For over twenty years Charles Lemert has scoured the canon of social theory, pulling together long-established classics as well as engaging modern writing to create an essential collection of social theory from the nineteenth century to the present. In this heavily revised fifth edition, Lemert reevaluates the received canon and reasserts this iconic text's place in the standard curriculum.

Classic, essential texts from thinkers like Marx, Durkheim, and James remain; other key writers, like Dewey and Connell, are presented in a new light; and leading figures in the discussion of twenty-first-century society, such as Elijah Anderson and Bruno Latour, are anthologized here for the first time. In addition to classic and multicultural readings, the new fifth edition introduces a discussion of global social theory as well as important new and evolving topics like mobile technologies, the virtual realm, masculinities, and bare life. For the first time, timelines are included to visually present readings against the backdrop of significant events in social and world history. With more than 100 authors, thinkers, and scholars represented, the fifth edition of Social Theory is an essential component of any course on social theory.