Читать книгу Sociology - Anthony Giddens - Страница 154

The ideas of the classical thinkers – Marx, Durkheim and Weber – were formed during times of great social, political and economic change, which their perspectives sought to understand. Arguably, we are living through a period of global transformation that is just as profound, yet more widely felt across more regions of the world. The need to refresh and update our theoretical perspectives seems increasingly necessary if sociology is to remain relevant. The theory of globalization is discussed extensively in chapter 4, and we will not anticipate that discussion here. Instead, we look at three significant theories which assume that globalization is transforming human societies. These are selected as representative of sociologists who reject the postmodern idea of the death of modernity.