Sociology after Postmodernism

Postmodernism is frequently described as a death-blow to sociology. In proposing the end of society, it is regarded as robbing sociologists of their subject matter. This book examines the effect of postmodernism on sociological thought with individual chapters that address the topics of class, gender, race, criminology and deviance, law, culture, sexuality, emotion, medicine and the body, science and technology, and historical and political sociology. The authors argue that it is a mistake to conceive of postmodernism in terms of a fatal attack on what sociologists do. They locate the identity of sociology "after" postmodernism as a contested site that opens up the possibility of re-imagining the enterprise of sociology. The authors show how this sociological re-imagination might be conducted and trace some of the main areas to which it leads. Postmodernism is presented as a source of stimulation that requires sociologists to reconsider some of their central conventional categories and practices. The volume also offers the reader the opportunity to reflect on the contemporary state of sociological thinking. The book was commissioned to fill a perceived gap in the literature for a text that is both scholarly and accessible to students as a guide to the transformations in sociological thinking. Wide-ranging and full of insight, it will become required reading for students of sociology.