This classic text explores the lives and ideas of the social thinkers who have shaped and continue to forge traditions in sociology. Focusing on the great names in the field, it weaves biographical and conceptual details into a tapestry of the history of social thought of the 19th and 20th centuries. Written in a narrative style that is accessible and exciting, this text is an excellent supplement for courses in social/sociological theory, the history of social thought, the history of sociology, and introduction to sociology..

Preface
Introduction: Society and Illusion

Chapter 1. The Prophets of Paris: Saint-Simon and Comte

Chapter 2. Sociology in the Underground: Karl Marx

Chapter 3. The Last Gentleman: Alexis de Tocqueville

Chapter 4. Nietzsche's Madness

Chapter 5. Do-Gooders, Evolutionists, and Racists

Chapter 6: Dreyfus's Empire: Emile Durkheim

Chapter 7: Max Weber: The Disenchantment of the World

Chapter 8: Sigmund Freud: Conquistador of the Irrational

Chapter 9: The Discovery of the Invisible World: Simmel, Cooley, and Mead

Chapter 10: The Discovery of the Ordinary World: Thomas, Park, and the Chicago School

Chapter 11: The Emergence of African-American Sociology: DuBois, Frazier, Drake, and Cayton

Chapter 12: The Construction of the Social System: Pareto and Parsons

Chapter 13: Hitler's Shadow: Michels, Mannheim, and Mills

Chapter 14: Erving Goffman and the Theatre of Social Encounters

Chapter 15: Cultural Capital, Revolution, and the World-System: The Theories of Pierre Bourdieu, Theda Skocpol, and Immanuel Wallerstein

Chapter 16: From the Code of the Street to the Social Structure of Right and Wrong: The Sociology of Elijah Anderson and Donald Black

Bibliographical Suggestions

Index