Lecturer publishes unconventional textbook

Marcel Stoetzler, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, has just published his new book, Beginning Classical Social Theory, with Manchester University Press.

It is aimed at undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as general readers as a slightly unconventional textbook: the book offers some contextual background information on thirteen key theorists, ranging from Comte to Adorno, but primarily examines very closely one exemplary text by each author. Beginning Classical Social Theory answers the need for a book that helps students develop the skill to critically read theory, rather than yet another one that compiles everything one ought to know about all the major theorists. Readers are alerted to the flow of arguments and the texts’ contradictions and limitations.

Having gotten ‘under the skin’ of one key text by each author will provide readers with a solid starting point for further study. Authors covered include Comte, Tocqueville, Durkheim, Tönnies, du Bois, Simmel, Max Weber as well as Marx, Horkheimer, Adorno and feminist theorists Flora Tristan, Marianne Weber and Simone de Beauvoir.

Publication date: 29 August 2017