which Unger calls <a href="/wiki/Formative_context" title="Formative context">formative context</a>. In order to explain how we move from one formative context to another without the conventional social theory constraints of historical necessity (e.g. feudalism to capitalism), and to do so while remaining true to the key insight of individual human empowerment and <a href="/wiki/Anti-necessitarian_social_thought" class="mw-redirect" title="Anti-necessitarian social thought">anti-necessitarian social thought</a>, Unger recognized that there are an infinite number of ways of resisting social and institutional constraints, which can lead to an infinite number of outcomes. This variety of forms of resistance and <a href="/wiki/Empowered_democracy" title="Empowered democracy">empowerment</a> make change possible. Unger calls this empowerment <a href="/wiki/Negative_capability" title="Negative capability">negative capability</a>. However, Unger adds that these outcomes are always reliant on the forms from which they spring. The new world is built upon the existing one.<sup id="cite_ref-fn_35_17-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-fn_35-17"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>17<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Schools_of_thought">Schools of thought</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Social_theory&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: Schools of thought"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Chicago_school">Chicago school</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Social_theory&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Chicago school"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Chicago_School_(sociology)" class="mw-redirect" title="Chicago School (sociology)">Chicago School (sociology)</a></div> <p>The <a href="/wiki/Chicago_school_(sociology)" title="Chicago school (sociology)">Chicago school</a> developed in the 1920s, through the work of <a href="/wiki/Albion_Woodbury_Small" title="Albion Woodbury Small">Albion Woodbury Small</a>, <a href="/wiki/W._I._Thomas" title="W. I. Thomas">W. I. Thomas</a>, <a href="/wiki/Ernest_W._Burgess" class="mw-redirect" title="Ernest W. Burgess">Ernest W. Burgess</a>, <a href="/wiki/Robert_E._Park" title="Robert E. Park">Robert E. Park</a>, <a href="/wiki/Ellsworth_Faris" title="Ellsworth Faris">Ellsworth Faris</a>, <a href="/wiki/George_Herbert_Mead" title="George Herbert Mead">George Herbert Mead</a>, and other sociologists at the <a href="/wiki/University_of_Chicago" title="University of Chicago">University of Chicago</a>. The Chicago school focused on patterns and arrangement of social phenomenon across <a href="/wiki/Time" title="Time">time</a> and <a href="/wiki/Location_(geography)" class="mw-redirect" title="Location (geography)">place</a>, and within context of other social variables.<sup id="cite_ref-18" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-18"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>18<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Critical_theory">Critical theory</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Social_theory&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: Critical theory"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Critical_theory" title="Critical theory">Critical theory</a></div> <p><a href="/wiki/Critical_theory_(Frankfurt_School)" class="mw-redirect" title="Critical theory (Frankfurt School)">Critical theorists</a> focus on reflective assessment and critique of society and culture in order to reveal and challenge <a href="/wiki/Power_structure" class="mw-redirect" title="Power structure">power structures</a> and their relations and influences on social groups. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Marxism">Marxism</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Social_theory&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: Marxism"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Marxism" title="Marxism">Marxism</a></div> <p><a href="/wiki/Karl_Marx" title="Karl Marx">Karl Marx</a> wrote and theorized about the importance of <a href="/wiki/Political_economy" title="Political economy">political economy</a> on society, and focused on the "material conditions" of life.<sup id="cite_ref-Callinicos_2-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Callinicos-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference nowrap"><span title="Page / location: 4">: 4 </span></sup> His theories centered around capitalism and its effect on class-struggle between the <a href="/wiki/Proletariat" title="Proletariat">proletariat</a> and <a href="/wiki/Bourgeoisie" title="Bourgeoisie">bourgeoisie</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-19" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-19"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>19<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Postmodernism">Postmodernism</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Social_theory&action=edit&section=13" title="Edit section: Postmodernism"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Postmodernism" title="Postmodernism">Postmodernism</a></div> <p>Postmodernism was defined by <a href="/wiki/Jean-Fran%C3%A7ois_Lyotard" title="Jean-François Lyotard">Jean-François Lyotard</a> as "incredulity towards <a href="/wiki/Metanarratives" class="mw-redirect" title="Metanarratives">metanarratives</a>" and contrasted that with <a href="/wiki/Modernism" title="Modernism">modern</a> which he described as "any science that legitimates itself with reference to a <a href="/wiki/Metadiscourse" title="Metadiscourse">metadiscourse</a>... making an explicit appeal to some grand narrative, such as the dialectics of Spirit the hermeneutics of meaning, the emancipation of the rational or working subject, or the creation of wealth."<sup id="cite_ref-20" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-20"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>20<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Other_perspectives">Other perspectives</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Social_theory&action=edit&section=14" title="Edit section: Other perspectives"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Other theories include: </p> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Social_constructionist_theory" class="mw-redirect" title="Social constructionist theory">Social constructionist theory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rational_choice_theory" class="mw-redirect" title="Rational choice theory">Rational choice theory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Structural_functionalism" title="Structural functionalism">Structural functionalism</a> – influenced by Spencer and Durkheim</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Social_action" title="Social action">Social action</a> – influenced by Weber and Pareto</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Conflict_theory" class="mw-redirect" title="Conflict theory">Conflict theory</a> – influenced by Marx, Simmel</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Symbolic_interaction" class="mw-redirect" title="Symbolic interaction">Symbolic interaction</a> – influenced by <a href="/wiki/George_Herbert_Mead" title="George Herbert Mead">George Herbert Mead</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/False_necessity" title="False necessity">False necessity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Karen_Barad" title="Karen Barad">Agential realism</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Key_thinkers">Key thinkers</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Social_theory&action=edit&section=15" title="Edit section: Key thinkers"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="French_social_thought">French social thought</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Social_theory&action=edit&section=16" title="Edit section: French social thought"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Some known <a href="/wiki/French_people" title="French people">French</a> social thinkers are <a href="/wiki/Claude_Henri_de_Rouvroy,_comte_de_Saint-Simon" class="mw-redirect" title="Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon">Claude Henri Saint-Simon</a>, Auguste Comte, <a href="/wiki/%C3%89mile_Durkheim" title="Émile Durkheim">Émile Durkheim</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Michel_Foucault" title="Michel Foucault">Michel Foucault</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="British_social_thought">British social thought</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Social_theory&action=edit&section=17" title="Edit section: British social thought"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><a href="/wiki/Great_Britain" title="Great Britain">British</a> social thought, with thinkers such as <a href="/wiki/Herbert_Spencer" title="Herbert Spencer">Herbert Spencer</a>, addressed questions and ideas relating to <a href="/wiki/Political_economy" title="Political economy">political economy</a> and <a href="/wiki/Sociocultural_evolution" title="Sociocultural evolution">social evolution</a>. The political ideals of <a href="/wiki/John_Ruskin" title="John Ruskin">John Ruskin</a> were a precursor of <a href="/wiki/Social_economy" title="Social economy">social economy</a> (<i><a href="/wiki/Unto_This_Last" title="Unto This Last">Unto This Last</a></i> had a very important impact on <a href="/wiki/Mohandas_K._Gandhi" class="mw-redirect" title="Mohandas