Includes bibliographical references (p. 391-426) and indexes.

List of biographical sketches -- A historical sketch of sociological theory: the early years -- Social forces in the development of sociological theory -- Intellectual forces and the rise of sociological theory -- A historical sketch of sociological theory: the later years -- Early American sociological theory -- Sociological theory to mid-century -- Sociological theory from mid-century -- Sociological theory in the 1990s -- Auguste Comte -- Comte's profound ambitions -- Comte's sociology -- Theory and practice -- Comte's plans for the future -- Comte: a critical assessment -- Herbert Spencer -- Spencer and Comte -- General theoretical principles -- Sociology -- The evolution of society -- The evolution of societal institutions -- Ethics and politics -- Karl Marx -- The dialectic -- Huamn potential -- Alienation -- The structures of capitalist society -- Cultural aspects of capitalist society -- Marx's economics: a case study -- Emile Durkheim -- Social facts -- The division of labour in society -- Suicide and social currents -- Religion -- Social reformism -- The actor in Durkheim's thought -- Individual action and interaction -- Max Weber -- Methodology -- Substantive sociology -- Georg Simmel -- Primary concerns -- Individual consciousness -- Social interaction ("association") -- Social structures -- Objective culture -- The philosophy of money -- Secrecy: a case study in Simmel's sociology -- George Herbert Mead -- The priority of the social -- The act -- Mental processess and the mind -- Self -- Society -- Evolution -- Dialectical thinking -- Alfred Schutz -- Interpretations of Schutz's work -- The ideas of Edmund Husserl -- Science and the social world -- Typifications and recipes -- Intersubjectivity -- The life-world -- Realms of the social world -- Consciousness -- Interpreting Schutzian theory -- Talcott Parsons -- Parson's intergrative efforts -- General principles -- The action system -- Change and dynamism in Parsonsian theory -- Appendix 1: Sociological metatheorizing and a metatheoretical schema for analyzing sociological theory -- Appendix 2: Metatheorizing in sociology -- Appendix 3: The ideas of Thomas Kuhn -- Appendix 4: Sociology: a multiple-paradigm science -- Appendix 5: Toward a more intergrated sociological paradigm.