Preface -- Introduction -- Classical social theory -- Hegel on dialectics, the state, and society -- Marx and Engels on social class and class struggle -- Durkheim on society and social order -- Weber on bureaucracy, power, and social status -- Pareto, Mosca, and Michels on elites and masses -- Simmel on social relations and group affiliations -- Cooley and mead on human nature and society -- Freud on the development of society and civilization -- Adams and early women social theorists -- Veblen on the leisure class and conspicuous consumption -- Mannheim on ideology and utopia -- Gramsci and Lenin on ideology, the state, and revolution -- Kollontai on class, gender, and patriarchy -- Du Bois and Frazier on race, class, and social emancipation -- Contemporary social theory -- Parsons, Merton, and functionalist theory -- Mills on the power elite -- Domhoff on the power structure and the governing class -- Althusser, Poulantzas, and Miliband on politics and the state -- Trimberger, Block, and Skocpol and neo-weberian theorizing -- Homans on social exchange -- The Frankfurt school of critical theory -- Goffman and Garfinkel on dramaturgy, ethnomethodology, and everyday life -- Wilson and Willie on race, class, and poverty -- Feminist theory : yesterday and today -- Wallerstein and world-systems theory -- Theories of globalization -- Therborn and Szymanski on contemporary marxist theory -- Foucault on the diffusion of power -- Harvey and Callinicos on postmodernism and its critique -- Social movements and transformation -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index -- About the author