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The Structure of Social Theory

Over the last three decades, social theory has become an increasingly important sub-discipline within sociology. Social theory has attempted to elucidate the philosophical basis of sociology by defining the nature of social reality. According to social theory, society consists of structure, objective institutions, on the one hand, and agency, individuals, on the other. The Structure of Social Theory lays out a new paradigm for sociology today. In place of structure and agency, it promotes human social relations, insisting that in every instance social reality consists of these relations.

The book begins by defining and criticising contemporary social theory. It analyses the work of Giddens, Bourdieu, Foucault, Bhaskar and Habermas to demonstrate that their commitment to structure and agency is unsustainable. The book then proceeds to recover a sociology which focuses on social relations by reference to the works of classical sociology; to Hegel, Marx, Weber and Durkheim. Finally, the book establishes a new hermeneutic paradigm in which social relations are primary.

Drawing on the work of Gadamer, the book demonstrates that a sociology which focuses on social relations does not imply a return to idealism, nor a retreat into individualism, nor a rejection of critique. Rather, a hermeneutic sociology which prioritises human social relations is the only coherent paradigm which is available today. The author argues that sociologists studying the dramatic social transformations which are currently occurring should focus on social relations between humans; they should not attempt to understand contemporary changes in terms of structure and agency.

The Structure of Social Theory will be of essential value to those working in the fields of sociology and social theory.

Anthony King is a reader in sociology at the University of Exeter. In addition to his work on social theory, he has carried out extensive research on English and European football. His latest book on this topic, The European Ritual, was published in 2003. He is currently researching European defence policy and capability.

Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought

1 Hayek and After
Hayekian liberalism as a research programme
Jeremy Shearmur

2 Conflicts in Social Science
Edited by Anton van Harskamp

3 Political Thought of Andr Gorz
Adrian Little

4 Corruption, Capitalism and Democracy
John Girling

5 Freedom and Culture in Western Society
Hans Blokland

6 Freedom in Economics
New perspectives in normative analysis
Edited by Jean-Francois Laslier, Marc Fleurbaey, Nicolas Gravel and Alain Trannoy

7 Against Politics
On government, anarchy and order
Anthony de Jasay

8 Max Weber and Michel Foucault
Parallel life works
Arpad Szakolczai

9 The Political Economy of Civil Society and Human Rights
G. B. Madison

10 On Durkheims Elementary Forms of Religious Life
Edited by W. S. F. Pickering, W. Watts Miller and N. J. Allen

11 Classical Individualism
The supreme importance of each human being
Tibor R. Machan

12 The Age of Reasons
Quixotism, sentimentalism and political economy in eighteenth-century Britain
Wendy Motooka

13 Individualism in Modern Thought
From Adam Smith to Hayek
Lorenzo Infantino

14 Property and Power in Social Theory
A study in intellectual rivalry
Dick Pels

15 Wittgenstein and the Idea of a Critical Social Theory
A critique of Giddens, Habermas and Bhaskar
Nigel Pleasants

16 Marxism and Human Nature
Sean Sayers

17 Studies in a Sociological Legacy
Edited by Greg Smith

18 Situating Hayek
Phenomenology and the neo-liberal project
Mark J. Smith

19 The Reading of Theoretical Texts
Peter Ekegren

20 The Nature of Capital
Marx after Foucault
Richard Marsden

21 The Age of Chance
Gambling in Western culture
Gerda Reith

22 Reflexive Historical Sociology
Arpad Szakolczai

23 Durkheim and Representations
Edited by W. S. F. Pickering

24 The Social and Political Thought of Noam Chomsky
Alison Edgley

25 Hayeks Liberalism and Its Origins
His idea of spontaneous order and the Scottish Enlightenment
Christina Petsoulas

26 Metaphor and the Dynamics of Knowledge
Sabine Maasen and Peter Weingart

27 Living with Markets
Jeremy Shearmur

28 Durkheims Suicide
A century of research and debate
Edited by W. S. F. Pickering and Geoffrey Walford

29 Post-Marxism
An intellectual history
Stuart Sim

30 The Intellectual as Stranger
Studies in spokespersonship Dick Pels

31 Hermeneutic Dialogue and Social Science
A critique of Gadamer and Habermas
Austin Harrington

32 Methodological Individualism
Background, history and meaning
Lars Udehn

33 The Genesis of a Theory
K. C. ORourke

34 The Politics of Atrocity and Reconciliation
From terror to trauma
Michael Humphrey

35 Marx and Wittgenstein
Knowledge, morality, politics
Edited by Gavin Kitching and Nigel Pleasants

36 The Genesis of Modernity
Arpad Szakolczai

37 Ignorance and Liberty
Lorenzo Infantino

38 Deleuze, Marx and Politics
Nicholas Thoburn

39 The Structure of Social Theory
Anthony King

40 Adorno, Habermas and the Search for a Rational Society
Deborah Cook

41 Tocquevilles Political and Moral Thought
New liberalism M. R. R. Ossewaarde

The Structure of
Social Theory

Anthony King

First published 2004
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004.

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group

2004 Anthony King

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
King, Anthony, 1967
The structure of social theory / Anthony King.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. SociologyHistory. 2. SociologyPhilosophy. I. Title.
HM445.K56 2004
301.09dc22

2003023222

ISBN 0-203-64669-X Master e-book ISBN

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