K. Gandhi">Gandhi</a>'s philosophy). </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="German_social_thought">German social thought</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Social_theory&action=edit&section=18" title="Edit section: German social thought"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Important <a href="/wiki/Germany" title="Germany">German</a> philosophers and social thinkers included <a href="/wiki/Immanuel_Kant" title="Immanuel Kant">Immanuel Kant</a>, <a href="/wiki/Georg_Wilhelm_Friedrich_Hegel" title="Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel">Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel</a>, <a href="/wiki/Karl_Marx" title="Karl Marx">Karl Marx</a>, <a href="/wiki/Max_Weber" title="Max Weber">Max Weber</a>, <a href="/wiki/Georg_Simmel" title="Georg Simmel">Georg Simmel</a>, <a href="/wiki/Theodor_W._Adorno" title="Theodor W. Adorno">Theodor W. Adorno</a>, <a href="/wiki/Max_Horkheimer" title="Max Horkheimer">Max Horkheimer</a>, <a href="/wiki/Herbert_Marcuse" title="Herbert Marcuse">Herbert Marcuse</a> and <a href="/wiki/Niklas_Luhmann" title="Niklas Luhmann">Niklas Luhmann</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Chinese_social_thought">Chinese social thought</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Social_theory&action=edit&section=19" title="Edit section: Chinese social thought"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Important <a href="/wiki/China" title="China">Chinese</a> philosophers and social thinkers included <a href="/wiki/Shang_Yang" title="Shang Yang">Shang Yang</a>, <a href="/wiki/Lao_Zi" class="mw-redirect" title="Lao Zi">Lao Zi</a>, <a href="/wiki/Confucius" title="Confucius">Confucius</a>, <a href="/wiki/Mencius" title="Mencius">Mencius</a>, Wang Chong, <a href="/wiki/Wang_Yangming" title="Wang Yangming">Wang Yangming</a>, <a href="/wiki/Li_Zhi_(philosopher)" title="Li Zhi (philosopher)">Li Zhi</a>, <a href="/wiki/Zhu_Xi" title="Zhu Xi">Zhu Xi</a>, <a href="/wiki/Gu_Yanwu" title="Gu Yanwu">Gu Yanwu</a>, <a href="/wiki/Gong_Zizhen" title="Gong Zizhen">Gong Zizhen</a>, Wei Yuan, <a href="/wiki/Kang_Youwei" title="Kang Youwei">Kang Youwei</a>, Lu Xun, <a href="/wiki/Mao_Zedong" title="Mao Zedong">Mao Zedong</a>, Zhu Ming. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Italian_sociology">Italian sociology</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Social_theory&action=edit&section=20" title="Edit section: Italian sociology"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Important Italian social scientists include <a href="/wiki/Antonio_Gramsci" title="Antonio Gramsci">Antonio Gramsci</a>, <a href="/wiki/Gaetano_Mosca" title="Gaetano Mosca">Gaetano Mosca</a>, <a href="/wiki/Vilfredo_Pareto" title="Vilfredo Pareto">Vilfredo Pareto</a>, Franco Ferrarotti. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Thai_social_thought">Thai social thought</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Social_theory&action=edit&section=21" title="Edit section: Thai social thought"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Important Thai social theorists include <a href="/wiki/Jit_Phumisak" class="mw-redirect" title="Jit Phumisak">Jit Phumisak</a>, <a href="/wiki/Kukrit_Pramoj" title="Kukrit Pramoj">Kukrit Pramoj</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Prawase_Wasi" title="Prawase Wasi">Prawase Wasi</a> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="In_academic_practices">In academic practices</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Social_theory&action=edit&section=22" title="Edit section: In academic practices"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Social theory seeks to question why humans inhabit the world the way they do, and how that came to be by looking at power relations, social structures, and social norms,<sup id="cite_ref-:0_21-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:0-21"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>21<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> while also examining how humans relate to each other and the society they find themselves in, how this has changed over time and in different cultures,<sup id="cite_ref-22" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-22"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>22<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and the tools used to measure those things. Social theory looks to <a href="/wiki/Interdisciplinarity" title="Interdisciplinarity">interdisciplinarity</a>, combining knowledge from multiple academic disciplines in order to enlighten these complex issues,<sup id="cite_ref-:0_21-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:0-21"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>21<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and can draw on ideas from fields as diverse as <a href="/wiki/Anthropology" title="Anthropology">anthropology</a> and <a href="/wiki/Media_studies" title="Media studies">media studies</a>. </p><p>Social theory guides scientific inquiry by promoting scientists to think about which topics are suitable for investigation and how they should measure them. Selecting or creating appropriate theory for use in examining an issue is an important skill for any researcher. Important distinctions: a <i>theoretical orientation</i> (or <a href="/wiki/Paradigm" title="Paradigm">paradigm</a>) is a worldview, the lens through which one organizes experience (i.e. thinking of human interaction in terms of power or exchange). A <i>theory</i> is an attempt to explain and predict behavior in particular contexts. A theoretical orientation cannot be proven or disproven; a theory can. </p><p>Having a theoretical orientation that sees the world in terms of power and control, one could create a theory about violent human behavior which includes specific causal statements (e.g. being the victim of physical abuse leads to psychological problems). This could lead to a <a href="/wiki/Hypothesis" title="Hypothesis">hypothesis</a> (prediction) about what one expects to see in a particular sample, e.g. "a battered child will grow up to be shy or violent". One can then test the hypothesis by looking to see if it is consistent with <a href="/wiki/Data" title="Data">data</a>. One might, for instance, review hospital records to find children who were abused, then track them down and administer a personality test to see if they show signs of being violent or shy. The selection of an appropriate (i.e. useful) theoretical orientation within which to develop a potentially helpful theory is the bedrock of social science. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Example_of_questions_posed_by_social_theorists">Example of questions posed by social theorists</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Social_theory&action=edit&section=23" title="Edit section: Example of questions posed by social theorists"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Philosophical questions addressed by social thinkers often centered around <a href="/wiki/Modernity" title="Modernity">modernity</a>, including: </p> <ul><li>Can human reason make sense of the social world and shape it for the better?</li> <li>Did the development of modern societies, with vast inequalities in wealth among citizens, constitute progress?</li> <li>How do particular government interventions and regulations impact natural social processes?</li> <li>Should the economy/market be regulated or not?</li></ul> <p>Other issues relating to modernity that were addressed by social thinkers include <a href="/wiki/Atomism_(social)" title="Atomism (social)">social atomization</a>, <a href="/wiki/Social_alienation" title="Social alienation">alienation</a>, <a href="/wiki/Loneliness" title="Loneliness">loneliness</a>, <a href="/w/index.php?title=Social_disorganization&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Social disorganization (page does not exist)">social disorganization</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Secularization" title="Secularization">secularization</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Social_theory&action=edit&section=24" title="Edit section: See also"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239009302">.mw-parser-output .portalbox{padding:0;margin:0.5em 0;display:table;box-sizing:border-box;max-width:175px;list-style:none}.mw-parser-output .portalborder{border:1px solid var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1);padding:0.1em;background:var(--background-color-neutral-subtle,#f8f9fa)}.mw-parser-output .portalbox-entry{display:table-row;font-size:85%;line-height:110%;height:1.9em;font-style:italic;font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .portalbox-image{display:table-cell;padding:0.2em;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .portalbox-link{display:table-cell;padding:0.2em 0.2em 0.2em 0.3em;vertical-align:middle}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .portalleft{clear:left;float:left;margin:0.5em 1em 0.5em 0}.mw-parser-output .portalright{clear:right;float:right;margin:0.5em 0 0.5em 1em}}</style><ul role="navigation" aria-label="Portals" class="noprint portalbox portalborder portalright"> <li class="portalbox-entry"><span class="portalbox-image"><span class="noviewer" typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Social_sciences.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="icon" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/42/Social_sciences.svg/32px-Social_sciences.svg.png" decoding="async" width="32" height="28" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/42/Social_sciences.svg/48px-Social_sciences.