Welcome to the companion website of the third edition of Key Sociological Thinkers.

Key Sociological Thinkers provides a clear and contextualised overview of the best of sociological thought. Written by leading academics, it offers stimulating and insightful assessments of 24 of the most influential thinkers in sociology: from Marx, Weber and Simmel to Chodorow, Foucault and Bauman. In addition, there are extended glossary accounts of thirteen additional theorists who have influenced, or been influenced by, these key thinkers.

Below you find four chapters that were included in the previous edition, and are now available exclusively online.

Online chapters

• Herbert Blumer
  by Ken Plummer, University of Essex, UK
  Originally published in the second edition (2008)
  PDF (713Kb)
• Theodore Adorno
  by Maggie O'Neill, University of York, UK
  Originally published in the second edition (2008)
  PDF (938Kb)
• Simone De Beauvoir
  By Mary Evans, University of Kent, UK
  Originally published in the first edition (1998)
  PDF (736Kb)
• Siegmund Freud
  by Ian Craib, University of Essex, UK
  Originally published in the first edition (1998)
  PDF (725Kb)
• David Lockwood
  by Nicos Mouzelis, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
  Originally published in the second edition (2008)
  PDF (738Kb)