This text examines the assumptions and concepts of the five major sociological theories and the classical roots of the modern theories. It focuses specifically on functionalism, conflict theory, theories of rational choice, symbolic interactionism, and phenomenology. *NEW- Includes more feminist contributions in each perspective. *NEW- Includes a new chapter on Evolution and Modernity: Macrosociological Perspectives that discusses in depth the evolutionary theories of Karl Marx, Talcott Parsons, Jurgen Habermas, and Anthony Giddens. - Moves the section on social change from the chapters on functionalism and conflict theory to a new chapter four on evolutionary change. *NEW- Updates the material on Rediscovering the Body and provides an expanded discussion of Foucaults and other major changes. *Explores key concepts of each theory, the background of the major theorists, empirical applications, and everyday lay use of each perspective. *Includes examples of research based on actual theory. *Presents a section on Sociology of the Body that acknowledges recent work in this emerging perspective in sociology.

Table of Contents:
1. THE UNDERSTANDING OF SOCIETY. 2. FUNCTIONALISM. Part One: Talcott Parsons: Grand Theory. Part Two: Robert K. Merton: Middle-Range Theory. Part Three: Neofunctionalism. 3. CONFLICT THEORY. Part One: Conflict Theory and the Critique of Society. Part Two: Conflict Theory and Analytic Sociology: The Legacy of Max Weber. 4. EVOLUTION AND MODERNITY: MACROSOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES. Part One: Karl Marx and the Classless Society. Part Two: Talcott Parsons's Evolutionary Model. Part Three: Jurgen Habermas: Rationalization and Communicative Action. Part Four: Anthony Giddens: Structuration Theory and High Modernity. 5. SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM. Part One: George Herbert Mead: The Self. Part Two: Herbert Blumer: Interpretation and Methodology. Part Three: Erving Goffman: Dramaturgy and the Interaction Order. Part Four: Arlie Russell Hochschild and Patricia Hill Collins: Expanding the Horizons of Symbolic Interactionism. 6. PHENOMENOLOGY. Part One: Harold Garfinkel: The Founder of Ethnomethodology. Part Two: Peter Berger: The Social Construction of Reality. Part Three: Dorothy E. Smith: Feminist Standpoint Theory. 7. THEORIES OF RATIONAL CHOICE. Part One: Rational Choice, Social Exchange, and Individual Behavior. Part Two: Rational Choice and the Analysis of Social Structure. Part Three: James Coleman and the Foundations of Social Theory. 8. REDISCOVERING THE BODY: THE SOCIOLOGY OF THE BODY AND SOCIOBIOLOGY. Part One: The Sociology of the Body. Part Two: Sociobiology. 9. CONCLUSION: EVALUATING SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY. Part One: The Future of Sociological Theory: Modernism and Postmodernism. Part Two: Social Theory and Understanding: The Value of Multiple Perspectives. Selected Bibliography. Index.