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/42/Social_sciences.svg/64px-Social_sciences.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="139" data-file-height="122" /></a></span></span><span class="portalbox-link"><a href="/wiki/Portal:Society" title="Portal:Society">Society portal</a></span></li></ul> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1184024115">.mw-parser-output .div-col{margin-top:0.3em;column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .div-col-small{font-size:90%}.mw-parser-output .div-col-rules{column-rule:1px solid #aaa}.mw-parser-output .div-col dl,.mw-parser-output .div-col ol,.mw-parser-output .div-col ul{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .div-col li,.mw-parser-output .div-col dd{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}</style><div class="div-col" style="column-width: 21em;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Continental_philosophy" title="Continental philosophy">Continental philosophy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Critical_theory" title="Critical theory">Critical theory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Culture_theory" title="Culture theory">Culture theory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Engaged_theory" title="Engaged theory">Engaged theory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ethnomethodology" title="Ethnomethodology">Ethnomethodology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Feminist_theory" title="Feminist theory">Feminist theory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/History_of_sociology" title="History of sociology">History of sociology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/History_of_the_social_sciences" title="History of the social sciences">History of the social sciences</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Literary_theory" title="Literary theory">Literary theory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Political_philosophy" title="Political philosophy">Political philosophy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Political_theory" class="mw-redirect" title="Political theory">Political theory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Post-colonial_theory" class="mw-redirect" title="Post-colonial theory">Post-colonial theory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Post-structuralism" title="Post-structuralism">Post-structuralism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Postmodernism" title="Postmodernism">Postmodernism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Queer_theory" title="Queer theory">Queer theory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociocultural_evolution" title="Sociocultural evolution">Social evolution</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociological_theory" title="Sociological theory">Sociological theory</a></li></ul> </div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Social_theory&action=edit&section=25" title="Edit section: References"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist"> <div class="mw-references-wrap mw-references-columns"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-auto-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-auto_1-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-auto_1-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text">Seidman, S., 2016. Contested knowledge: Social theory today. John Wiley & Sons.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Callinicos-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Callinicos_2-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Callinicos_2-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Callinicos_2-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Callinicos_2-3"><sup><i><b>d</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite id="CITEREFCallinicos,_A.1999" class="citation book cs1">Callinicos, A. (1999). <i>Social Theory: A Historical Introduction</i>. New York University Press.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Social+Theory%3A+A+Historical+Introduction&rft.pub=New+York+University+Press&rft.date=1999&rft.au=Callinicos%2C+A.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASocial+theory" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Ritzer, George, ed. 2007. <i>The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology</i>. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFMacionisPlummer,_Ken2005" class="citation book cs1">Macionis, John J.; Plummer, Ken (2005). <i>Sociology. A Global Introduction</i> (3rd ed.). 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Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780521329750" title="Special:BookSources/9780521329750"><bdi>9780521329750</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Social+Theory%3A+Its+situation+and+its+task&rft.place=Cambridge&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.date=1987&rft.isbn=9780521329750&rft.aulast=Unger&rft.aufirst=Roberto+Mangabeira&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.org%2Fdetails%2Ffalsenecessityan0000unge&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASocial+theory" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-fn_35-17"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-fn_35_17-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFUnger2004" class="citation book cs1">Unger, Roberto (2004). <i>False Necessity: Anti-Necessitarian Social Theory in the Service of Radical Democracy, Revised Edition</i>. 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"Of Time and Space: The Contemporary Relevance of the Chicago School". <i>Social Forces</i>. <b>75</b> (4). 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Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2005. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780199255702" title="Special:BookSources/9780199255702"><bdi>9780199255702</bdi></a>. <a href="/wiki/OCLC_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="OCLC (identifier)">OCLC</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/56608295">56608295</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Modern+social+theory+%3A+an+introduction&rft.place=Oxford&rft.pub=Oxford+University+Press&rft.date=2005&rft_id=info%3Aoclcnum%2F56608295&rft.isbn=9780199255702&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASocial+theory" class="Z3988"></span><span class="cs1-maint citation-comment"><code class="cs1-code">{{<a href="/wiki/Template:Cite_book" title="Template:Cite book">cite book</a>}}</code>: CS1 maint: others (<a href="/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_others" title="Category:CS1 maint: others">link</a>)</span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-22"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-22">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFElliott,_Anthony2009" class="citation book cs1">Elliott, Anthony (2009). <i>Contemporary social theory : an introduction</i>. London: Routledge. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780415386333" title="Special:BookSources/9780415386333"><bdi>9780415386333</bdi></a>. <a href="/wiki/OCLC_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="OCLC (identifier)">OCLC</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/232358185">232358185</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Contemporary+social+theory+%3A+an+introduction&rft.place=London&rft.pub=Routledge&rft.date=2009&rft_id=info%3Aoclcnum%2F232358185&rft.isbn=9780415386333&rft.au=Elliott%2C+Anthony&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASocial+theory" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> </ol></div></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Further_reading">Further reading</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Social_theory&action=edit&section=26" title="Edit section: Further reading"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFBaertSilva2010" class="citation book cs1">Baert, Patrick; Silva, Filipe Carreira da (2010). <i>Social Theory in the Twentieth Century and Beyond</i>. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-7456-3981-9" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-7456-3981-9"><bdi>978-0-7456-3981-9</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Social+Theory+in+the+Twentieth+Century+and+Beyond&rft.place=Cambridge%2C+UK&rft.pub=Polity+Press&rft.date=2010&rft.isbn=978-0-7456-3981-9&rft.aulast=Baert&rft.aufirst=Patrick&rft.au=Silva%2C+Filipe+Carreira+da&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASocial+theory" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFBell2008" class="citation book cs1">Bell, David (2008). <i>Constructing Social Theory</i>. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-7425-6428-2" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-7425-6428-2"><bdi>978-0-7425-6428-2</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Constructing+Social+Theory&rft.place=Lanham%2C+MD&rft.pub=Rowman+%26+Littlefield&rft.date=2008&rft.isbn=978-0-7425-6428-2&rft.aulast=Bell&rft.aufirst=David&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASocial+theory" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFBerberoglu2005" class="citation book cs1">Berberoglu, Berch (2005). <span class="id-lock-registration" title="Free registration required"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/introductiontocl0000berb"><i>An Introduction to Classical and Contemporary Social Theory: A Critical Perspective, Third Edition</i></a></span>. