>> Gallery of theorists
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Gallery of theorists
The gallery features a photograph and short biography of key sociological theorists.
Jeffrey Alexander (1947 - )
Jeffrey Alexander is Professor of Sociology at Yale University and Co-director of the university's Center for Cultural Sociology. He is known for developing the perspective of 'neofunctionalism' and more recently for his work on cultural sociology. Alexander's books include The Performance of Politics: Obama's Victory and the Democratic Struggle for Power (2010), The Meanings of Social Life: A Cultural Sociology (2003) and The Civil Sphere (2006).
Photograph reproduced with permission from Jeffrey Alexander.
Jean Baudrillard (1929 - 2007)
Jean Baudrillard was born in Reims, France. He became known as a leading exponent of postmodern social theory in his later writings. He wrote on a wide range of topics, though a unifying theme was his critique of consumer society and the view that consumption, rather than production, was the primary driver of capitalist society. He popularised the term 'simulacra' to refer to media-promoted images and symbols whose representations become so influential that the media no longer reflect reality, but simulate and thus actively shape it. Baudrillard's books include: The Spirit of Terrorism (2002), The Consumer Society (1998/1970), The Gulf War did not Take Place (1995), Simulacra and Simulation (1994), The Illusion of the End (1994) and For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign (1981/1973).
Photograph © Professor Hendrik Speck, and reproduced with the permission of the European Graduate School, www.egs.edu.
Zygmunt Bauman (1925 - )
Polish-born Zygmunt Bauman is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the Universities of Leeds and Warsaw. A prolific author, he has been widely influential in numerous academic disciplines. Originally concerned with postmodernity, he subsequently developed his own perspective of 'liquid modernity', advanced through books such as: Liquid Times (2007), Liquid Life (2005), and Liquid Modernity (2000). Bauman argues that liquid modernity reflects the rise of consumerism and the associated challenges and prospects for individuals' ability to construct their identity and lifestyle.
Photograph by Mariusz Kubik.
Ulrich Beck (1944 - )
Ulrich Beck is a German sociologist who is currently Professor of Sociology at the University of Munich and who also holds a professorial appointment at the London School of Economics. One of the most cited contemporary social theorists, he is best known for his hugely influential book Risk Society (1992). According to Beck, in late modernity, people's behaviours are preoccupied with how to avoid, prevent, and manage risks, whether they are new pandemics, environmental pollution, or terrorism. Major books include: World at Risk (2009), Cosmopolitan Vision (2006), Individualization (2002, with Beck-Gernsheim), The Brave New World of Work (2000), What Is Globalization? (1999), Reflexive Modernization (1994, with Giddens & Lash) and Risk Society (1992).
Photograph reproduced with permission from Ulrich Beck.
Howard Becker (1928 - )
American sociologist Howard Becker is a leading exponent of symbolic interactionism, whose interests lie in occupational socialisation, youth culture, and deviance. His famous ethnographic study of the 'subculture' of marijuana smokers, Outsiders (1973), is one of the earliest studies of youth culture and highlighted the politicised nature of deviant labels. Key books include: Telling About Society (2007), Tricks of the Trade (1998), Art Worlds (1982), Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance (1973) and Making the Grade (1968).
Photograph reproduced with permission from Howard Becker.
Herbert Blumer (1900 - 1987)
Herbert Blumer was an American sociologist who coined the term 'symbolic interactionism', continuing the work of George Herbert Mead. Blumer's main research interests included working with the empirical method and observation of popular culture. He became the president of the American Sociological Association (ASA) in 1952, and received the association's award for a Career of Distinguished Scholarship in 1983. Blumer's The Chicago School of Sociology (1984), Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method (1969), Movies, Delinquency, and Crime (1933), and The Human Side of Social Planning (1935) are among his most famous works.
Photograph reproduced with permission from the American Sociological Association (ASA).
Pierre Bourdieu (1930 - 2002)
Pierre Bourdieu was a French sociologist and public intellectual born in southwest France and was the founder and director of the Centre for European Sociology and a Professor of Sociology at the Collège de France. He focused on general sociological theory drawn from empirical study, with a particular interest in overcoming the structure/agency debate in sociology. He is famous for popularising the concepts of 'cultural capital' and 'habitus', and is widely cited in many academic disciplines. Major works include: The Social Structures of the Economy (2005), Masculine Domination (2001), Weight of the World (1999), Practical Reason (1998), An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology (1992, with Wacquant), Distinction (1984), Outline of a Theory of Practice (1977), and Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture (1977, with Passeron).
