Sociological Theory Beyond the Canon

Syed Farid Alatas is Professor of Sociology, at the National University of Singapore. His areas of interest are the sociology of Islam, social theory, religion and reform, and intra- and inter-religious dialogue. He is the author of Ibn Khaldun and Applying Ibn Khaldun: The Recovery of a Lost Tradition in Sociology.

Vineeta Sinha is Professor and Head of the South Asian Studies Programme and of the Department of Sociology at the National University of Singapore. Her areas of interest are Hindu religiosity in the Diaspora, religion and commodification processes and religion-state encounters. Her recent books are Religion and Commodification: Merchandising Diasporic Hinduism, Religion-State Encounters in Hindu Domains: From the Straits Settlements to Singapore and Indians.

This book expands the sociological canon by introducing non-Western and female voices, and subjects the existing canon itself to critique. Including chapters on both the 'founding fathers' of sociology and neglected thinkers it highlights the biases of Eurocentrism and androcentrism, while also offering much-needed correctives to them. The authors challenge a dominant account of the development of sociological theory which would have us believe that it was only Western European and later North American white males in the nineteenth and early twentieth century who thought in a creative and systematic manner about the origins and nature of the emerging modernity of their time. This integrated and contextualised account seeks to restructure the ways in which we theorise the emergence of the classical sociological canon. This book's global scope fills a significant lacuna and provides a unique teaching resource to students of classical sociological theory.