Includes bibliographical references and index.

Classical sociological theory / Peter Kivisto -- Working longer, living less : understanding Marx through the workplace today / John P. Walsh and Anne Zacharias-Walsh -- The Weberian theory of rationalization and the McDonaldization of contemporary society / George Ritzer -- Surfing the net for community : a Durkheimian analysis of electronic gatherings / Anne M. Hornsby -- Alcohol-related windows on Simmel's social world / William J. Staudenmeier, Jr -- Contemporary theories and their connections to the classics -- Criminalizing transgressing youth : a neofunctionalist analysis of institution building / Paul Colomy and Laura Ross Greiner -- Why do African Americans pay more for new cars? : a structural explanation / Christopher Prendergast -- Critical theory, legitimation crisis, and the deindustrialization of Flint, Michigan / Steven P. Dandaneau -- Race-based critical theory and the "happy talk" of diversity in America / Douglas Hartmann and Joyce M. Bell -- The socially constructed body : insights from feminist theory / Judith Lorber and Patricia Yancey Martin -- Organizing door-to-door sales : a symbolic interactionist analysis / David Schweingruber and Nancy Berns -- Goffman's dramaturgical sociology : personal sales and service in a commodified world / Peter Kivisto and Dan Pittman -- Contrasts of carnival : Mardi Gras between the modern and the postmodern / Kevin Fox Gotham -- Negotiating the social landscape to create social change / Anne F. Eisenberg -- Globalization theory and religious fundamentalism / William H. Swatos, Jr.