"Social Theory in the Real World demonstrates that social theory need not be remote and obscure, but if used in imaginative ways, it can be indispensable in challenging our common sense perceptions and understandings. Many sociologists currently argue that the 'real' world has disappeared. This insists that there is a real world and we need to look for it in the interactions between individuals in concrete social contexts. The argument is developed by indentifying the key themes of contemporary theorists of social change, the book highlights the potential of imaginative theorizing and argues that the benefits of social theory do not lie in rote-learning exercises, but in critically and refexively evaluating such theories and how they relate to 'real' life."--Jacket