Contested Knowledge: Social Theory Today

Contested Knowledge has established itself as a leading text that brings social theory into the present day by providing the most up to date perspectives on social theory by one of the most important thinkers of our time, Steven Seidman.

• Responds to current issues, debates, and new social movements.
  
• Reviews sociological theory from a truly contemporary perspective.
  
• Covers both classical and contemporary theories.
  
• Combines social analysis and moral advocacy, and demonstrates how social theory can contribute to the making of a better world.
  
• Challenges social scientists to renew their commitment to viewing social knowledge as playing an important moral and political role in public life.
  
• Revised new edition organizes contents more appealingly for students, and includes an insightful new chapter on social theory today and short biographies on major social thinkers.

Steven Seidman is Professor of Sociology at State University of New York at Albany. He is a world renowned social theorist working in the areas of social theory, culture, sexuality, comparative sociology, theory of democracy, nationalism and globalization. He is the author and editor of several books including Embattled Eros: Sexual Politics and Ethics in Contemporary America (1992), The Postmodern Turn : New Perspectives on Social Theory (editor, 1995), Queer Theory/Sociology (Blackwell, 1996), The New Social Theory Reader: Contemporary Debates (edited with Jeffrey C. Alexander, 2001), and Beyond the Closet: The Transformation of Gay and Lesbian Life (2002).