Social theory in a changing world

Gerard Delanty

Conceptions of Modernity

‘In a commanding overview of the dynamic tensions of modernity, Gerard Delanty provides an incisive analysis of the dominant issues in contemporary social theory. He argues cogently that the dialectic between fragmentation and autonomy creates the central aspect of modernity.

A superb study of the debate about modernity, it will become an essential text Bryan S. Turner, University of Cambridge

‘Gerard Delanty offers a panoramic view and clear analysis of late twentieth-century social theory. Interwoven into the text is a golden thread of innovative and challenging pointers towards the future development of the social theory of modernity. This book will be recognized not only as one of the most comprehensive introductions to the subject available today, but also as one of the most accessible Piet Strydom, National University of Ireland, Cork

In a lucid, wide-ranging and rigorous analysis, Gerard Delanty argues that to understand the contemporary world we must recognize the limited relevance of the discourse of modernity and develop the radical discourses of creativity, reflexivity and discursivity. This book offers new terms of debate and a powerful and provocative agenda for contemporary social thought. Barry Smart, University of Portsmouth

Social Theory in a Changing World provides a critical assessment of contemporary social theory for students in the social sciences. The central theme of the book concerns the nature of modernity and the ways in which contemporary thinkers have understood it. Delanty argues that modernity involves a tension between autonomy and fragmentation. On the one hand, the cultural project of
modernity refers to self-assertion and creativity. On the other, modernity as a social project tends to destroy its own cultural foundations, as institutional structures become increasingly diffuse and fragmented. Against this backcloth, Delanty examines the writings of a number of key contemporary thinkers, including Habermas, Foucault, Bauman, Touraine, Giddens and Beck, and
provides a clear account of the strengths and limitations of their work.

This book will appeal to second- and third-year undergraduates, and graduates and academics in sociology and social theory, politics, cultural studies and other social sciences.

Gerard Delanty is a Reader in Sociology at the University of Liverpool.