New Directions in Social Theory: Race, Gender and the Canon

193 Pages·2006·3.325 MB·English

by  Kate Reed

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New Directions in Social Theory
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New Directions in
Social Theor y
Race, Gender and the Canon
Kate Reed
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© Kate Reed 2006
First published 2006
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research
or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted
under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, this
publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in
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permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of
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Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms
should be sent to the publishers.
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the
British Library
ISBN-10 0 7619 4270 X
ISBN-13 978 0 7619 4270 2
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This book is not intended to be a political or historical chronicle, only a
series of recollections, which always are selective and tinted by one’s own
experience and ideology.
Isabel Allende, My Invented Country: A Memoir
Social theory is what we do when we find ourselves able to put into
words what nobody seems to want to talk about. When we find those
words, and say them, we begin to survive. For some, learning to survive
leads to uncommon and exhilarating pleasures. For others, perhaps
the greater numbers of us, it leads at least to the common pleasure a
pleasure rubbed raw with what is: the simple but necessary power of
knowing that one knows what is there because one can say it.
This, whatever else, is what makes social theory worth reading.
Charles Lemert, Social Theory
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For Mary Evans
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Contents
Biographical Note x
Acknowledgements xi
1. Introduction 1
Sociological Theory Past and Present 4
Changing Concepts: Class, Gender and Race 6
Reasons behind Changes in Sociological Theory 8
Social Change 8
Paradigm Shifts 9
Selection and Exclusion 9
This Book: Themes, Aims and Arguments 10
Chapter Outline 12
Notes 14
Part One: Classical Sociology
2. The Classical Tradition 19
The Emergence of Sociology 20
Race, Gender and the Classical Agenda 21
Karl Marx and the Theory of Capitalism 23
Emile Durkheim and the Study of Social Facts 27
Max Weber and the Science of Interpretation 29
Evaluating the Holy Trinity 32
Peripheral Visions 32
Georg Simmel and the Fragmentation of Society 32
The Endurance of the Classics 35
The Emergence of Sociological Exclusion 37
Conclusion 39
Chapter Summary 39
Further Reading 40
Notes 40
3. Race, Gender and Hidden Classics 42
Race, Gender and Sociological Exclusion 43
Harriet Martineau (1802–1876) 43
W.E.B. DuBois (1868–1963) 47
Anna Julia Cooper (1858–1964) 51
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viii Contents
The Hidden Classics and Sociological Theory 54
Why Were They Outsiders? 54
From Hidden Classics to Contemporary Insiders 56
Evaluating the Position of the Hidden Classics 57
Changes in Sociology: The Interwar Years 58
The Chicago School: A Move to Inclusion? 58
Robert Park and the Sociology of Race 60
Jane Addams and the Chicago Women’s School 62
Conclusion 64
Chapter Summary 65
Further Reading 65
Part Two:Modern Sociology
4. Theories of the Golden Age 69
The Emergence of Modern Sociology 70
Theories of the Golden Age 71
Talcott Parsons (1902–1979) 72
Crisis and Hope in the Sociological Canon 76
C. Wright Mills (1916–1962) 77
Alvin Gouldner (1920–1980) 80
Gloom and Despair: The Frankfurt School 86
Evaluating Modern Theorists 90
Conclusion 92
Chapter Summary 92
Further Reading 93
5. Race, Gender and Sociological Outsiders 94
Race, Gender and Sociological Exclusion 95
Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) 95
Frantz Fanon (1925–1961) 100
Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986) 104
Outsider Visions and Sociological Theory 108
Why Were They Outsiders? 109
From Modern Outsiders to Contemporary Insiders 110
Evaluating Modern Outsiders 111
The Challenge to Western Sociology 112
The Feminist Challenge to Social Theory 113
The Growth of the Sociology of Race 115
Conclusion 116
Chapter Summary 117
Further Reading 117
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Contents ix
Part Three: Contemporary Sociology
6. Postmodernism and Social Theory 121
Changes in Sociological Theory 122
Postmodernism and Sociological Theory 123
Postmodernism, Class, Race and Gender 125
Contemporary Social Theorists 127
Anthony Giddens (1938–) 128
Donna Haraway (1944–) 132
Stuart Hall (1932–) 136
Is This the End of Sociological Outsiders? 140
Conclusion 142
Chapter Summary 143
Further Reading 143
7. Beyond Sociological Exclusion 144
Rewriting Sociological Theory’s Past 146
Writing Contemporary Social Theory 149
Race, Gender and the Centring of Outsiders 149
Gender, Race and Public Social Theory 152
Empirically Orienting Social Theory 154
Limitations to Gendered and Racial Inclusion 156
The Future of Social Theory 157
Book Overview 159
Conclusion 160
Chapter Summary 161
Further Reading 162
Note 162
References 163
Index 173