Anthony Giddens 
New Rules of Sociological Method 
A Positive Critique of Interpretative Sociologies

This is a new and revised edition of a book which has already
established itself as a basic text in social theory.

The first section of the work provides a concise critical
analysis of some leading schools of thought in social philosophy,
giving particular attention to phenomenology, ethnomethodology and
Wittgensteinian thought. Giddens concentrates primarily upon the
implications of these various perspectives for an account of human
action and its intelligibility. An `action approach’ on its own,
however, will not do; in human social life, action and structure
presuppose one another. The author therefore moves on to provide a
series of concepts relevant to understanding the production and
reproduction of society. The book concludes with a succinct
statement of some `new rules of sociological method’.

Representing the first, and most trenchant, exposition of the
principles of structuration theory, this edition also contains a
substantial new Introduction in which Giddens replies to some of
the more persistent criticisms made of the original version and
also addresses some important issues originally discussed only in a
cursory way.

Table of Content

Preface.

Introduction to the Second Edition.

Introduction to the First Edition.

1. Some Schools of Social Theory and Philosophy.

2. Agency, Act-identifications and Communicative Intent.

3. The Production and Reproduction of Social Life.

4. The Form of Explanatory Accounts.

Conclusion: Some New Rules of Sociological Method.

Notes.

Index.

About the author

Tony Giddens is Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science.