Sociological Theory - A Contemporary View: How to Read, Criticize and Do Theory

A pithy and clear guide to the process of creating and evaluating theory in the social sciences. Using a simple model of theory creation and assessment--and applying it in depth to foundational and still-relevant social and economic theorists such as Durkheim, Marx and Parsons--Neil Smelser shows the way to a better understanding of what social theory is supposed to accomplish and how it can be read critically.

First appearing in 1971 as a monograph drawn from his undergraduate class on socio…