This Reader brings together a generous selection of readings from the original texts of the three major classical sociological theorists: Karl Marx, Max Weber, Emile Durkheim. The readings are deliberately of a substantial length to allow students to gain a full understanding of the texts.

Section 1 Karl Marx: alienated labour; the theses on Feuerbach; "The German Ideology" and historical materialism; "The Communist Manifesto"; wage labour and capital; the preface to "A Critique of Political Economy"; the fetishism of commodities; the so-called primitive accumulation; selected correspondence. Section 2 Max Weber: "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism"; class, status and party; bureaucracy; science as a vocation; definitions of sociology and social action; legitimacy and authority. Section 3 Emile Durkheim: "The Division of Labour in Society"; sanctions and mechanical and organic solidarity; the division of labour - causes of abnormal forms; "The Rules of Sociological Method"; "Suicide: a Study in Sociology"; religion and society.