The Constitution of Society

Anthony Giddens has been in the forefront of developments in social theory for the past decade. In "The Constitution of Society" he outlines the distinctive position he has evolved during that period and offers a full statement of a major new perspective in social thought, a synthesis and elaboration of ideas touched on in previous works but described here for the first time in...

Anthony Giddens has been in the forefront of developments in social theory for the past decade. In "The Constitution of Society" he outlines the distinctive position he has evolved during that period and offers a full statement of a major new perspective in social thought, a synthesis and elaboration of ideas touched on in previous works but described here for the first time in an integrated and comprehensive form. A particular feature is Giddens' concern to connect abstract problems of theory to an interpretation of the nature of empirical method in the social sciences. In presenting his own ideas, Giddens mounts a critical attack on some of the more orthodox sociological views. "The Constitution of Society" is an invaluable reference book for all those concerned with the basic issues in contemporary social theory.

安东尼•吉登斯（Anthony Giddens），男爵，英国社会学家，以社会结构理论与当代社会的本体论而闻名，被认为是当代社会学领域中有卓越贡献的学者之一。学术成就主要体现在以下几个方面：对以马克思、涂尔干、韦伯等为代表的经典社会学家思想的反思；对以结构主义、功能主义和解释社会学等为代表的现代社会学研究方法的反思；对社会学研究方法的重建，提出了著名的“结构化理论”；现代性理论范式的提出和现代性发展的反思。曾任伦敦经济学院院长，现任该校社会学系荣休教授。他的突出成就很多，其中包括与赫尔德和汤普森共同创办的Polity出版社，该社现已成为社会科学方面的主要出版机构。吉登斯与英国前首相、工党领袖布莱尔提倡的“第三条路”政策也影响了英国甚至其他国家的政策。其代表性著作包括《现代性与自我认同》、《第三条道路》、《民族—国家与暴力》等。