Over the last three decades social theory has become an increasingly importantsubdiscipline within sociology. Social theory has attempted to elucidate thephilos... » 

Over the last three decades social theory has become an increasingly importantsubdiscipline within sociology. Social theory has attempted to elucidate thephilosophical basis of sociology by defining the nature of social reality.According to social theory society consists of objective institutionsstructure on the one hand and individuals agency on the other it promoteshuman social relations insisting that in every instance social realityconsists of these relations.The book begins by defining and criticizing contemporary social theory. Itanalyses the work of Giddens Bourdieu Foucault Bhaskar and Habermas todemonstrate that their commitment to structure and agency is unsustainable. Thebook then proceeds to recover a sociology which focuses on social relations byreference to the works of classical sociology to Hegel Marx Weber andDurkheim. Finally the book establishes a new hermeneutic paradigm in whichsocial relations are primary. The author argues that sociologists studying thedramatic social transformations which are currently occurring should focus onsocial relations between humans they should not attempt to understandcontemporary changes in terms of structure and agency. «