Key Theorists in Sociology

Peter Berger

Sociology helps us 'see through' the taken-for-granted aspects of society.

C. Wright Mills

Developed the concept of the sociological imagination, Connects personal troubles to larger public issues of social structure

Pierre Bourdieu

Social reproduction, cultural, social, and economic capital.

Key Concepts (Pierre Bourdieu)

Habitus, field, and capital—how class and culture are reproduced across generations.

Émile Durkheim

Society is held together by shared values and norms.

Key Concepts (Émile Durkheim)

Social facts, anomie, collective consciousness, organic solidarity.

Functionalist (Émile Durkheim)

Saw religion, deviance, and norms as key to social order.

Karl Marx

Conflict theory, class struggle, and capitalism's exploitation.

Key Concepts (Karl Marx)

Bourgeoisie vs. proletariat, means of production, surplus value.

Max Weber

Rationalization, bureaucracy, and the cultural basis of capitalism.

Key Concepts (Max Weber)

Verstehen (interpretive understanding), status, class, and party.

George Herbert Mead

Symbolic interactionism and the development of the self.

Key Concepts (George Herbert Mead)

I and Me, social self, generalized other.

Norbert Elias

The individual is always formed in relation to society.

Focus (Norbert Elias)

Long-term processes of civilization and interdependence.

Charles Horton Cooley

The looking-glass self—we see ourselves through others' perceptions.

Key Insight (Charles Horton Cooley)

Social self is developed through interpersonal interaction.

Robert Merton

Functional analysis, deviance, and strain theory.

Key Concepts (Robert Merton)

Manifest and latent functions, anomie, relative deprivation.

Howard Becker

Labeling theory of deviance.

Key Insight (Howard Becker)

People become deviant when labeled as such, not because of inherent actions.

David Rosenhan

Critiqued psychiatric diagnoses.

Famous Study (David Rosenhan)

"Being Sane in Insane Places"—highlighted issues in labeling and mental institutions.

Jack Katz

The emotional and seductive aspects of deviant behavior.

Concept (Jack Katz)

"Sneaky thrills"—the pleasure derived from breaking rules.

Jane Hunter

Modern redefinition of childhood and adulthood.

Key Insight (Jane Hunter)

Industrialization and social change led to delayed adulthood and recognition of adolescence.

Erving Goffman

Microsociology and dramaturgy.

Key Concepts (Erving Goffman)

Impression management, front/back stage, face work.

Harold Garfinkel

Founder of ethnomethodology—study of everyday practices.

Key Insight (Harold Garfinkel)

People use taken-for-granted methods to make sense of their world.

Annette Lareau

Class-based differences in childrearing.

Key Concepts (Annette Lareau)

Concerted cultivation (middle class) vs. natural growth (working class).

Barbara Ehrenreich

Exposed the realities of low-wage work in Nickel and Dimed.

Key Insight (Barbara Ehrenreich)

The working poor face structural barriers to upward mobility.

Arlie Hochschild

Emotions in social life, second shift, and deep stories.

Focus (Arlie Hochschild)

Emotional labor and political empathy in conservative communities.

Orlando Patterson

Historical sociology of slavery.

Key Concepts (Orlando Patterson)

Natal alienation—slaves are socially dead, severed from kin and identity.

W.E.B. Du Bois

Race, double consciousness, and early empirical studies.

Key Concepts (W.E.B. Du Bois)

Veil, color line, and psychological wages of whiteness.

Peggy McIntosh

White privilege and its invisibility.

Key Insight (Peggy McIntosh)

Described the 'invisible knapsack' of unearned advantages.

Michelle Alexander

Mass incarceration as racial caste system.

Michelle Alexander

Institutional racism via drug laws and criminal justice (from The New Jim Crow).

Stephanie Coontz

Critiques the myth of the 'ideal' 1950s family.

Key Insight (Stephanie Coontz)

Idealized families often masked inequality, abuse, and dissatisfaction.

Karin Martin

Gender socialization in schools.

Key Insight (Karin Martin)

The hidden curriculum disciplines children's bodies to embody gender norms.

George Borjas

Critical of the economic effects of low-skilled immigration.

Key Insight (George Borjas)

Argued that recent immigrants may reduce wages for native low-skilled workers.

Maurice Halbwachs

Founder of collective memory studies.

Key Insight (Maurice Halbwachs)

Memory is shaped socially through frameworks like family, religion, and class.