Classical and Contemporary Sociological Theory: Text and Readings provides students with the best of both worlds--carefully-edited excerpts from the original works of sociology′s key theorists accompanied by an analytical framework that discusses the lives, ideas, and historical circumstances of each theorist. This unique format enables students to examine, compare, and contrast each theorist's major themes and concepts. In the Fourth Edition of this bestseller, examples from contemporary life and a rich variety of updated pedagogical tools (tables, figures, photographs, discussion questions,) illuminate complex ideas. NEW TO THIS EDITION:

• The overarching theoretical framework has been expanded to further help students understand, compare, and contrast the readings.
• Additional discussion of the Enlightenment thinkers, such as Locke, Rousseau, Hume, Kant, Hobbes, Wollstonecraft, demonstrates how these thinkers shaped the core theoretical questions that guide sociological inquiry to this day.
• A new primary source reading from theorist Ulrich Beck enables students to analyze climate change from a sociological perspective.
• A new reading from Talcott Parsons gives students a better understanding of social action theory and structural functionalism.
• Updated examples, statistics and visuals tie theory to current events.