VOLUME I Reflecting emerging research and ongoing reassessments of social theory, The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Major Social Theorists offers significant updates and revisions to the original Blackwell Companion published a decade ago. Volume I: Major Classical Theorists presents 18 comprehensive essays on social theorists writing in the classical tradition, more than half all-new for this Companion, written by some of the most eminent contemporary scholars in their field. In addition to detailing the make-up and development of specific social theories, each essay places the theorist and their ideas in personal, social, and historical context; and integrates the most current scholarship to offer assessments as to their continuing relevance. Well-known theorists such as Comte, Spencer, Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Simmel, Mead, Schutz, and Parsons are represented, as well as theorists historically excluded from the sociological canon, including Ibn Khaldun, Martineau, Gilman, and Du Bois. Other essays consider a set of classical theorists chosen for their particular relevance to contemporary theory: de Tocqueville on democracy, Schumpeter on capitalism, Mannheim on the sociology of knowledge, Veblen on consumer society, and Adorno on cultural theory. Edited by one of the most renowned figures in social theory, the Wiley-Blackwell Companion is an indispensable resource and reference to the life and times of the classical thinkers and their relevance to modern theorists and today's social world. VOLUME II Reflecting emerging research and ongoing reassessments of social theory, The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Major Social Theorists offers significant updates and revisions to the original Blackwell Companion published a decade ago. Transitioning from the classical theorists, Volume II: Major Contemporary Theorists includes 23 comprehensive essays on social theorists writing from the middle of the twentieth century up to the present day -- and features 16 all-new essays written by some of the most eminent contemporary scholars in their field. In addition to detailing the make-up and development of specific social theories, essays place the theorist and their ideas in personal, social, and historical context. In addition to addressing the central themes of contemporary social theory -- social structure and organization; theories of self and identity; politics and power; culture and representation; epistemology and metatheory -- newly emerging areas of study such as globalization; science, technology; and consumerism are also considered. Along with updates to essays on major figures included in the original volume, coverage of several of the cutting-edge theorists dealing with urgent problems of the increasingly global world is now included -- names such as Zygmunt Bauman, Dorothy Smith, Bruno Latour, Edward Said, Donna Haraway, and Ulrich Beck. Edited by one of the most renowned figures in social theory, the Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Major Contemporary Social Theorists is an indispensable resource and reference to the most significant figures in current social theory.

Volume I: Classical. List of Contributors. Preface. Introduction (Jeffrey Stepnisky, Grant MacEwan University, Alberta, Canada). 1. Ibn Khaldkn (Syed Farid Alatas, National University of Singapore). 2. Auguste Comte (Mary Pickering, San Jose State University, USA). 3. Harriet Martineau (Susan Hoecker-Drysdale, American University, Washington DC, USA). 4. Alexis de Tocqueville (Laura Janara, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada). 5. Karl Marx (Robert J. Antonio, University of Kansas, USA). 6. Herbert Spencer (Mark Francis, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand). 7. Thorstein Veblen (Ken McCormick, University of Northern Iowa, USA). 8. Georg Simmel (Lawrence A. Scaff, Wayne State University, Detroit, USA). 9. Emile Durkheim Tara Milbrandt (University of Alberta, USA) and Frank Pearce (Queen''s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada). 10. Charlotte Perkins Gilman (Judith A. Allen, Indiana University, USA). 11. Max Weber (Stephen Kalberg, Boston University, USA). 12. George Herbert Mead (Dmitri N. Shalin, University of Nevada, USA). 13. William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (Paul C. Taylor, Pennsylvania State University, USA). 14. Joseph A. Schumpeter (Harry F. Dahms, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA). 15. Karl Mannheim (Colin Loader, University of Nevada, Las Vegas). 16. Alfred Schutz (Jochen Dreher, University of Konstanz, Germany, and University of St. Gallen, Switzerland). 17. Talcott Parsons (Victor Lidz, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, USA). 18. Theodor W. Adorno (Harry F. Dahms, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA). Index. Volume II: Contemporary. 1. Norbert Elias (Richard Kilminster, University of Leeds, UK, and Stephen Mennell, University College Dublin, Ireland). 2. Henri Lefebvre (Kanishka Goonewardena, University of Toronto, Canada). 3. Robert K. Merton (Charles Crothers, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand). 4. Harold Garfinkel (Anne Warfield Rawls, Bentley University, USA, and L''Ecole des hautes etudes en sciences sociales, Paris, France). 5. Erving Goffman (Greg Smith, University of Salford, UK). 6. Zygmunt Bauman (Peter Beilharz, La Trobe University, Australia). 7. Gilles Deleuze (Ian Buchanan, Cardiff University). 8. Richard M. Emerson (Karen S. Cook, Stanford University, USA, and Joseph M. Whitmeyer, UNC Charlotte, USA). 9. James S. Coleman (Guillermina Jasso, New York University, USA). 10. Michel Foucault (Couze Venn, Nottingham Trent University, UK, and University of Johannesburg, South Africa). 11. Dorothy E. Smith (Marie L. Campbell, University of Victoria, Canada, and Marjorie L. DeVault, Syracuse University, USA). 12. Niklas Luhmann (Rudolf Stichweh, University of Lucerne, Switzerland). 13. Jean Baudrillard (Douglas Kellner, University of California, Los Angeles, USA). 14. Jürgen Habermas (William Outhwaite, Newcastle University, UK). 15. Pierre Bourdieu (Craig Calhoun, New York University, USA). 16. Immanuel Wallerstein (Christopher Chase-Dunn, University of California, Riverside, USA, and Hiroko Inoue, University of California, Riverside, USA). 17. Edward W. Said (Patrick Williams, Nottingham Trent University, UK). 18. Anthony Giddens (Christopher G. A. Bryant, University of Salford, UK, and David Jary, Open University, UK). 19. Giorgio Agamben (Catherine Mills, University of Sydney, Australia). 20. Ulrich Beck (Iain Wilkinson, University of Kent, UK). 21. Donna Haraway (Janet Wirth-Cauchon, Drake University, USA). 22. Bruno Latour (Sal Restivo, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, USA, and Northeastern University, Shenyang, China). 23. Judith Butler (Moya Lloyd, Loughborough University, UK). Index.