Zhongyuan Sun

Reading lists Stream 1Search all readings

Social theory

General sociological theory: action, structure, rational choice, critical theory and their successors.

Of its 92 readings, 2 are assigned in two or more sources and listed first, with the number of sources beside each (in bold for the core readings, in 4 or more); the 90 listed in only one source are folded under each heading.

In the theory tree: leads to 7 Culture, cognition and sensemaking and 11 Social networks and embeddedness.

Drawn from: DiMaggio (Princeton); Pollock (Tennessee); Sullivan (HKUST); Clough (UBC); Maoret (IESE). Full details of the sources are on the reading lists page.

By decade

Before 1950: 3 readings<19501950s: 1 reading1950s1960s: 6 readings1960s1970s: 5 readings1970s1980s: 35 readings351980s1990s: 29 readings1990s2000s: 13 readings2000s2010s: 0 readings2010s2020s: 0 readings2020s
Most date from the 1980s; half were published in 1989 or later.

Also assigned

In 2 to 3 sources.

  1. Coleman, J. (1990). Foundations of Social Theory. Harvard University Press.3
  2. Stinchcombe, A. L. (1987). Constructing Social Theories. University of Chicago Press.2

Further readings

90 more, listed in one source
  1. Abbott, E. A. (1884). Flatland (2nd ed.).
  2. Parsons, T. (1949 (1945)). The Present Position and Prospects of Systematic Theory in Sociology. In Essays in Sociological Theory: Pure and Applied (pp. 17–42). The Free Press.
  3. Parsons, T. (1949 [1937]). The Structure of Social Action: A Study in Social Theory with Special Reference to a Group of Recent European Writers. Free Press. Part I, pp. 3-20, 27-41, 43-84; ch 12.
  4. Parsons, T. (1959). The School Class as a Social System. Harvard Educational Review.
  5. Thompson, D. (1961). On Growth and Form. Cambridge University Press.
  6. Garfinkel, H. (1963). A Conception of Experiments with 'Trust' as a Condition of Stable Concerted Actions. In O. J. Harvey (Ed.), Motivation and Social Interaction (pp. 187–238). Ronald Press.
  7. Homans, G. C. (1964). Bringing Men Back In. American Sociological Review, 29(6), 809. https://doi.org/10.2307/2090864
  8. Goffman, E. (1967). Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behavior. Pantheon.
  9. Merton, R. K. (1967 [1949]). On Sociological Theories of the Middle Range. In On Theoretical Sociology: Five Essays, Old and New. Free Press.
  10. Schutz, A. (1967 [1932]). The Phenomenology of the Social World. Northwestern University Press.
  11. Foucault, M. ([1970] 1973). The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences. Vintage.
  12. Collins, R. (1971). Functional and Conflict Theories of Educational Stratification. American Sociological Review, 36(6), 1002. https://doi.org/10.2307/2093761
  13. Parsons, T. (1971). Theoretical Orientations. In The System of Modern Societies (pp. 4–28). Prentice-Hall.
  14. Turner, J. H. (1974). The Structure of Sociological Theory. Dorsey Press.
  15. Foucault, M. (1976). Two Lectures. In Power/Knowledge (pp. 78–108). Pantheon.
  16. Mayhew, B. H. (1980). Structuralism versus Individualism: Part 1, Shadowboxing in the Dark. Social Forces, 59(2), 335. https://doi.org/10.2307/2578025
  17. Collins, R. (1981). On the Microfoundations of Macrosociology. American Journal of Sociology, 86(5), 984–1014. https://doi.org/10.1086/227351
  18. Mayhew, B. H. (1981). Structuralism versus Individualism: Part II, Ideological and Other Obfuscations. Social Forces, 59(3), 627. https://doi.org/10.2307/2578186
  19. Collins, R. (1981). Three Stages of Erving Goffman. In Sociology Since Midcentury: Essays in Theory Cumulation (pp. 219–54). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-181340-6.50016-x
  20. Thompson, J. B., & Held, D. (Eds.). (1982). Habermas: Critical Debates. Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-16763-0
  21. Elster, J. (1982). Marxism, functionalism, and game theory: The case for methodological individualism. Theory and Society, 11(4), 453–482. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00162324
  22. Alexander, J. (1983). Theoretical Logic in Sociology, volume 4: The Modern Reconstruction of Classical Thought: Talcott Parsons. University of California Press.
  23. Heritage, J. (1984). Garfinkel and Ethnomethodology. Polity Press.
  24. Jameson, F. (1984). Postmodernism, or The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. New Left Review, 1(146), 53–92. https://doi.org/10.64590/s2p
  25. Foucault, M. (1984). Selections from Discipline and Punish. In P. Rabinow (Ed.), The Foucault Reader (pp. 170–238). Pantheon.
  26. Wuthnow, R., Hunter, J. D., Bergesen, A., & Kurzweil, E. (1984). The Critical Theory of Jurgen Habermas. In Cultural Analysis: The Work of Peter L Berger, Mary Douglas, Michel Foucault and Jurgen Habermas (pp. 179–239). Routledge & Kegan Paul.
