List of Contributors viii Introduction: A New Agenda for Social Theory? 1 Bryan S. Turner PART I FOUNDATIONS 17 1 The Foundations of Social Theory 19 Gerard Delanty 2 Contemporary Sociological Theory: Post-Parsonian Developments 38 John Holmwood 3 Philosophy of the Social Sciences 60 Patrick Baert and Fernando Domínguez Rubio PART II ACTIONS, ACTORS, AND SYSTEMS 81 4 Theories of Social Action 83 Rob Stones 5 Functionalism and Social Systems Theory 106 Giuseppe Sciortino 6 Structuralism and Poststructuralism 124 Daniel Chaffee and Charles Lemert 7 Actor Network Theory and Material Semiotics 141 John Law 8 Ethnomethodology and Social Theory 159 Richard A. Hilbert 9 Rational Choice Theory 179 Raymond Boudon PART III PERSPECTIVES ON SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ANALYSIS 197 10 Pragmatism and Symbolic Interactionism 199 Jack Barbalet 11 Phenomenology 218 Michael G. Flaherty 12 Feminist Theory 235 Mary Evans 13 Postmodern Social Theory 251 Jan Pakulski 14 Social Constructionism 281 Darin Weinberg 15 Conversation Analysis as Social Theory 300 John Heritage 16 Globalization Theory 321 John Boli and Frank J. Lechner PART IV SOCIOLOGY AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES 341 17 Genetics and Social Theory 343 Oonagh Corrigan 18 Economic Sociology 360 Richard Swedberg 19 Cultural Sociology 378 Isaac Reed and Jeffrey C. Alexander 20 Historical Sociology 391 Krishan Kumar 21 The Sociology of Religion 409 Michele Dillon 22 Demography 428 John MacInnes and Julio Pérez Díaz 23 Science and Technology Studies: From Controversies to Posthumanist Social Theory 451 Sophia Roosth and Susan Silbey PART V NEW DEVELOPMENTS 475 24 Mobilities and Social Theory 477 John Urry 25 Sociological Theory and Human Rights: Two Logics, One World 496 Judith Blau and Alberto Moncada 26 The Sociology of the Body 513 Bryan S. Turner 27 Cosmopolitanism and Social Theory 533 Daniel Chernilo 28 The Future of Social Theory 551 Stephen Turner Index 567.