A new edition is timely. There have been many substantial changes in the discipline. The opening up of new concerns and the questioning of established perspectives and methodologies. I think that this new edition captures effectively the nature of these new concerns, takes the debate forward, and presents them usefully to new undergraduates.
This fifth edition has been wholly rewritten and restructured. While retaining its wealth of information about the founding figures of sociology, it also ncludes much new material on contemporary social theory and particularly the challenge to sociology posed by the rise of post-structuralism with its questioning of the whole enlightenment project.
