A historical sketch of sociological theory : the early years -- Karl Marx -- Emile Durkheim -- Max Weber -- Georg Simmel -- A historical sketch of sociological theory : the later years -- Structural functionalism, neofunctionalism, and conflict theory -- Varieties of neo-Marxian theory -- Systems theory -- Symbolic interactionism -- Ethnomethodology -- Exchange, network, and rational choice theories -- Contemporary feminist theory -- Micro-macro and agency-structure integration -- Contemporary theories of modernity -- Globalization theory -- Structuralism, poststructuralism, and postmodern social theory -- Cutting-edge developments in contemporary theory -- Appendix: Sociological metatheorizing and a metatheoretical schema for analyzing sociological theory