`This book is accessible, as a beginner's guide should be, but without an over-simplification of the arguments. It should prove an immensely durable text for generations of students to come' - John Hughes, Lancaster University

At last, a book that makes social theory for undergraduates a pleasure to teach and study. The book offers a comprehensive overview of social theory from classical sociology to the present day. Students are guided through the work of Durkheim, Marx and Weber, functionalism, action perspectives, feminism, postmodernism and contemporary thinkers like Anthony Giddens, Michel Foucault, J[um]urgen Habermas, Frederic Jameson, Judith Butler, Gilles Deluze, Manuel Castells, Luce Irigary, Naomi Woolf and Camille Paglia. The book presents clear accounts of these contributions and employs an extensive range of activities that encourage the reader to evaluate the work of given theorists and approaches.

The book is:

- Comprehensive

- Student-friendly

- Accurate

- Unpatronising

It offers lecturers and students an ideal study resource for undergraduate modules in social theory.

Introduction
The Theoretical Self
Functionalist Perspectives
Theorizing Systems and Structures
Marxism
Theorizing Capitalism - Debates and Developments
The Action Perspectives
Theorizing Social Action and Self
Feminist Approaches
Theorizing Patriarchy and Oppression
Anthony Giddens
Theorizing Agency and Structure
Postmodernism
Theorizing Fragmentation and Uncertainty

Shaun Best is a Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Manchester, and author of Understanding Social Divisions, (2005) and A Beginner¿s Guide to Social Theory (2003, both SAGE).