The Making of Social Theory: Order, Reason, and Desire

In The Making of Social Theory: Order, Reason, and Desire, Second Edition, author Anthony Thomson follows the development of Western ideas about society and social life from the medieval period to the rise of modern sociology in the early twentieth century. In addition to explaining different theories, Thomson also situates each idea in the context of time and space, examining the social circumstances in which it arose and the characteristics of the people who advocated it.

Retaining the previous edition's unique coverage of pre-Enlightenment ideas (now presented in a new and compact introduction to the text), the second edition incorporates new chapters on the fate of Marxism in the twenty-first century and the rise of social democracy through the work of Pareto and Mannheim. It also features revised part-openers, each of which includes a classical art image related to a specific historical period and the theories that evolved in that time. Presenting a cross-disciplinary cultural chronicle of the ideas that underpin sociology, The Making of Social Theory, Second Edition, also illuminates links between the classical and contemporary worlds, allowing students to see how classical theory has helped to shape today's ideas.

Anthony Thomson is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at Acadia University. He earned his MA from Dalhousie and his PhD from Cambridge in 1984. Thomson is an experienced writer, having published previously with Canadian Scholars Press. In addition to social theory, his areas of interest cover the Nova Scotian labour movement, Canadian labour history, Marxism, post-revolutionary societies, intellectual history, criminal justice, and socialist movements.