Written to be used while introducing undergraduate students to social theory. Unlike many books used in such contexts, it is about the furthest thing you could imagine from a compendium of chapters organized around “theory X says Y” and “theory A says B.” Instead, it focuses more on introducing the reader to theoretical thinking as a general practice, and to showing the connections between theoretical thinking/social theory – so often experienced as alienating and distant – and everyday life. It is not a collection of facts but rather a series of practices, insights, and hopefully relatable concrete examples that will help the reader engage with whatever social theory they happen to encounter.
I’ve never really been in a context where that kind of elementary learning was happening, as I am not a teacher and my own basic learnings about theory have been largely done on my own, but I’m pretty sure that this book would be how I would want to approach the topic as either teacher or learner. Certainly it strikes me as very cleverly done. I think it is also relevant to at least some of us who want to write about the social world in ways that engage readers who are thoughtful but don’t necessary have a formal background in such things. I also appreciated that it gave me a bit of a kick in the pants around some work that I recently finished a draft of – it helped me realize that I’ve kind of romanticized everyday theorizing in that work, and I need to re-think some elements of it. Anyway, if you are new to thinking about the social world in theoretical ways that go beyond the everyday, this is definitely a useful book to include in your reading. And if you teach related subjects or do related writing aimed at non-experts, it might well be useful for you too.
Originally posted by Scott on Goodreads.