Michael Burawoy (1948 - )
Michael Burawoy is most recently known for his promotion of 'public sociology', but he is also widely respected as a Marxist sociologist who has gone to great lengths to study the working lives of the working class in many different industries using ethnography. His engine-shop experience became the basis for his most famous work, Manufacturing Consent (1979), in which he explains the techniques that management can use to gain the consent of workers to their own exploitation. No armchair sociologist, Burawoy is a fascinating example of using lived experience as the basis for sociological study and theory. His most recent book is: The Extended Case Method: Four Countries, Four Decades, Four Great Transformations, and One Theoretical Tradition (2009).
Photograph reproduced with permission from the American Sociological Association (ASA).
Manuel Castells (1942 - )
Manuel Castells was born in Spain and is currently Professor of Communication Technology and Society at the University of Southern California and Professor Emeritus at the University of California at Berkeley. He was the fifth most cited scholar in the social sciences in the period 2000–09. Castells' earlier work was on urbanism and the study of cities, but he is best known for his study of the social impact of information and communication technologies. His magnum opus trilogy The Information Age—The Rise of the Network Society (1996), The Power of Identity (1997), and End of Millennium (1998) details the rise of the information-based society that drives the economy, culture, and social relations.
Photograph by Maggie Smith, reproduced with permission from Manuel Castells.
Auguste Comte (1798 - 1857)
Auguste Comte was born in Montpellier, France and grew up in the turbulent period following the French Revolution. Like many others living in troubled times, Comte wanted to know how society operated and why societies developed in different ways. He coined the term 'sociology' in 1839 after initially using 'social physics' to describe his approach to studying social phenomena in a rational, objective, and scientific way. He aimed to apply scientific methods (as used in the natural sciences such as physics, chemistry, and biology) to the study of society—an approach referred to as 'positivism'. Key works include: Religion of Humanity (1856), A General View of Positivism (1848), Discourse on the Positive Spirit (1844), and The Course of Positivist Philosophy (1830–1842).
Raewyn Connell (1944 - )
Professor Raewyn Connell, formerly Robert William (Bob) Connell, holds a University Chair at the University of Sydney and is Australia's most famous sociologist, with a world-renowned reputation in the fields of social theory, gender studies, sexuality, education, intellectual labour, and social class. She is a recipient of the American Sociological Association's (ASA) award for distinguished contribution to the study of sex and gender, and The Australian Sociological Association's (TASA) award for distinguished service to sociology in Australia. Most recently she has advanced the notion of 'Southern theory'. Major books include: Gender: In World Perspective (2009), Southern Theory (2007), Masculinities (2005), Class Structure in Australian History (1992, with Irving), Gender and Power (1987), Making the Difference (1982, with Ashenden, Kessler & Dowsett), and Ruling Class, Ruling Culture (1997).
Photograph by Dianne Reggett, reproduced with permission from Raewyn Connell.
Charles Horton Cooley (1864 - 1929)
Charles Horton Cooley, an American sociologist, was a founding member and the eighth president of the American Sociological Association (ASA). He is well known for his term ‘looking-glass self ’, which explains how we use others as a kind of mirror in order to construct a self-image. Working within the tradition of symbolic interactionism, he sought to examine how social relationships between individuals were developed and maintained. Key works include: Life and the Student (1927), Social Organization (1909),and Human Nature and the Social Order (1902).
Photograph reproduced with permission from the American Sociological Association (ASA).
Émile Durkheim (1858 - 1917)
Émile Durkheim was born in Épinal, France. Durkheim became the first Professor of Sociology at the University of Bordeaux in 1887, which is viewed as the institutional birth of sociology as an academic discipline. For Durkheim, sociology was not about individuals, but rather social fact, whereby the individual was shaped by their social environment. His classic work on suicide showed that such a highly individual act is socially patterned and is thus a social phenomenon. Key works include: The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (1912), Suicide (1897), The Rules of Sociological Method (1895), and The Division of Labour in Society (1893).
