The latest edited title published in association with the ISA. Twenty chapters from a very strong group of international authors identify, question and transform key assumptions within modern sociology.

"This is an important and thought-provoking collection of contemporary articles on the current crisis in social theory."
- Professor Roger Penn, Lancaster University

"With a comprehensive vision, great sociologists from around the world address the challenges of the new century."
- Professor Michael Burawoy, University of California, Berkeley

Over the past century, the field of sociology has experienced extraordinary expansion and vitality. But is this growth positive or negative - a promise of diversity or a threat of fragmentation?

This critical volume explores the meaning of sociology and sociological knowledge in light of the recent growth and institutionalization of the discipline. A stellar group of international authors powerfully identify, question, and transform key assumptions in sociology.

Leading us through the challenges faced by sociology, and the possible strategies for addressing them in the future, the book includes key issues such as:

• globalization
• development
• social policy
• inequality.

An important companion for advanced undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers engaged with contemporary sociological theory, sociology of knowledge and sociological analysis.

Introduction: The Foreseeable Future of Sociology - Devorah Kalekin-Fishman and Ann Denis
PART I: THEORIZING SOCIOLOGY: FROM PAST TO FUTURE
Chapter 2: Recent Changes in Sociology - Michel Wieviorka
Chapter 3: On Inter-Human Space - Piotr Sztompka
Chapter 4: From Modernity to Globality - Devorah Kalekin-Fishman
Chapter 5: Integrating the Analysis of Complex Inequalities and Globalization into the Heart of Social Theory Using Complexity Theory - Sylvia Walby
PART II: SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL CHANGE
Chapter 6: Beyond Three Constitutive Ideas of Classical Sociology - Globalization, Post-Modernity and Reflexivity - Emilio Lamo de Espinosa
Chapter 7: The Shape of Sociology - Looking at the History of our Present - Elisa P. Reis
Chapter 8: Dimensions of World-Making - Thoughts from the Caspian Sea - Dennis Smith
PART III: FOCUS ON CONCEPTS
Chapter 9: Identity in the Global Age - Hegemony, Resistance and Social Transformation - Lauren Langman
Chapter 10: Community as Social Metaphor - The Need for a Genealogy of Social Collectivities - Michael Humphrey
Chapter 11: Professions and Professionalism - Perspectives from the Sociology of Professional Groups - Julia Evetts
PART IV: UNCONSCIOUS AND CONSCIOUS DIFFERENTIATION IN SOCIOLOGY
Chapter 12: Sociology′s Narratives of Global Change - Raewyn Connell
Chapter 13: A Plea for a More Interpretive, More Empirical and More Historical Sociology - Gabriele Rosenthal
Chapter 14: Post-Soviet Sociology as a Pattern of ′Another Sociology′ - Larissa Titarenko
PART V: UNRESOLVED CHALLENGES
Chapter 15: Including Sociological Practice - A Global Perspective and the US Case - Jan Marie Fritz
Chapter 16: A Cultural Transformation - The Design of Alienation in the Guise of Creativity - Pirkkoliisa Ahponen
Chapter 17: ′Bystander Sociology′ and the Sonderbehandlung of the Social - Marvin Prosono
Chapter 18: Precarious Disciplinary Intersections and Inconvenient Truths - Susan A. McDaniel
Chapter 19: Policy-Driven Research, Audit Culture, and Power - Transforming Sociological Practices in the Philippines - Emma Porio
PART VI: LOOKING AHEAD
Chapter 20: Sociology in the 21st Century - Embracing Complexity, Diversity and a Global Perspective - Ann Denis