  27. Wuthnow, R., Hunter, J. D., Bergesen, A., & Kurzweil, E. (1984). The phenomenology of Peter L. Berger. In Cultural Analysis: The Work of Peter L. Berger, Mary Douglas, Michel Foucault and Jurgen Habermas (pp. 21–76). Routledge and Kegan Paul. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203092774-7
  28. Foucault, M. (1984). What is an Author? In P. Rabinow (Ed.), The Foucault Reader (pp. 101–20). Pantheon.
  29. Collins, R. (1985). The Conflict Tradition. In Three Sociological Traditions (pp. 47–115). Oxford.
  30. Collins, R. (1985). The Microinteractionist Tradition. In Three Sociological Traditions (pp. 180–226). Oxford.
  31. Turner, J. H. (1987). Analytical Theorizing. In A. Giddens & J. Turner (Eds.), Social Theory Today. Stanford University Press.
  32. Heritage, J. (1987). Harold Garfinkel. In A. Giddens & J. Turner (Eds.), Social Theory Today (pp. 224–72). Stanford University Press.
  33. Lamont, M. (1987). How to Become a Dominant French Philosopher: The Case of Jacques Derrida. American Journal of Sociology, 93(3), 584–622. https://doi.org/10.1086/228790
  34. Frank, R. H. (1987). If Homo Economicus Could Choose his own Utility Function, Would He Want One with a Conscience? American Economic Review.
  35. Giddens, A., & Turner, J. (1987). Social Theory Today. Stanford University Press.
  36. Alexander, J. (1987). The Centrality of the Classics. In A. Giddens & J. Turner (Eds.), Social Theory Today (pp. 11–57). Stanford University Press.
  37. Camic, C. (1987). The Making of a Method: A Historical Reinterpretation of the Early Parsons. American Sociological Review, 52(4), 421. https://doi.org/10.2307/2095289
  38. Habermas, J. (1987). The Theory of Communicative Action, vol. 2: Lifeworld and System: A Critique of Functionalist Reasoning. Beacon Press.
  39. Atkinson, P. (1988). Ethnomethodology: A Critical Review. Annual Review of Sociology, 14(1), 441–465. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.14.080188.002301
  40. Jasso, G. (1988). Principles of Theoretical Analysis. Sociological Theory, 6(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.2307/201910
  41. Murphy, R. (1988). Social Closure: The Theory of Monopolization and Exclusion. Oxford University Press.
  42. Anderson, P. W., & Pines, D. (1988). The Economy As an Evolving Complex System. Santa Fe Institute.
  43. Abbott, A. (1988). Transcending General Linear Reality. Sociological Theory, 6(2), 169. https://doi.org/10.2307/202114
  44. Solum, L. B. (1989). Freedom of Communicative Action: A Theory of the First Amendment Freedom of Speech. Northwestern University Law Review.
  45. Habermas, J. (1989). Jurgen Habermas on Society and Politics: A Reader. Beacon Press.
  46. Collins, R. (1989). Sociology: Proscience or Antiscience? American Sociological Review, 54(1), 124. https://doi.org/10.2307/2095666
  47. Camic, C. (1989). Structure After 50 Years: The Anatomy of a Charter. American Journal of Sociology, 95(1), 38–107. https://doi.org/10.1086/229214
  48. Harvey, D. (1989). The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change. Blackwell.
  49. Habermas, J. (1989). The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into the Category of Bourgeois Society. MIT Press.
  50. Lash, S. (1990). Postmodernism: Towards A Sociological Account. In The Sociology of Postmodernism (pp. 1–52). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315832326-1
  51. Fraser, N. (1990). Rethinking the Public Sphere: A Contribution to the Critique of Actually Existing Democracy. Social Text, 56. https://doi.org/10.2307/466240
  52. Arrighi, G. (1990). The Long 20th Century. Verso.
  53. Honneth, A., & Joas, H. (1991). Communicative Action: Essays on Jurgen Habermas's The Theory of Communicative Action. MIT Press.
  54. Giddens, A. (1991). Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age. Stanford University Press.
  55. Maynard, D. W., & Clayman, S. E. (1991). The Diversity of Ethnomethodology. Annual Review of Sociology, 17(1), 385–418. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.17.080191.002125
  56. Calhoun, C. J. (1992). Habermas and the Public Sphere. MIT Press.
  57. Tilly, C. (1992). History and Sociological Imagining. In K. Erikson (Ed.), Sociological Visions (pp. 67–81). Rowman & Littlefield.
  58. Frank, R. H. (1992). Melding Sociology and Economics: James Coleman's Foundations of Social Theory. Journal of Economic Literature.
  59. Symposium on Coleman. (1992). Theory and Society.
  60. Outhwaite, W. (1994). Habermas: A Critical Introduction. Polity Press.
  61. Bauman, Z. (1994 [1988]). Is there a postmodern sociology? In The Postmodern Turn (pp. 187–204). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511570940.014
