Classical and Contemporary Sociological Theory is a “hybrid” between a core textbook and a primary source reader. This book builds on the authors’Sociological Theory in the Classical Era and Sociological Theory in the Contemporary Era, to combine the major writings of sociology’s core classical and contemporary theorists with an historical and theoretical framework for understanding them. It provides not just a biographical and theoretical summary of each theorist/reading, but, in addition, an overarching scaffolding which students can use to examine, compare, and contrast each theorists’ major themes and concepts. No other theory text combines such “student-friendly” explanation and analysis with original theoretical works.