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-7425-2493-4" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-7425-2493-4"><bdi>978-0-7425-2493-4</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=An+Introduction+to+Classical+and+Contemporary+Social+Theory%3A+A+Critical+Perspective%2C+Third+Edition&rft.place=Lanham%2C+MD&rft.pub=Rowman+%26+Littlefield&rft.date=2005&rft.isbn=978-0-7425-2493-4&rft.aulast=Berberoglu&rft.aufirst=Berch&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.org%2Fdetails%2Fintroductiontocl0000berb&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASocial+theory" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFBergerLuckmann1966" class="citation book cs1">Berger, Peter; Luckmann, Thomas (1966). <i>The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge</i>. Garden City NY: Anchor Books. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-385-05898-5" title="Special:BookSources/0-385-05898-5"><bdi>0-385-05898-5</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Social+Construction+of+Reality%3A+A+Treatise+in+the+Sociology+of+Knowledge&rft.place=Garden+City+NY&rft.pub=Anchor+Books&rft.date=1966&rft.isbn=0-385-05898-5&rft.aulast=Berger&rft.aufirst=Peter&rft.au=Luckmann%2C+Thomas&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASocial+theory" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFHarrington2005" class="citation book cs1">Harrington, Austin (2005). <i>Modern Social Theory: An Introduction</i>. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-19-925570-2" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-19-925570-2"><bdi>978-0-19-925570-2</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Modern+Social+Theory%3A+An+Introduction&rft.place=Oxford%2C+UK&rft.pub=Oxford+University+Press&rft.date=2005&rft.isbn=978-0-19-925570-2&rft.aulast=Harrington&rft.aufirst=Austin&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASocial+theory" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFBerger,_J.,_M._Zelditch,_Jr.,_and_B._Anderson1989" class="citation book cs1">Berger, J., M. Zelditch, Jr., and B. Anderson (1989). <i>Sociological Theories in Progress: New Formulations</i>. Sage Publications.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Sociological+Theories+in+Progress%3A+New+Formulations&rft.pub=Sage+Publications&rft.date=1989&rft.au=Berger%2C+J.%2C+M.+Zelditch%2C+Jr.%2C+and+B.+Anderson&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASocial+theory" class="Z3988"></span><span class="cs1-maint citation-comment"><code class="cs1-code">{{<a href="/wiki/Template:Cite_book" title="Template:Cite book">cite book</a>}}</code>: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (<a href="/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_multiple_names:_authors_list" title="Category:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list">link</a>)</span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFCallinicos,_A.1999" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/Alex_Callinicos" title="Alex Callinicos">Callinicos, A.</a> (1999). <i>Social Theory: A Historical Introduction</i>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Social+Theory%3A+A+Historical+Introduction&rft.date=1999&rft.au=Callinicos%2C+A.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASocial+theory" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFCohen,_B.1989" class="citation book cs1">Cohen, B. (1989). <i>Developing Sociological Knowledge: Theory and Method</i>. Nelson Hall.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Developing+Sociological+Knowledge%3A+Theory+and+Method&rft.pub=Nelson+Hall&rft.date=1989&rft.au=Cohen%2C+B.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASocial+theory" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFCraib,_I.1992" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/Ian_Craib" title="Ian Craib">Craib, I.</a> (1992). <i>Modern Social Theory</i>. Palgrave Macmillan. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-312-08674-1" title="Special:BookSources/0-312-08674-1"><bdi>0-312-08674-1</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Modern+Social+Theory&rft.pub=Palgrave+Macmillan&rft.date=1992&rft.isbn=0-312-08674-1&rft.au=Craib%2C+I.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASocial+theory" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFGiddens,_A.1987" class="citation book cs1">Giddens, A. (1987). <i>Social Theory and Modern Sociology</i>. Broadview.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Social+Theory+and+Modern+Sociology&rft.pub=Broadview&rft.date=1987&rft.au=Giddens%2C+A.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASocial+theory" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFHabermas,_Jürgen1987" class="citation book cs1">Habermas, Jürgen (1987). <span class="id-lock-registration" title="Free registration required"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/philosophicaldis0000habe"><i>The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity</i></a></span>. MIT Press. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780262081634" title="Special:BookSources/9780262081634"><bdi>9780262081634</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Philosophical+Discourse+of+Modernity&rft.pub=MIT+Press&rft.date=1987&rft.isbn=9780262081634&rft.au=Habermas%2C+J%C3%BCrgen&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.org%2Fdetails%2Fphilosophicaldis0000habe&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASocial+theory" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFHall,_S.,_B._Gieben1992" class="citation book cs1">Hall, S., B. Gieben (1992). <i>The Formations of Modernity</i>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Formations+of+Modernity&rft.date=1992&rft.au=Hall%2C+S.%2C+B.+Gieben&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASocial+theory" class="Z3988"></span><span class="cs1-maint citation-comment"><code class="cs1-code">{{<a href="/wiki/Template:Cite_book" title="Template:Cite book">cite book</a>}}</code>: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (<a href="/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_multiple_names:_authors_list" title="Category:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list">link</a>)</span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFHughes,_J.,_P._Martin,_W._Sharrock1995" class="citation book cs1">Hughes, J., P. Martin, W. Sharrock (1995). <i>Understanding Classical Sociology</i>. Sage.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Understanding+Classical+Sociology&rft.pub=Sage&rft.date=1995&rft.au=Hughes%2C+J.%2C+P.+Martin%2C+W.+Sharrock&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASocial+theory" class="Z3988"></span><span class="cs1-maint citation-comment"><code class="cs1-code">{{<a href="/wiki/Template:Cite_book" title="Template:Cite book">cite book</a>}}</code>: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (<a href="/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_multiple_names:_authors_list" title="Category:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list">link</a>)</span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFJames2006" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/Paul_James_(academic)" title="Paul James (academic)">James, Paul</a> (2006). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.academia.edu/1642214"><i>Globalism, Nationalism, Tribalism: Bringing Theory Back In—Volume 2 of Towards a Theory of Abstract Community</i></a>. London: Sage Publications.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Globalism%2C+Nationalism%2C+Tribalism%3A+Bringing+Theory+Back+In%E2%80%94Volume+2+of+Towards+a+Theory+of+Abstract+Community&rft.place=London&rft.pub=Sage+Publications&rft.date=2006&rft.aulast=James&rft.aufirst=Paul&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.academia.edu%2F1642214&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASocial+theory" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFKincaid,_Harold1996" class="citation book cs1">Kincaid, Harold (1996). <i>Philosophical Foundations of the Social Sciences: Analyzing Controversies in Social Research</i>. Cambridge University Press.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Philosophical+Foundations+of+the+Social+Sciences%3A+Analyzing+Controversies+in+Social+Research&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.date=1996&rft.au=Kincaid%2C+Harold&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASocial+theory" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFLarson,_C.J.1993" class="citation book cs1">Larson, C.J. (1993). <i>Pure and Applied Sociological Theory: Problems and Issues</i>. Harcourt.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Pure+and+Applied+Sociological+Theory%3A+Problems+and+Issues&rft.pub=Harcourt&rft.date=1993&rft.au=Larson%2C+C.J.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASocial+theory" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFMorrison,_K._L.1995" class="citation book cs1">Morrison, K. L. (1995). <span class="id-lock-registration" title="Free registration required"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/marxdurkheimwebe0000morr_p2p9"><i>Marx, Durkheim, Weber: formations of modern social thought</i></a></span>. Sage. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-8039-7562-7" title="Special:BookSources/0-8039-7562-7"><bdi>0-8039-7562-7</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Marx%2C+Durkheim%2C+Weber%3A+formations+of+modern+social+thought&rft.pub=Sage&rft.date=1995&rft.isbn=0-8039-7562-7&rft.au=Morrison%2C+K.