Welcome to Social Theory
- Tom Brock - Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
Welcome to Social Theory is exactly what students want: a lucid and engaging introduction to social theory that carefully uses images, examples and quotations to illustrate new ways of examining contemporary social life. Tom Brock’s comprehensive and accessible style produces an indispensable guide to social theory that examines the major theoretical traditions from Marxism through to poststructuralism, and from feminism through to postcolonial theory, new materialism and posthumanism. Welcome to Social Theory gives careful appraisal of classical ideas and debates in social theory and traces their impact through discussion of major contemporary theorists – including Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, Anthony Giddens, Margaret Archer, Judith Butler, bell hooks, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Edward Said, Homi Bhabha, Gayatri Spivak, Bruno Latour, Gilles Deleuze and Rosi Braidotti.
Social theory matters and this book shows why through relevant and compelling examples, including the gig economy, everyday sexism, digital black feminism, animal and environmental activism, stigma and discrimination against migrants, the need to decolonise the sociology curriculum and many more.
Welcome to Social theory is an indispensable text for undergraduate students who are new to social theory.
Dr. Tom Brock is a Senior Lecturer of Sociology at Manchester Metropolitan University.
Supplements
Visit https://study.sagepub.com/brock1e to find additional resources for lecturers, to aid study and support teaching.
For lecturers
PowerPoint slides featuring figures and tables from the book, which can be downloaded and customized for use in your own presentations.
Elegantly written, ambitious in scope and meticulously clear in its exposition, Brock’s Welcome to Social Theory provides an engaging introduction to key currents in social thought that will prove indispensable to both newcomers and more established readers in this field.
The author has extensive experience teaching sociological theory to students new to the field.
This book does what more social theory books should do: it combines a clear and unfussy prose style with carefully selected graphic representations and images of key concepts and ideas. As such, it enables complex ideas to be made clear in ways that words alone often fail to do. I enjoyed very much reading about and ‘looking’ at the conceptual ideas this book sets forth’
Comprehensive yet concise Introduction to Social Theory that covers all main Social Theories (with contemporary references) as well as modern perspectives of Postcolonial Theory, New Materialism and Post-humanism. Clear and accessible format and structure of each chapter's: Objectives, Keywords, Introduction, Summary, Review Questions and Annotated Reading list. Each chapter has add-ons such as Focus on Facts, Quotes and References and Case Studies. Also provided: Glossary, References and Index. All together very accessible, up to date resources, helpful and informative for both lecturer as well as students.
The book presents a very good overview of key ideas of social theorists covered in the module I teach. Applies the concepts clearly to current issues to help students understand their relevance and immediacy. It goes into more detail on more theorists than I need students to be aware of - hence the 'reading list' adoption status.
Important book for the study of sociological theories. Current and well-founded
This is a great introduction to a range of social theory applicable to graphic design students applying theory to their practice. It is especially useful for introductions to intersectionality and post-colonial theory.
