Postmodern Social Theory

This text offers an historical sketch of the development of postmodern social theory, major criticisms of it, and recent efforts to move beyond it. It focuses on the work of such leading postmodernists as Michael Foucault, Jean Baudrillard, Jacques Derrida, Jean-Francois Lyotard, and on contemporary alternatives/reactions/interventions by such theorists as Anthony Giddens and Ulrich Beck. American contributions by Daniel Bell and Frederic Jameson and the relationship between feminist and multiculturalist theory from a sociological perspective receives treatment. Ritzer discusses the implications postmodern social theory has for contemporary sociological theory and shows how it can be used to analyze contemporary consumer society.