Society is immensely complex and constituted on the basis of a broad variety of mechanisms and devices that promote either stability or change. Social theory is the means applied by an observer to describe and communicate ideas about the nature of social conditions, social practices, and the social order. From this view, social theory concepts constitute a linguistic and semantic space that scholars and students alike inhabit and mutually contribute to. Consequently, the capacity to define, understand, and apply social theory concepts to empirical cases and conditions remains a principal skill in scholarly pursuits at all levels, from the undergraduate student to the seasoned social theorist.

This book addresses a series of key concepts in social theory and provides empirical examples to substantiate the meaning and purpose of specific concepts. Key concepts discussed in this volume include consensus, conflict, agency, structure, governance, social norms, and preferences, all of them widely circulated and applied terms, more or less explicitly, in social science scholarship.