Sociology is experiencing what can only be described as hyperdifferentiation of theories - there are now many approaches competing for attention in the intellectual arena . From this perspective, we should see a weeding out of theories to a small number, but this is not likely to occur because each of the many theoretical perspectives has a resource base of adherents. As a result, theories in sociology do not compete head on with each other as much as they coexist.

This seminal reference work was brought together with an eye to capturing the diversity of theoretical activity in sociology - specifically the forefront of theory. Contributors describe what they themselves are doing right now rather than what others have done in the past. The goal of this volume is to allow prominent theorists working in a variety of traditions - who wouldn't usually come together - to review their work. The chapters in this volume represent a mix of theoretical orientations and strategies, butthese these theories are diverse and represent the prominent theoretical discussions in sociology today. Some areas included are:

Section I: Theoretical Methodologies and Strategies

Section II: The Cultural Turn in Sociological Theorizing

Section III: Theorizing Interaction Processes

Section IV: Theorizing from the Systemic and Macrolevel

Section V: New Directions in Evolutionary Theorizing

Section VI: Theorizing on Power, Conflict, and Change

SectionVII: Theorizing from Assumptions of Rationality

This handbook will be of interest to those wanting a broad spectrum and overview of late 20th - early 21st century sociological theory.

Sociological Theory Today.- Sociological Theory Today.- Theoretical Methodologies and Strategies.- What Makes Sciences "Scientific?".- Formal Theory.- Computational Approaches to Sociological Theorizing.- The Critical Dimension in Sociological Theory.- Metatheorizing in Sociology: The Basic Parameters and the Potential Contributions of Postmodernism.- The Cultural Turn in Sociological Theorizing.- The Strong Program in Cultural Theory: Elements of a Structural Hermeneutics.- Postmodern Social Theory.- Culture and Identity.- Alley Art: Can We... See... at Last, the End of Ontology?.- Theorizing Interaction Process.- Traditional Symbolic Interactionism, Role Theory, and Structural Symbolic Interactionism: The Road to Identity Theory.- Role Theory.- The Emotional/Relational World: Shame and the Social Bond.- Action Theory.- Accounts of Conduct in Interaction: Interruption, Overlap, and Turn-Taking.- Inequality, Status, and the Construction of Status Beliefs.- Theorizing from the Systemicand Macrolevel.- Macrostructural Theory.- The Return of Grand Theory.- Systems Theory.- New Directions in Evolutionary Theorizing.- Sociobiological Theorizing: Evolutionary Sociology.- Evolutionary Theorizing.- Theorizing on Power, Conflict, and Charge.- Sociological Marxism.- Weberian Theory Today: The Public Face.- Conflict Theory and Interaction Rituals: The Microfoundations of Conflict Theory.- The Enduring Vitality of the Resource Mobilization Theory of Social Movements.- Historical Analysis of Political Processes.- World-Systems Theorizing.- Theoretical Understandings of Gender: A Third of a Century of Feminist Thought in Sociology.- Theorizing from Assumptions of Rationality.- Social Rationality versus Rational Egoism.- Comparison Theory.- Exchange and Power: Issues of Structure and Agency.