A Social Theory for the 21st Century?

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine the impacts and consequences of postmodern nihilism and neoliberalism on the development of social theory in the closing decades of this century. In the predominant cultural atmosphere the whole enterprise of constructing social theory appears as an anachronistic and useless concern. The different factors that explain the origins and scop of this veritable `anti-theoretical' rebellion are examined at length. The central thesis is that the much required refoundation of social theory requires the definitive abandonment of the `disciplinary' and fragmented perspectives of the postivistic tradition and their replacement by a totalizing and unifying theoretical proposal.