Making Sense of Social Theory

Making Sense of Social Theory opens by carefully exploring what it means to follow the scientific method in a field like sociology. The author goes on to analyze sociology as a genuine science with a body of explanatory insights. It does this by (a) considering the major insights of key thinkers (including Marx, Durkheim, Weber, and Mead, among others), (b) distinguishing different analytical frameworks (especially exchange, symbolic interactionism, conflict, and structural-functionalism) in terms of their underlying assumptions, and (c) revealing compelling social science explanatory insights in the form of predictive principles that can be applied in understanding processes of change at work in the social world (from face-to-face encounters to major historical trends). Sociological theory is applied in ways that make its relevance and power apparent. In reading this book, theory no longer stands divorced from real-world research or practice. Making Sense of Social Theory clearly establishes the pertinence of sociology's great theoretical insights for all social science researches and practitioners. Book jacket.

Charles H. Powers is professor of sociology at Santa Clara University.