This course offers an introduction to influential ways of thinking sociologically that emerged in the 20th and 21st centuries, and which develop on, and transform, original themes of the foundational period of “classical sociology”. Away from positivism and holism, interpretivist contemporary theories shed new light on the micro-foundations of “society” and of the self, with a growing attention to gender, race, fluid identity, questions of social reproduction and ecology. The course covers American and Continental sociological theory, as well as critical race and postcolonial theory. Overall, the course equips students with the ability to critically analyze contemporary sociological texts with a particular focus on how these texts apply theoretical frameworks to pressing issues of our time.