+L.&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.org%2Fdetails%2Fmarxdurkheimwebe0000morr_p2p9&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASocial+theory" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFO'Donnell,_M.2000" class="citation book cs1">O'Donnell, M. (2000). <i>Classical & Contemporary Sociology</i>. Hodder & Stoughton.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Classical+%26+Contemporary+Sociology&rft.pub=Hodder+%26+Stoughton&rft.date=2000&rft.au=O%27Donnell%2C+M.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASocial+theory" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFParsons,_Talcott1937" class="citation book cs1">Parsons, Talcott (1937). <i>The Structure of Social Action</i>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Structure+of+Social+Action&rft.date=1937&rft.au=Parsons%2C+Talcott&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASocial+theory" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFPhillips,_D.C.1992" class="citation book cs1">Phillips, D.C. (1992). <i>The Social Scientist's Bestiary</i>. Pergamon Press.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Social+Scientist%27s+Bestiary&rft.pub=Pergamon+Press&rft.date=1992&rft.au=Phillips%2C+D.C.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASocial+theory" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFRay,_L.1999" class="citation book cs1">Ray, L. (1999). <i>Theorizing Classical Sociology</i>. Open University Press.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Theorizing+Classical+Sociology&rft.pub=Open+University+Press&rft.date=1999&rft.au=Ray%2C+L.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASocial+theory" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFRitzer,_George,_Barry_Smart2003" class="citation book cs1">Ritzer, George, Barry Smart (2003). <i>Handbook of Social Theory</i>. Sage Publications. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-7619-4187-8" title="Special:BookSources/0-7619-4187-8"><bdi>0-7619-4187-8</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Handbook+of+Social+Theory&rft.pub=Sage+Publications&rft.date=2003&rft.isbn=0-7619-4187-8&rft.au=Ritzer%2C+George%2C+Barry+Smart&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASocial+theory" class="Z3988"></span><span class="cs1-maint citation-comment"><code class="cs1-code">{{<a href="/wiki/Template:Cite_book" title="Template:Cite book">cite book</a>}}</code>: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (<a href="/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_multiple_names:_authors_list" title="Category:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list">link</a>)</span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFRitzer,_George,_Douglas_J._Goodman2003" class="citation book cs1">Ritzer, George, Douglas J. Goodman (2003). <i>Modern Sociological Theory</i>. McGraw-Hill. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-07-282578-2" title="Special:BookSources/0-07-282578-2"><bdi>0-07-282578-2</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Modern+Sociological+Theory&rft.pub=McGraw-Hill&rft.date=2003&rft.isbn=0-07-282578-2&rft.au=Ritzer%2C+George%2C+Douglas+J.+Goodman&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASocial+theory" class="Z3988"></span><span class="cs1-maint citation-comment"><code class="cs1-code">{{<a href="/wiki/Template:Cite_book" title="Template:Cite book">cite book</a>}}</code>: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (<a href="/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_multiple_names:_authors_list" title="Category:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list">link</a>)</span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFSwingewood,_A.2000" class="citation book cs1">Swingewood, A. (2000). <i>A Short History of Sociological Thought</i>. Macmillan.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=A+Short+History+of+Sociological+Thought&rft.pub=Macmillan&rft.date=2000&rft.au=Swingewood%2C+A.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASocial+theory" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFSwirski,_Peter.2011" class="citation book cs1">Swirski, Peter. (2011). <i>American Utopia and Social Engineering in Literature, Social Thought, and Political History</i>. New York, Routledge.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=American+Utopia+and+Social+Engineering+in+Literature%2C+Social+Thought%2C+and+Political+History&rft.pub=New+York%2C+Routledge&rft.date=2011&rft.au=Swirski%2C+Peter.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASocial+theory" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFUnger,_R.1987" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/Roberto_Unger" class="mw-redirect" title="Roberto Unger">Unger, R.</a> (1987). <span class="id-lock-registration" title="Free registration required"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/falsenecessityan0000unge"><i>Social Theory: Its Situation and its Task</i></a></span>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780521329750" title="Special:BookSources/9780521329750"><bdi>9780521329750</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Social+Theory%3A+Its+Situation+and+its+Task&rft.place=Cambridge&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.date=1987&rft.isbn=9780521329750&rft.au=Unger%2C+R.&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.org%2Fdetails%2Ffalsenecessityan0000unge&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASocial+theory" class="Z3988"></span></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Social_theory&action=edit&section=27" title="Edit section: External links"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1235681985">.mw-parser-output .side-box{margin:4px 0;box-sizing:border-box;border:1px solid #aaa;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em;background-color:var(--background-color-interactive-subtle,#f8f9fa);display:flow-root}.mw-parser-output .side-box-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output .side-box-text{padding:0.25em 0.9em}.mw-parser-output .side-box-image{padding:2px 0 2px 0.9em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .side-box-imageright{padding:2px 0.9em 2px 0;text-align:center}@media(min-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .side-box-flex{display:flex;align-items:center}.mw-parser-output .side-box-text{flex:1;min-width:0}}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .side-box{width:238px}.mw-parser-output .side-box-right{clear:right;float:right;margin-left:1em}.mw-parser-output .side-box-left{margin-right:1em}}</style><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1237033735">@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .sistersitebox{display:none!important}}@media screen{html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .sistersitebox img[src*="Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg"]{background-color:white}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sistersitebox img[src*="Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg"]{background-color:white}}</style><div class="side-box side-box-right plainlinks sistersitebox"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1126788409">.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul{line-height:inherit;list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol li,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul li{margin-bottom:0}</style> <div class="side-box-flex"> <div class="side-box-image"><span class="noviewer" typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/df/Wikibooks-logo-en-noslogan.svg/40px-Wikibooks-logo-en-noslogan.svg.png" decoding="async" width="40" height="40" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/df/Wikibooks-logo-en-noslogan.svg/60px-Wikibooks-logo-en-noslogan.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/df/Wikibooks-logo-en-noslogan.svg/80px-Wikibooks-logo-en-noslogan.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="400" data-file-height="400" /></span></span></div> <div class="side-box-text plainlist">Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: <i><b><a href="https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Introduction_to_Sociology" class="extiw" title="wikibooks:Introduction to Sociology">Introduction to Sociology</a></b></i></div></div> </div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1235681985"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1237033735"><div class="side-box side-box-right plainlinks sistersitebox"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1126788409"> <div class="side-box-flex"> <div class="side-box-image"><span class="noviewer" typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg/34px-Wikiquote-logo.svg.png" decoding="async" width="34" height="40" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg/51px-Wikiquote-logo.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg/68px-Wikiquote-logo.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="300" data-file-height="355" /></span></span></div> <div class="side-box-text plainlist">Wikiquote has quotations related to <i><b><a href="https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Special:Search/Social_theory" class="extiw" title="q:Special:Search/Social theory">Social theory</a></b></i>.