French Social Theory

No national tradition of social theory has been more seductive to Anglo-American readers than the French. There has been a long-standing fascination with French ideas and debates.

This extraordinarily accomplished book, written by one of Britain's leading commentators on social theory, provides a peerless account of the French tradition. The book: provides a systematic account of French social theory from the aftermath of the French Revolution (St Simon, Bazard and Comte) to the contemporary scene dominated by Kristeva, Deleuze, Bourdieu and Baudrillard; divides French social theory into three logically coherent cycles: 1800-80 (positivist); 1880-1940 (anthropological); 1940-2000 (Marxist); provides a detailed guide to the three phases of postwar French social theory - existential, structural and post-structural; and situates the discussions of individuals and schools in the relevant social and political contexts.

The book is a masterpiece of erudition and scholarship but is written throughout in an engaging and informative style. It will be required reading for anyone interested in social theory and sociology.

PART ONE: FIRST CYCLE: 1800-1880
THE BIRTH SOCIAL THEORY: ALTRUISM
The Post-revolutionary Void
Sacrificial Theory and the Sociology of Modernity
Theory in Crisis
Religion and the Subjective
End of the First Cycle
Scholasticism
PART TWO: SECOND CYCLE: 1880-1940
THE REBIRTH OF SOCIAL THEORY: ANOMIE
Social Theory Reborn
French Society
Vanguard without a Norm
Method in Crisis and the Resort to Theory in Suicide
End of the Second Cycle
Anthropology and Religion
PART THREE: THIRD CYCLE: 1940-2000
THE SECOND BIRTH OF SOCIAL THEORY: HYPERTELIA
Existential Theory
The Algerian War
From Pathology to Normativity
Structural Theory
Radical Theory and the End of the Social
Fin-de-Cycle
Time of Counter-Strategies
Conclusion
Social Theory at the End of the Social