Profiles in contemporary social theory 1 Reviewhttp://books.google.com/books/about/Profiles_in_contemporary_social_theory.html?id=E5t8AAAAIAAJ Vast, and seemingly ever changing, the field of contemporary social theory is often hard to describe and evaluate. This comprehensive survey provides an integrated and indispensable introduction to the most significant figures of recent times. Grounded strongly in the European tradition, the profiles include Michel Foucault, J[um]urgen Habermas, Roland Barthes, Jean Baudrillard, Pierre Bourdieu, Zygmunt Bauman, Martin Heidegger, Frederic Jameson, Richard Rorty, Nancy Chodrow, Anthony Giddens, Stuart Hall, Luce Irigaray and Donna Haraway. No survey of a field as big and contentious as contemporary social theory can claim to be complete. Yet none can match this book, in guiding students through the key figures in an accessible and authoritative fashion. As well as providing detailed accounts of the development of the work of major social theorists, the volume charts the relationship between different traditions of social, cultural and political thought - from critical theory to hermeneutics, from structuralism to postmodernism and from psychoanalysis to feminism. Profiles in Contemporary Social Theory will become a major reference work in the field of social theory because it offers in-depth commentaries that comprehensively examine the contents, contexts and critical evaluation of key theorists of the day. It is an indispensable book for students, teachers and professional researchers in sociology, cultural studies, politics, feminism and philosophy. |