Norbert Elias (1897 - 1990)
Norbert Elias was a German-born sociologist who later became a British citizen. His first university position happened late in life, in 1954, at the University of Leicester, and much of his influence and recognition came when he was in his seventies and eighties. Elias developed the approach of figurational sociology that attempted to transcend the binary of structure and agency. He is most famous for his theory of civilising processes. Major books include: Reflections on a Life (1994), The Civilizing Process, Vol. 2 (1982) & Vol. 1 (1978), The Symbol Theory (1991), The Society of Individuals (1991), The Court Society (1983), and What is Sociology? (1978).
Photograph © Norbert Elias Foundation.
Michel Foucault (1926 - 1984)
Michel Foucault was born in Poitiers, a provincial region of France. He was not a sociologist, though his work has had a significant influence in sociology—especially the historical analyses of asylums, prisons, and sexuality found in his books Madness and Civilization (1965), Discipline and Punish (1979), and The History of Sexuality (1980). He was a social historian, philosopher, and public intellectual. Foucault was concerned with how power and knowledge were exercised to regulate and control the behaviour of various social groups, such as prisoners, the mentally ill, and sexually active citizens.
Anthony Giddens (1938 - )
Anthony Giddens was born in North London. He is one of the most widely read contemporary social theorists and was the most cited scholar in the social sciences between 2000 and 2009. He became a professor at Cambridge University in 1987, co-founded Polity Press in 1985 (a major sociology book publisher), and then went on to be Director of the London School of Economics (LSE) from 1997 until 2003. He was an adviser to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his advocating of 'third-way' politics had a significant impact on the policies and electoral appeal of the British Labour Party. He was made a life peer in June 2004, given the title Baron, and made a member of the House of Lords, representing the Labour Party. Giddens' work on structuration theory proved to be an important development in debates regarding the relationship between agency and structure. Now an Emeritus Professor, he continues to write and publish on topical issues, most recently The Politics of Climate Change (2009). Other notable books include: The Third Way (2010), Sociology (2009), Runaway World (2003), The Transformation of Intimacy (1992), Modernity and Self-Identity (1991), The Constitution of Society (1984), A Contemporary Critique of Historical Materialism (1981), The Class Structure of the Advanced Societies (1973), and Capitalism and Modern Social Theory (1971).
Photograph reproduced with permission from Anthony Giddens.
Erving Goffman (1922 - 1982)
Erving Goffman was a Canadian-born sociologist who extended symbolic interactionism theorising via what he termed dramaturgical analysis. Goffman was interested in how we interact in the presence of others. His interest lay in observing the everyday interactions of people, which he likened to dramatic performances, whereby people 'presented' various 'selves' depending on the social situation. Goffman also studied how people became stigmatised and subsequently interacted with non-stigmatised people. Major works include: Frame Analysis (1974), Stigma: Notes on the Management of a Spoiled Identity (1963), Asylums (1961), and The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1959).
Photograph reproduced with permission from the American Sociological Association (ASA).
Jürgen Habermas (1929 - )
Jürgen Habermas is a German philosopher and critical social theorist who has written widely on a range of subjects such as religion, cosmopolitanism, the public sphere, and modernity. Within sociology, he is most known for his critique of scientific and technical rationality, viewing them as ideologies inhibited by capitalism, politics, and the mass media. One of his main concerns has been a theory of communicative action whereby 'pure speech', free from interference by the media, economic, and political processes, can reveal open communication for the transmission and debate of ideas. Key works include: Europe: The Faltering Project (2009), Between Naturalism and Religion (2008), The Divided West (2006), The New Conservatism (1985), The Theory of Communicative Action (1981), Legitimation Crisis (1975), and Towards a Rational Society (1970).
Photograph © Wolfram Huke
Thomas Hobbes (1588 - 1679)
Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) was an English political philosopher. One of Hobbes' main concerns was how societies achieved stability and social order. Hobbes wrote his best-known work Leviathan (1651) in which he imagined a hypothetical 'state of nature' where life 'was solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short'. According to Hobbes, a society evolves when people realise that their best interests are served through peace and collective organisation by entering into a social contract, subsuming their individual freedoms to the state and the rule of law. Hobbes' notion of the social contract exposes the tension between individual freedoms and social obligations that continues to this day. Many sociological theories reflect Hobbesian notions of social order, either in terms of conceptualising human nature as self-interested and competitive, or by viewing social order as a human creation and subject to human transformation.