  62. Blau, P. M. (1995). A Circuitous Path to Macrostructural Theory. Annual Review of Sociology, 21(1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.21.1.1
  63. Macy, M. W. (1995). Beyond Rationality in Models of Choice. Annual Review of Sociology, 21(1), 73–91. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.21.1.73
  64. Hanneman, R. A., Collins, R., & Mordt, G. (1995). Discovering Theory Dynamics by Computer Simulation: Experiments on State Legitimacy and Imperialist Capitalism. Sociological Methodology, 25, 1. https://doi.org/10.2307/271060
  65. Schudson, M. (1995). Was There Ever a Public Sphere? In The Power of News (pp. 189–203). Harvard University Press.
  66. Habermas, J. (1996). The Habermas Reader. Polity Press.
  67. Gladwell, M. (1996). The Tipping Point. New Yorker.
  68. Wright, E. O. (1997). Class Counts. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511488917
  69. Arthur, W. B., Durlauf, S., & Lane, D. A. (1997). Process and Emergence in the Economy. In Introduction to The Economy As an Evolving Complex System II: Proceedings. Volume 27 in the Santa Fe Institute Studies in the Sciences of Complexity. Santa Fe Institute.
  70. Hechter, M., & Kanazawa, S. (1997). Sociological Rational Choice Theory. Annual Review of Sociology, 23(1), 191–214. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.23.1.191
  71. Rule, J. B. (1997). Theory and Progress in Social Science. Cambridge. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511600883
  72. Cilliers, P. (1998). Complexity and Postmodernism: Understanding Complex Systems. Routledge. Pp. 1-24 (Approaching Complexity) and. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203012253
  73. Camic, C., & Gross, N. (1998). Contemporary Developments in Sociological Theory: Current Projects and Conditions of Possibility. Annual Review of Sociology, 24(1), 453–476. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.24.1.453
  74. Tilly, C. (1998). Durable Inequality. University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520924222
  75. Schelling, T. C. (1998). Social mechanisms and social dynamics. In P. Hedstrom & R. Swedberg (Eds.), Social Mechanisms (pp. 32–43). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511663901.002
  76. Anderson, P. (1998). The Origins of Postmodernity. Verso.
  77. Emirbayer, M., & Mische, A. (1998). What Is Agency? American Journal of Sociology, 103(4), 962–1023. https://doi.org/10.1086/231294
  78. Burawoy, M. (2000). Marxism after communism. Theory and Society, 29(2), 151–174. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1007065023741
  79. Ku, A. S. (2000). Revisiting the Notion of "Public" in Habermas's Theory-Toward a Theory of Politics of Public Credibility. Sociological Theory, 18(2), 216–240. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9558.00096
  80. Turner, B. (2000). The Blackwell Companion to Social Theory (2nd ed.). Basil Blackwell.
  81. Pescosolido, B. A., & Rubin, B. A. (2000). The Web of Group Affiliations Revisited: Social Life, Postmodernism, and Sociology. American Sociological Review, 65(1), 52. https://doi.org/10.2307/2657289
  82. Powell, W. W., White, D. R., & Koput, K. W. (2001). Evolution of a Science-Based Industry: Dynamic Analyses and Network Visualization of Biotechnology. Manuscript.
  83. Turner, J. H. (Ed.). (2001). Handbook of Sociological Theory. Plenum Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-36274-6
  84. Heckathorn, D. D. (2001). Sociological Rational Choice. In G. Ritzer & B. Smart (Eds.), Handbook of Social Theory (pp. 273–84). Sage Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781848608351.n21
  85. Calhoun, C. et al. (2002). Contemporary Sociological Theory. Blackwell Pub.
  86. Macy, M. W., & Willer, R. (2002). From Factors to Actors: Computational Sociology and Agent-Based Modeling. Annual Review of Sociology, 28(1), 143–166. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.28.110601.141117
  87. Alberich, R., Miro-Julia, J., & Rossello, F. (2002). The Marvel Network Looks Almost Like a Real Social Network. arXiv:cond-mat/0202174.
  88. Collins, R. (2002). The Program of Interaction Ritual Theory. In Interaction Ritual Chains, book manuscript, University of Pennsylvania Department of Sociology (pp. 3–46). Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400851744-004
  89. Breiger, R. L. (2002). Writing (and Quantifying) Sociology. In J. Monroe (Ed.), Writing and Revising the Disciplines (pp. 90–112). Cornell University Press.
  90. Burawoy, M., & Wright, E. O. (2003). Sociological Marxism. In Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research (pp. 459–486). Springer US. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-36274-6_22