Sociological Theory

it was better than what I assumed. I will continue to buy books from this dealer when I need. strongly recommend it.

Ritzer and Goodman's simply-titled Sociological Theory is an excellent introductory text for that field. At nearly 800 pages, it offers a very good overview of both European and American sociological theory, without being overlong and cumbersome. The authors give a broad overview of the origins of sociological theory in the early classical theorists -- Marx, Weber, Durkheim, and Simmel -- all of whom have an entire chapter devoted to them. They also devote chapters that give a broad overview of the rise of sociological theory in both Europe and America. After that, they devote a chapter to each of the major schools of sociological theory. They also address various other issues important to the field, such as macro-micro integration, agency-structure issues, and modernism vs. postmodernism. The book is very well-written and even manages to be entertaining as well as informative. It is also quite comprehensive, covering all of the subjects mentioned above, among others, quite well: a nice, broad overview is given of almost all of the things important to sociological theory. Concise biographical portraits of major theorists are also offered, which often serve to add a distinct and charming personal touch to the sometimes abstract narratives. Of course, the book is not comprehensive: that is beyond the scope of the book. Within it, the authors continually stress the importance of reading the original sources as well as other overviews in order to get a balanced and complete view of each theorist, theory, and idea. Anyone looking for a great general overview of sociological theory, however, need look no further than this.

I used this book in its 4th edition as an undergraduate and I am very glad I kept it, because I used it extensively in my graduate theory class last semester. Ritzer makes it easy to understand and appreciate the classical theorists and I would highly recommend it as a good general book for students.

It is never an easy task to condense theory into a single, comprehensive textbook. Nevertheless, George Ritzer offers one of the best, if not THE best, options available. To say that this book is for "dabblers" only is misleading to those looking for an overview of sociological theory.