Arlie Hochschild (1940 - )
Arlie Hochschild's theoretical work on the sociology of emotions has extended Goffman's work. Just as Goffman explores the outward manifestations of emotions such as shame and embarrassment, Hochschild examines the self's inner emotional life. Hochschild's first major work, The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling (1983), examines the emotional labour required of two different occupations: flight attendants (mostly women), and bill collectors (mostly men). In The Second Shift: Working Parents and the Revolution at Home (1989) and The Time Bind: When Work Becomes Home and Home Becomes Work (1997), Hochschild highlights the importance of emotions in understanding the sociology of everyday life.
Photograph reproduced with permission from Arlie Hochschild.
Douglas Kellner (1943 - )
Douglas Kellner is a critical theorist in the tradition of the Frankfurt School, and is the George Kneller Chair in the Philosophy of Education in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. Kellner has written on a wide range of topics, and within sociology is most known for his work on the impact of postmodernism on philosophy, science, and the arts.
Photograph reproduced with permission from Douglas Kellner.
Jean-François Lyotard (1924 - 1998)
Jean-François Lyotard was a French philosopher and postmodernist theorist. His major book, The Postmodern Condition, was published in 1979. Lyotard's work opposes universalist claims, meta-narratives, and generality. Lyotard embraced plurality and difference, along with a range of theoretical approaches, arguing there can no longer be one dominant truth or one way of knowing.
Photograph by Bracha L. Ettinger.
Harriet Martineau (1802 - 1876)
Harriet Martineau was born in England and is part of the founding generation of sociologists such as Comte, Spencer, and Marx. She translated Comte's Positive Philosophy into English, allowing his ideas to gain wide circulation. It was not until the late twentieth century that sociologists rediscovered Martineau's own work. Martineau wrote about women's oppression and the 'woman question' in terms of education, political rights, marriage laws, and social customs. Her work, while not influential in its day, is considered significant because she was an early writer arguing for the importance of addressing women's lives in any social analysis. Key works include: Life in the Sickroom (1844), Society in America (1837), and Illustrations of Political Economy (1832–34).
Karl Marx (1818 - 1883)
Karl Marx was born in Trier, Germany. Because of his political affiliations and writings critical of the Prussian government, he fled Germany and moved first to Paris in 1843, from where he was expelled (due to pressure from the Prussians on the French government), then to Brussels in 1845, and eventually to London in 1849, where he lived for the remainder of his life. Although Marx was not, strictly speaking, a sociologist, his impact on sociological thought has continued to the present day. Marx believed in social evolution and was interested in the major changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution. He argued that the way in which goods are produced in society affects everything else. His writings on class, alienation, and exploitation had far-reaching influences and provided the ideological foundation for many Marxist social movements and political parties. Major works include: Capital (1867), Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848, with Engels), and The German Ideology (1845, with Engels).
Photograph by John Mayall, from the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
George Herbert Mead (1863 - 1931)
The origins of symbolic interactionism owe a great deal to the writings of the philosopher George Herbert Mead, conveyed primarily through his book Mind, Self and Society (1934). Mead was interested in how people used symbols in order to make sense of the world, particularly through the interaction between individuals and small groups. The concept of the self—developed by Mead—is a key component of symbolic interactionist thought. Key works include: The Philosophy of the Present (1959), The Philosophy of the Act (1938), and Mind, Self and Society (1934).
Robert Merton (1910 - 2003)
Robert Merton was an American sociologist who was influenced by Parsons' work on structural functionalism. He is best known for his work on deviance and his expanded notion of anomie, published in his widely cited book Social Theory and Social Structure (1949). Key works include: The Sociology of Science: Theoretical and Empirical Investigations (1973), On the Shoulders of Giants (1965), Mass Persuasion (1946), and Social Theory and Social Structure (1949).
Photograph reproduced with permission from the American Sociological Association (ASA).
C. Wright Mills (1916 - 1962)
C. Wright Mills was an American sociologist who aimed to promote a Marxian perspective within American sociology. Famous for coining the term 'sociological imagination', Mills argued there was a 'power elite' in America who held most of the country's wealth, power, and prestige. This group was connected through marriage and business dealings and was able to exert considerable influence over the government of the day. Key works include: The Marxists (1962), The Sociological Imagination (1959), Power Elite (1956), and White Collar: The American Middle Classes (1951).