</div></div> </div> <ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.socialtheory.org/">The International Social Theory Consortium</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100722125409/http://www.theoria.ukzn.ac.za/">Theoria: A Journal of Social and Political Theory</a> (archived)</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.bolender.com/Sociological%20Theory/Sociological%20Theorists.htm">Sociological Theorists</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.social-theory.eu">Social Theory Research Network of the European Sociological Association</a></li> <li>David Harris, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.arasite.org/dhintro1.htm">Why is Social Theory So "Difficult"</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Harriet_Martineau" title="Harriet Martineau">Harriet Martineau</a> 1802-1876, prolific writer on social theory, some at <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/25319">Project Gutenberg</a></li> <li>Teng Wang, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://socialphenomenasite.wordpress.com/">Social Phenomena</a></li></ul> <p><br /> </p> <div class="navbox-styles"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236075235">.mw-parser-output .navbox{box-sizing:border-box;border:1px solid #a2a9b1;width:100%;clear:both;font-size:88%;text-align:center;padding:1px;margin:1em auto 0}.mw-parser-output .navbox .navbox{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .navbox+.navbox,.mw-parser-output .navbox+.navbox-styles+.navbox{margin-top:-1px}.mw-parser-output .navbox-inner,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup{width:100%}.mw-parser-output .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-title,.mw-parser-output .navbox-abovebelow{padding:0.25em 1em;line-height:1.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .navbox-group{white-space:nowrap;text-align:right}.mw-parser-output .navbox,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup{background-color:#fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-list{line-height:1.5em;border-color:#fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output 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.navbar{display:block;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .navbox-title .navbar{float:left;text-align:left;margin-right:0.5em}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .navbox-image img{max-width:none!important}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .navbox{display:none!important}}</style></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox" aria-labelledby="Social_philosophy" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks hlist mw-collapsible mw-collapsed navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239400231"><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Social_philosophy" title="Template:Social philosophy"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Social_philosophy" title="Template talk:Social philosophy"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Social_philosophy" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Social philosophy"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div><div id="Social_philosophy" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="/wiki/Social_philosophy" title="Social philosophy">Social philosophy</a></div></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Concepts</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Agency_(philosophy)" title="Agency (philosophy)">Agency</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Anomie" title="Anomie">Anomie</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Convention_(norm)" title="Convention (norm)">Convention</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cosmopolitanism" title="Cosmopolitanism">Cosmopolitanism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Customary_law" title="Customary law">Customs</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cultural_heritage" title="Cultural heritage">Cultural heritage</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Culturalism" title="Culturalism">Culturalism</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Interculturalism" title="Interculturalism">Inter</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Monoculturalism" title="Monoculturalism">Mono</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Multiculturalism" title="Multiculturalism">Multi</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Culture" title="Culture">Culture</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Counterculture" title="Counterculture">Counter</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Familialism" title="Familialism">Familialism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/History" title="History">History</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Honour" title="Honour">Honour</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Human_nature" title="Human nature">Human nature</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Identity_(social_science)" title="Identity (social science)">Identity</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Identity_formation" title="Identity formation">Formation</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ideology" title="Ideology">Ideology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Institution" title="Institution">Institutions</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Invisible_hand" title="Invisible hand">Invisible hand</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Loyalty" title="Loyalty">Loyalty</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Modernity" title="Modernity">Modernity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Morality" title="Morality">Morality</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Public_morality" title="Public morality">Public</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mores" title="Mores">Mores</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/National_character" title="National character">National character</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Natural_law" title="Natural law">Natural law</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Reification_(Marxism)" title="Reification (Marxism)">Reification</a></li> <li><span title="French-language text"><i lang="fr"><a href="/wiki/Ressentiment" title="Ressentiment">Ressentiment</a></i></span></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rights" title="Rights">Rights</a></li> <li><span title="German-language text"><i lang="de"><a href="/wiki/Sittlichkeit" title="Sittlichkeit">Sittlichkeit</a></i></span></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Social_alienation" title="Social alienation">Social alienation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Social_norm" title="Social norm">Social norms</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Spontaneous_order" title="Spontaneous order">Spontaneous order</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Stewardship" title="Stewardship">Stewardship</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tradition" title="Tradition">Traditions</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Value_(ethics_and_social_sciences)" title="Value (ethics and social sciences)">Values</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Family_values" title="Family values">Family</a></li></ul></li> <li><span title="German-language text"><i lang="de"><a href="/wiki/Volksgeist" class="mw-redirect" title="Volksgeist">Volksgeist</a></i></span></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Worldview" title="Worldview">Worldview</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Schools</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Budapest_School" title="Budapest School">Budapest School</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Catholic_social_teaching" title="Catholic social teaching">Catholic social teaching</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Distributism" title="Distributism">Distributism</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Communitarianism" title="Communitarianism">Communitarianism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Confucianism" title="Confucianism">Confucianism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Conservatism" title="Conservatism">Conservatism</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Social_conservatism" title="Social conservatism">Social</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Frankfurt_School" title="Frankfurt School">Frankfurt School</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Personalism" title="Personalism">Personalism</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Philosophers</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Ancient</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo" title="Augustine of Hippo">Augustine</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cicero" title="Cicero">Cicero</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Confucius" title="Confucius">Confucius</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lactantius" title="Lactantius">Lactantius</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Laozi" title="Laozi">Laozi</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mencius" title="Mencius">Mencius</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mozi" title="Mozi">Mozi</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Origen" title="Origen">Origen</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Philo" title="Philo">Philo</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Plato" title="Plato">Plato</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Plutarch" title="Plutarch">Plutarch</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Polybius" title="Polybius">Polybius</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tertullian" title="Tertullian">Tertullian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Thucydides" title="Thucydides">Thucydides</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Xunzi_(philosopher)" title="Xunzi (philosopher)">Xunzi</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Medieval</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Al-Farabi" title="Al-Farabi">Alpharabius</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas" title="Thomas Aquinas">Aquinas</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Avempace" title="Avempace">Avempace</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Leonardo_Bruni" title="Leonardo Bruni">Bruni</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dante_Alighieri" title="Dante Alighieri">Dante</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pope_Gelasius_I" title="Pope Gelasius I">Gelasius</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ibn_Khaldun" title="Ibn Khaldun">Ibn Khaldun</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Maimonides" title="Maimonides">Maimonides</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Muhammad" title="Muhammad">Muhammad</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Photios_I_of_Constantinople" title="Photios I of Constantinople">Photios</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gemistos_Plethon" title="Gemistos Plethon">Plethon</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ibn_Tufayl" title="Ibn Tufayl">Ibn Tufayl</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Early modern</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/John_Calvin" title="John Calvin">Calvin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Erasmus" title="Erasmus">Erasmus</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Francesco_Guicciardini" title="Francesco Guicciardini">Guicciardini</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/John_Locke" title="John Locke">Locke</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Martin_Luther" title="Martin Luther">Luther</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/John_Milton" title="John Milton">Milton</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Michel_de_Montaigne" title="Michel de Montaigne">Montaigne</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Thomas_M%C3%BCntzer" title="Thomas Müntzer">Müntzer</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">18th and 19th<br />centuries</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Matthew_Arnold" title="Matthew Arnold">Arnold</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Jeremy_Bentham" title="Jeremy Bentham">Bentham</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Louis_de_Bonald" title="Louis de Bonald">Bonald</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Edmund_Burke" title="Edmund Burke">Burke</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Thomas_Carlyle" title="Thomas Carlyle">Carlyle</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Auguste_Comte" title="Auguste Comte">Comte</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Marquis_de_Condorcet" title="Marquis de Condorcet">Condorcet</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ralph_Waldo_Emerson" title="Ralph Waldo Emerson">Emerson</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Friedrich_Engels" title="Friedrich Engels">Engels</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Johann_Gottlieb_Fichte" title="Johann Gottlieb Fichte">Fichte</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Charles_Fourier" title="Charles Fourier">Fourier</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin" title="Benjamin Franklin">Franklin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Georg_Wilhelm_Friedrich_Hegel" title="Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel">Hegel</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Claude_Adrien_Helv%C3%A9tius" title="Claude Adrien Helvétius">Helvétius</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Johann_Gottfried_Herder" title="Johann Gottfried Herder">Herder</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/David_Hume" title="David Hume">Hume</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson" title="Thomas Jefferson">Jefferson</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Immanuel_Kant" title="Immanuel Kant">Kant</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/S%C3%B8ren_Kierkegaard" title="Søren Kierkegaard">Kierkegaard</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gustave_Le_Bon" title="Gustave Le Bon">Le Bon</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pierre_Guillaume_Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_le_Play" title="Pierre Guillaume Frédéric le Play">Le Play</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Karl_Marx" title="Karl Marx">Marx</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill" title="John Stuart Mill">Mill</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche" title="Friedrich Nietzsche">Nietzsche</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Robert_Owen" title="Robert Owen">Owen</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ernest_Renan" title="Ernest Renan">Renan</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Jean-Jacques_Rousseau" title="Jean-Jacques Rousseau">Rousseau</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Josiah_Royce" title="Josiah Royce">Royce</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/John_Ruskin" title="John Ruskin">Ruskin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Adam_Smith" title="Adam Smith">Smith</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Herbert_Spencer" title="Herbert Spencer">Spencer</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Germaine_de_Sta%C3%ABl" title="Germaine de Staël">de Staël</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Max_Stirner" title="Max Stirner">Stirner</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hippolyte_Taine" title="Hippolyte Taine">Taine</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau" title="Henry David Thoreau">Thoreau</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville" title="Alexis de Tocqueville">Tocqueville</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Giambattista_Vico" title="Giambattista Vico">Vico</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Swami_Vivekananda" title="Swami Vivekananda">Vivekananda</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Voltaire" title="Voltaire">Voltaire</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">20th and 21st<br />centuries</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Theodor_W._Adorno" title="Theodor W. Adorno">Adorno</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Giorgio_Agamben" title="Giorgio Agamben">Agamben</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hannah_Arendt" title="Hannah Arendt">Arendt</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Raymond_Aron" title="Raymond Aron">Aron</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Alain_Badiou" title="Alain Badiou">Badiou</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Jean_Baudrillard" title="Jean Baudrillard">Baudrillard</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Zygmunt_Bauman" title="Zygmunt Bauman">Bauman</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Alain_de_Benoist" title="Alain de Benoist">Benoist</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Isaiah_Berlin" title="Isaiah Berlin">Berlin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Judith_Butler" title="Judith Butler">Butler</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Albert_Camus" title="Albert Camus">Camus</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Simone_de_Beauvoir" title="Simone de Beauvoir">de Beauvoir</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Guy_Debord" title="Guy Debord">Debord</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gilles_Deleuze" title="Gilles Deleuze">Deleuze</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/John_Dewey" title="John Dewey">Dewey</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/W._E._B._Du_Bois" title="W. E. B. Du Bois">Du Bois</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/%C3%89mile_Durkheim" title="Émile Durkheim">Durkheim</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Umberto_Eco" title="Umberto Eco">Eco</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Julius_Evola" title="Julius Evola">Evola</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Michel_Foucault" title="Michel Foucault">Foucault</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Erich_Fromm" title="Erich Fromm">Fromm</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi" title="Mahatma Gandhi">Gandhi</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Arnold_Gehlen" title="Arnold Gehlen">Gehlen</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Giovanni_Gentile" title="Giovanni Gentile">Gentile</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Antonio_Gramsci" title="Antonio Gramsci">Gramsci</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Gu%C3%A9non" title="René Guénon">Guénon</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/J%C3%BCrgen_Habermas" title="Jürgen Habermas">Habermas</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Byung-Chul_Han" title="Byung-Chul