Classical Social Theory, Feminism and Modernity
Chapter 17 Summary

This chapter introduces the student to the ideas of the classic sociological theorists of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries - Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx and Max Weber - and to developments in feminist theories. We explore the differences in the work of Durkheim, Marx Weber and the early feminists concerning the aspects of modernity they respectively identify as crucial. We show how these different analyses lead them to offer different solutions to the problems of modernity and different predictions for the future of modern societies. We locate our discussion of the contributions of these writers firmly in the modernist agenda of progress. In the course of this exploration, we touch upon many of the central concepts of the discipline, from solidarity, through alienation, to rationality and patriarchy.