Talcott Parsons (1902 - 1979)
Talcott Parsons is considered one of the most influential of American sociologists. In The Structure of Social Action, he constructed a major theoretical work—that of structural functionalism—based on the ideas of Durkheim and Weber. This perspective uses an analogy—referred to as the organic analogy—viewing society as an organism made up of interrelated parts in the same way the human body is made up of components such as the skeleton, heart, and lungs. Parsons viewed society as consisting of component parts such as the family, the education system, and religion, which make up the whole and function to maintain social order. Major works include: The System of Modern Societies (1971), Societies: Evolutionary and Comparative Perspectives (1966), Social Structure and Personality (1964), The Social System (1951), and The Structure of Social Action (1937).
Photograph reproduced with permission from the American Sociological Association (ASA).
George Ritzer (1940 - )
George Ritzer was born in New York and is currently Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland. Ritzer (1993) coined the term McDonaldization, based on Weber's theories of rationalisation. While Weber viewed bureaucracy as the classic example of rationalisation, Ritzer uses McDonald's to represent the epitome of contemporary rationalisation. Major works include: The McDonaldization of Society 5 (2008), Sociological Theory (2008), The Globalization of Nothing 2 (2007), Enchanting a Disenchanted World (2005), and Explorations in the Sociology of Consumption (2001).
Photograph reproduced with permission from George Ritzer.
Georg Simmel (1858 - 1918)
Georg Simmel, a German social theorist and a contemporary of Max Weber's, was born in Berlin. He is noted for introducing an emphasis on social interaction as a central issue in sociology, which had a major influence on the development of the sociological perspective of symbolic interactionism. He wrote on many diverse topics, such as music, fashion, and urban life. A defining feature of his work was his view of society not as an external structure imposed on passive individuals, but rather the result of a patterned web of interactions. Key works include: The Philosophy of Money (1907) and The Problems of the Philosophy of History (1892).
Dorothy Smith (1926 - )
Dorothy Smith was born in England, graduated from the University of London, and emigrated to the United States where she obtained her doctoral degree in sociology from the University of California. She held a number of academic appointments in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, and is now Professor Emerita at the University of Toronto. Smith is a highly regarded contemporary feminist sociologist whose name is synonymous with standpoint theory. Key works include: Institutional Ethnography: A Sociology for People (2005), Writing the Social: Critique, Theory and Investigations (1999), The Conceptual Practices of Power: A Feminist Sociology of Knowledge (1990), Texts, Facts and Femininity: Exploring the Relations of Ruling (1990), and The Everyday World as Problematic: A Feminist Sociology (1987).
Photograph reproduced with permission from Dorothy Smith.
Herbert Spencer (1820 - 1903)
Herbert Spencer, born in Derby, England, shared Comte's view on notions of social progress and the development of societies through different stages. Spencer was the first to produce a book with sociology in its title, The Study of Sociology, published in 1874. Spencer, an engineer and social scientist, was an early proponent of the theory of the evolution of society. He formulated the view that societies progress from the simple to the complex. In his model, societies evolve from simple organisms to highly complex and differentiated structures. Spencer's work was very influential in the nineteenth century, and he was one of the most widely read writers of his day. His views on social evolution preceded the theory of evolution developed by Charles Darwin. Spencer was something of a rival of Darwin's, and it was Spencer who coined the term 'survival of the fittest'—by which he meant that superior groups are likely to be the most successful in society. This view is referred to as social Darwinism. Key works include: Principles of Sociology (1876–96), The Man Versus the State (1884), and Social Statics (1850).
Sylvia Walby (
Sylvia Walby is currently United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Chair in Gender Research and Professor of Sociology at the University of Lancaster, England. She is an exponent of dual systems theory in order to explain gender inequalities and the oppression of women by men.
Photograph reproduced with permission from Sylvia Walby.
Max Weber (1864 - 1920)
Max Weber was born in Erfurt, Germany and is widely considered to be one of the seminal sociologists. Like other early sociologists, he was interested in the development of modern capitalism and its impact on society. His writing and interests were diverse, ranging from the law, history, and religion to economics and the study of different cultures. Major works include: Economy and Society (1910-14), Sociology of Religion (1916), The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904-5), The Methodology of the Social Sciences (1903-17).
Thanks to Maria Freij for compiling the gallery, sourcing the images, and managing the permissions. Biographical information has been sourced from Germov, J. & Poole, M. (eds) 2011, Public Sociology: An Introduction to Australian Society, 2nd edn, Allen & Unwin, Sydney; and Ritzer, G. 2008, Sociological Theory, 7th edn, McGraw-Hill, New York.
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