Politics, Sociology, and Social Theory: Encounters with Classical and Contemporary Social Thought

This comprehensive book by Anthony Giddens offers a critical examination of major figures in classical and contemporary social and political thought, providing unique insights into his own developed ideas over the past two decades.

The volume includes discussions of politics and sociology in the works of Max Weber, as well as analyses of Durkheim's political sociology and interpretation of individualism and solidarity in modern societies.

Additionally, contemporary figures such as Habermas, Foucault, Marcuse, Garinkel, and Popper are subjected to critical dissection and appraisal.

The book serves as an introduction to the main debates preoccupying the social sciences and politics, while highlighting unifying themes associated with Giddens's standpoint, including the methodological reconstruction of social investigation, the reinterpretation of modernity, and the reformulation of a critical theory of politics.

This book will be of interest to anyone seeking to understand the major dilemmas faced by social and political theory today, as well as those following Giddens's overall trajectory of thinking.