Han">Han</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Martin_Heidegger" title="Martin Heidegger">Heidegger</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hans-Hermann_Hoppe" title="Hans-Hermann Hoppe">Hoppe</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Luce_Irigaray" title="Luce Irigaray">Irigaray</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Russell_Kirk" title="Russell Kirk">Kirk</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Leszek_Ko%C5%82akowski" title="Leszek Kołakowski">Kołakowski</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Peter_Kropotkin" title="Peter Kropotkin">Kropotkin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Nick_Land" title="Nick Land">Land</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Christopher_Lasch" title="Christopher Lasch">Lasch</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Alasdair_MacIntyre" title="Alasdair MacIntyre">MacIntyre</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Herbert_Marcuse" title="Herbert Marcuse">Marcuse</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Jacques_Maritain" title="Jacques Maritain">Maritain</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Antonio_Negri" title="Antonio Negri">Negri</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Reinhold_Niebuhr" title="Reinhold Niebuhr">Niebuhr</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Martha_Nussbaum" title="Martha Nussbaum">Nussbaum</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Michael_Oakeshott" title="Michael Oakeshott">Oakeshott</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Ortega_y_Gasset" title="José Ortega y Gasset">Ortega</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Vilfredo_Pareto" title="Vilfredo Pareto">Pareto</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Karl_Polanyi" title="Karl Polanyi">Polanyi</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sarvepalli_Radhakrishnan" title="Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan">Radhakrishnan</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wilhelm_R%C3%B6pke" title="Wilhelm Röpke">Röpke</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/George_Santayana" title="George Santayana">Santayana</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Roger_Scruton" title="Roger Scruton">Scruton</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ali_Shariati" title="Ali Shariati">Shariati</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Georg_Simmel" title="Georg Simmel">Simmel</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/B._F._Skinner" title="B. F. Skinner">Skinner</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Werner_Sombart" title="Werner Sombart">Sombart</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Thomas_Sowell" title="Thomas Sowell">Sowell</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Oswald_Spengler" title="Oswald Spengler">Spengler</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Charles_Taylor_(philosopher)" title="Charles Taylor (philosopher)">Taylor</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Eric_Voegelin" title="Eric Voegelin">Voegelin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Michael_Walzer" title="Michael Walzer">Walzer</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Max_Weber" title="Max Weber">Weber</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Simone_Weil" title="Simone Weil">Weil</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Howard_Zinn" title="Howard Zinn">Zinn</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Slavoj_%C5%BDi%C5%BEek" title="Slavoj Žižek">Žižek</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table><div></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Works</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/De_Officiis" title="De Officiis">De Officiis</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(44 BC)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Oration_on_the_Dignity_of_Man" title="Oration on the Dignity of Man">Oration on the Dignity of Man</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(1486)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/A_Vindication_of_Natural_Society" title="A Vindication of Natural Society">A Vindication of Natural Society</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(1756)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Democracy_in_America" title="Democracy in America">Democracy in America</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(1835–1840)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Civilization_and_Its_Discontents" title="Civilization and Its Discontents">Civilization and Its Discontents</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(1930)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/The_Work_of_Art_in_the_Age_of_Mechanical_Reproduction" title="The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction">The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(1935)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/The_Second_Sex" title="The Second Sex">The Second Sex</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(1949)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/One-Dimensional_Man" title="One-Dimensional Man">One-Dimensional Man</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(1964)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/The_Society_of_the_Spectacle" title="The Society of the Spectacle">The Society of the Spectacle</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(1967)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/The_History_of_Sexuality" title="The History of Sexuality">The History of Sexuality</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(1976)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/The_Culture_of_Narcissism" title="The Culture of Narcissism">The Culture of Narcissism</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(1979)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/A_Conflict_of_Visions" title="A Conflict of Visions">A Conflict of Visions</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(1987)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/The_Closing_of_the_American_Mind" title="The Closing of the American Mind">The Closing of the American Mind</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(1987)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Gender_Trouble" title="Gender Trouble">Gender Trouble</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(1990)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/The_Malaise_of_Modernity" title="The Malaise of Modernity">The Malaise of Modernity</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(1991)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Intellectuals_and_Society" title="Intellectuals and Society">Intellectuals and Society</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(2010)</span></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">See also</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Agnotology" title="Agnotology">Agnotology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Axiology" class="mw-redirect" title="Axiology">Axiology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Critical_theory" title="Critical theory">Critical theory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cultural_critic" title="Cultural critic">Cultural criticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cultural_pessimism" title="Cultural pessimism">Cultural pessimism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ethics" title="Ethics">Ethics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Historism" title="Historism">Historism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Historicism" title="Historicism">Historicism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Humanities" title="Humanities">Humanities</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Philosophy_of_culture" title="Philosophy of culture">Philosophy of culture</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Philosophy_of_education" title="Philosophy of education">Philosophy of education</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Philosophy_of_history" title="Philosophy of history">Philosophy of history</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Political_philosophy" title="Political philosophy">Political philosophy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Social_criticism" title="Social criticism">Social criticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Social_science" title="Social science">Social science</a></li> <li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Social theory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociology" title="Sociology">Sociology</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><td class="navbox-abovebelow" colspan="2"><div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Social_philosophy" title="Category:Social philosophy">Category</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table></div>    </div><noscript><img src="https://login.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAutoLogin/start?type=1x1" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="border: none; position: absolute;"></noscript> <div class="printfooter" data-nosnippet="">Retrieved from "<a dir="ltr" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Social_theory&oldid=1258769115">https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Social_theory&oldid=1258769115</a>"</div></div> <div id="catlinks" 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