SOCI 412/442 Contemporary Social Theories

Philosophies of positivism and phenomenology; Structuralism in Sociology; Consensus and conflict approaches; Neo-Functionalism; Marxism and Neo-Marxism: critical theory, the ideas of Habermas, and cultural analyses of modern societies; Historically-oriented Marxism; Macro and Micro or Structure and Agency debate; Interpretative tradition in Sociology and definition of the situation; social construction of reality; Exchange and rational choice theories; Feminist theories; Structuralism, poststructuralism— the ideas of Focault; sociolinguistics; Recent integrative developments in sociological theory; Postmodernism and postmodern social theories.